Joaquim da Silva Fontes, Significação e Estabilidade do Género no ...

When looking at her picture, we see the sign at a denotative level, in the first order of
meaning, with a definitional or obvious meaning, which uses both the signifier and the
signified. Her name in the film, as well as her early career, conjures up her many qualities
as an individual star, such as her elegance, sex-appeal and irreverence, all of which are
associated at a connotative level. The image below was taken for a publicity still to be used
in Clash by Night (fig. 63), and here clearly the process of connotation operates at the
second order of signification which uses the initial signifier and signified affixing an
additional signified.
Figure 63. Marilyn Monroe
Sausurre also states that signs can be interpreted at the mythic level. In this case, for
example, the name of Hollywood implies the dream factory of stars. It can also evoke
cynicism, manipulation and duplicity, clearly expressed, for instance, in Billy Wilder’s
Sunset Boulevard with Gloria Swanson in the role of a psychotic actress. The film is selfreferential
in that it critiques the dark aspects of Hollywood’s star system and the way the
machine produces profit and predictability. Associated with a particular culture within a
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