“A Study in Pink” Semiotics perspective

“Semiotics is of great interest to marketers, who use it in an effort to understand the way consumers think and what goes on in their minds when they contemplate purchasing a product or service.” With this in mind, todays media users can better understand not just how marketers see these areas of interest or think about them, but how to dissect a Movie or Television Show in order to get the true meaning of the message being deliver. In the first Sherlock Holmes episode “A Study in Pink” the “text” is in itself a complex sign containing other signs. Sherlock him self seems to be an expert at identifying details that others would probably missed. First lets identify the signs within the text and the codes within which these signs have meaning (e.g. “textual codes” such as camerawork or “social codes” such as body language). Within these codes paradigm sets can also be identify (such as shot size: long shot, mid shot, close up). Let’s also identify the structural relationships between the various signifiers (Syntagmatic Analysis) and finally the ideological functions of the signs in the text as a whole.

Paying attention to details is not as easy as it seems, it requires practice, skills and knowledge on how to do this. Sherlock seems to be a very well skilled detective, in some scenes he is defined as a genius as he delivers his findings about people or situations. I would probably say that he is a perfect definition of what Semiotics is all about. In this episode we can encounter how color, posture and geographical places defines a lot about John Watson’s background. The red lipstick let’s the viewer understand the interest the nurse has for Sherlock, I would even say she has some kind of crush on him. The living room full of books implies lots of knowledge on behalf of Sherlock. The Cane can be portrayed as a metaphor symbol simply because at the beginning of the episode Watson is limping and at the end of the episode he is actually running and walking like as if he never used a cane before; his cane can also be considered as an excuse towards his truth of loving the war. I can go on and on about this episode with so many identifiers and signifiers as for example the weather, the music, the speed the use of cameras, the colors being used and the postures the actors used in different scenes how all of these meant something at different points. I have set up a chart with many of my observations to help with lots of details normally missed when watching an episode like this one.

Berger, Arthur A. (Asa) (2013-10-15). Media Analysis Techniques (Kindle Locations 496-497). SAGE Publications. Kindle Edition.