Semiotics for Beginners by Daniel Chandler

This chapter on codes is essentially an analysis of how we analyze. To understand how we make sense of our environment is the on going search for the finite in the infinite. The codes used to translate the ‘everyday world’ vary between cultures and have changed over time. These conventions of interpretation take root from the time we are born. “With familiar codes we are rarely conscious of our acts of interpretation.” The classification of codes is an attempt to understand the internal structure of this unconscious system. The concept of 'figure' and 'ground' in Gestalt psychology shows that consistent interpretations are favored over those that are irregular. “Once we know the code, decoding it is almost automatic and the code retreats to invisibility.” Analyzing the reasons behind what is understood as fundamental can reveal parts of the stucture that frames our existence.