This Means That Response

"This Means That," called "A user's guide to semiotics," was a useful and informative reading focused on helping people understand the massive amount of deeper meaning in art, literature, film, and popular culture as a whole.  These meanings that our very own culture creates are identifiable, but only to a trained eye. "This Means That" challenges people to search for meaning that may not have been noticed before, as well as understand how those meanings were created. By approaching semiotics and the world of signs and signing. It states "most societies tend to create hierarchies, preform rituals,  play games, adhere to moral systems, and engage in forms of symbolic representation." We live in a culture that revolves around signs and signage, and "This Means That" illustrates how people make signs and how signs affect people and how they are perceived. The reading then takes the reader through numerous images, asking one main question to reflect upon. Each question is crucial to better understanding the image, and gives the reader the answer, explaining the answer to each question on the next page. These numerous images consisted of art, signs, icons, shapes, and objects. Each one's meaning becoming more clear by the end of the reading. "This Means That" was very insightful and helpful in understanding cultural meanings and signs.