Roland Barthes' Theory

 Hell'o, Akhil here!!!

Using Roland Barthes' Semiotic Theory to explain The Whispering Nightmare and how we applied the theory. Barthes' theory revolves around two meanings: denotation and connotation, which ultimately result in the development of a myth.

Denotation:

Denotation is the literal or literal meaning of a sign. It's what the sign is. In the opening scene, the following have a literal meaning:

The Playground: Literally, it is a tract of land with play equipment for kids like swings, slides, and monkey bars.
The Students: They are a group of adolescents on the ground floor of a building. They are in casual attire, some of them wearing school uniform, and playing a game with an empty bottle.
The Hallway: A thin corridor in a school that has a row of lockers and some doors. Someone is proceeding down this hallway, between the lockers and up the stairs.
The "Haunted" Room: A tiny room with a door and a window above. The inside of the room is dark.

Connotation:

Connotation is the emotional or cultural significance that is implied by a sign. These are where the signs start to point towards a hidden meaning.

The Playground: Although literally a location of fun, the playground within the video is illustrated as deserted and otherworldly, with visions of autumn leaves falling and wood on fire. This evokes loneliness, abandonment, and foreboding, and implies that something is terribly wrong with it. It juxtaposes the typical image of a playground as innocence and joy.
The Students: The teen cast evokes youth, youthfulness, and vulnerability. Playing "truth or dare" from their scene indicates that they are seeking thrills and are irresponsible, classic clichés in teen horror movies.
The Hallway: The narrow, lengthy hallway with the identical doors and lockers evokes conformity, anonymity, and claustrophobia in a system (in this situation, a school).
The "Haunted" Room: This room induces the sense of fear, the unknown, and the forbidden area. The top window with the outstretched hand indicates a fighting struggle and sense of jailing or imprisoning.

Myth:

In Barthes' definition, a myth is a union of such connotative meanings and a strong ideological message. The myth here being established in the opening scene is that curiosity and rule-breaking will result in an atrocious penalty.

The myth is constructed out of a series of linked ideas:

The world of innocence is a mask of evil: The video begins with what appears to be a typical school and playground, but this turns out to be a world of past danger and hurt. The ordinary, everyday world is unsafe.
The youth are victims: The friends, portraying a healthy youth culture, get enticed into a deadly experience by their own naivety and need for an experience. Their innocent game is an induction into terror.
The urban legend of the "ghost story" has some basis in fact: Ethan Graves' story, begun as a rural rumor, turns all too true. This legend is asserting that local legends and urban legends are not mere stories, but warnings that need to be taken seriously.
Social exclusion and loneliness give rise to monsters: Ethan Graves' history as a bullied, "ordinary boy" who kept to himself apart from the other children, implies that isolation can lead to an abhorrent fate. Perhaps he was haunted back to the school by the bullying he suffered, which makes the "ghost" a result of social cruelty.

In short, the symbols and signs in the opening scene cooperatively collaborate to build an interesting myth about the threats that lie beyond the surface of day-to-day monotony in life, particularly for youth, the irresponsible, and the ones who ignore the teachings of history.