Iconography

Iconography – dress codes

In Media Studies we see iconography as part of genre, and particularly film genre. Students need to know the term and how it is used. It is quite a complex concept that informs image analysis and the deconstruction of genre. Iconography originates from the study of art. 

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In Europe in the15th & 16th centuries artists creating work of a Christian nature would look up reference books to check the colours, composition, hand gestures, poses and facial expressions that past masters traditionally used, because they conveyed the most significant meaning to the ordinary person.

These meaningful images came to be known as iconic, and their use is iconography.

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For example most paintings of the Madonna, including modern ones, show her in a robe of deep blue. The Virgin wears a blue robe, the colour symbolic of heaven and a reminder of the Virgin’s role as Queen of Heaven. This colour came to be an icon for her role as a spiritual mother who has dignity and religious importance. The blue robe is part of the iconography of this form of art throughout the centuries.

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Iconography is an important aspect of genre. We expect to see certain objects on screen when we see a particular genre, for example, in a Western, dusty lonely roads, saloon bars, cowboy hats and horses, jails, sheriffs badges, guns, etc.. 

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In a modern horror film, we expect young girls, ‘normal’ objects, use of dark and light, etc. These ‘genre indicators’ are called the iconography of the mise-en-scene or genre.’

So iconography can be defined as those particular signs we associate with particular genres.

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Film producers use images that belong to the iconography of the genre to excite audience expectations, and to show that the film is within a certain genre. If you wanted to see a comfortable rom-com you would not go and see Prom Night, but if you wanted to be scared then this should do the trick.

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Another way of putting it is to say genre can be identified by the look of the images in the text – this is the iconography, or the signs, that are associated with a genre. Iconography includes a wide range of ‘signs

To become part of the iconography of a genre a pattern of visual signs remain constant in that genre over a period of time. Some of the things that make up genre iconography include:

Costume

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Cowboys wear ten gallon hats;

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characters in period dramas wear wigs and historic costumes;

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tough guys in thrillers wear black leather jackets;

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in high school movies everyone wears tight T shirts, sneakers and some wear hoodies.

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Settings

Thrillers are set in challenging urban neighborhoods found in big cities such as LA or New York.

Horror movies since Halloween (1978) tend to be set in typically quiet suburban settings. Sci-fi films inhabit futuristic cities with flying cars, adverts in the sky (e.g. Bladerunner), and high tech interiors.

Stars

Some film stars can be an important part of a film’s iconography, and carry their own iconographic meanings.

This was perhaps more evident in the past where stars like John Wayne are always associated with Westerns. Modern stars such as Clint Eastwood carry the iconographic meaning of the loner against the world.

Stars create expectations of character and action, genre, and powerful iconic representations of such as masculinity and femininity.’

Props

These are the moveable objects that are so important to many movies.

Gangster films must have guns.

Classic gangster films have a certain form of gun – the violin case machine gun.

Characters in Westerns carry classic Colt revolvers, or the Winchester rifle.

Police and thrillers use expensive multi-shot shiny hand guns.

Cars are important for what they signify in a film.

Large American gas guzzling V8 saloons can signify the freedom of the open road, as well as escape, and refuge.

Cars can be an extension of a character’s personality as well as a device to create excitement and thrills.