Interpellating the Buyer

Semiotics is a concept introduced and drawn out by Sturken and Cartwright. Essentially, the concept asserts that all signs are composed of both a signifier (a representation) and a signified (meaning). When images and sounds and language are all combined to form one representation, the task of the viewer becomes more complex. I suggest that the viewer unconsciously regards signifiers on various levels within one representation. A television commercial often employs interplays of image, sound, and text. The more ways in which an image can inhabit a viewer’s senses, the greater likelihood the image has of creating a personal experience for the viewer, which I believe is the highest level of meaning an image can attain.       

 Sturken and Cartwright discuss the viewer interpellation paradox at the beginning of chapter two, which made me think of how some retail websites and online magazines utilize personalized customizations to subtly persuade me that the interface has been designed specifically for me. Amazon.com does this by greeting me by name at the top of their homepage, an indication that I’m a registered member and belong to a community of buyers and sellers. The site ‘speaks’ even further by recommending merchandise I might be interested in buying, all based on past activity. This mechanism acts as a continual, non-invasive dialogue. It serves to accentuate my value as a user. To this end, I am empowered and given a degree of control over the “authoring” process. But what about the paradox? Well, in knowing that the webpage was designed exclusively for the viewer, “the viewer must implicitly understand himself or herself as being a member of a social group that shares codes and conventions through which the image becomes meaningful” (50). In other words, my initial interaction with the website is similar to that of every other Amazon member. For this interpellation process to function, I must recognize that Amazon.com also recognizes other members within the same ideological framework.

            How then do we as viewers achieve individual agency within dominant ideologies? Therein lies the difficulty, I believe. “In Althusser’s terms, we are not so much unique individuals but rather are ‘always already subjects’ – spoken by the ideological discourses into which we are born and in which are asked to find our place (70). The viewer’s individual agency, Althusser argues, has been marginalized. Dominant ideologies dictate viewers as passive subjects, who aren’t given the possibility to recognize and identify themselves as they might prefer. Amazon.com positions me (and every other member) as a “buyer” upon signing in – the site recommends products I may be interested in buying. Why doesn’t the homepage also suggest products I may wish to sell? It can be argued that Amazon’s primary focus (and revenue-producer) is the buyer, not the seller. This design setup is less ideologically relevant for someone like me, who tends to sell more often than buy. Theoretically speaking, I’m required to re-position myself and assume a different social role - that of the seller.