“This was Saussure’s term for what later came to be called paradigmatic relations. The ‘formulaic’ associations of linguistic signs include synonyms, antonyms, similar-sounding words and words of similar grammatical function.” - Daniel Chandler What is "Associative Relations" in Saussure's Theory? Ferdinand de Saussure, a foundational figure in modern linguistics, introduced the concept of associative relations (in French: rapports associatifs ) in his Course in General Linguistics (published posthumously in 1916). This term refers to the mental connections a speaker makes between a linguistic sign (a word) and other signs that are not present in the actual sentence but are linked in the mind through shared similarities. Later linguists (especially after Roman Jakobson and others) renamed this concept paradigmatic relations. Paradigmatic relations are contrasts and choices: they involve words that could potentially replace each other in the same position ...
Audrey Diwan's Emmanuelle (2024), starring Noémie Merlant as the titular protagonist, reimagines the iconic erotic franchise as a contemplative exploration of female desire, set against the backdrop of a luxurious Southeast Asian resort. Here, the gaze moves from male centrality and pleasure of the past Emmanuelle to self-reflective feminine gaze. Drawing on semiotic theory—particularly Roland Barthes' concepts of denotation (literal image) and connotation (cultural meaning)—this analysis focuses on the film's visual symbolism. Diwan employs a restrained, dreamlike aesthetic, cinematography by Laurent Tangy, to signify the tension between opulent excess and internal repression. Visual signs such as pristine architecture, symbolic objects, color palettes, and camera movements construct a narrative of elusive gratification, where pleasure is both promised and perpetually deferred. Poster: Emmanuelle (2024) The Luxury Hotel as a Signifier of Controlled Desire The film...