Semiotic Analysis

For a five year period (2013-2017), Twenty One Pilots promoted themselves with ski masks, so they hold an important connotation for the band's image. This obscurity defies popular music standards, where consumers directly correlate band identities to the people performing the music.

METHOD

Barthes' concept of myth:

1. Identify surface-level signifier and signified

2. These form the cultural text's denotative sign

3. Plug the denotative sign in for the second level semiological system's signifier

4. Along with the signified, this achieves the text's connotative sign

SKI MASKS

Signifier: Ski masks Signified: Unknown faces

Sign: Twenty One Pilots is comprised of unknown faces.

Signifier: Twenty One Pilots = unknown faces Signified: Band members are unimportant.

Sign: Twenty One Pilots is not defined by its performers.

The color white and the image's lighting stress the band's ambiguity and divergence from mainstream culture.

GUN SYMBOL

Signifier: Gun symbol Signified: Gun

Sign: Twenty One Pilots connects to violence.

Signifier: Twenty One Pilots connects to violence. Signified: Unsafe

Sign: Approach band with caution.

The open and closed eyes, correlated with the gun, emphasize the band's consciousness of audience desires and insistence on their own musical motives. The gun also emphasizes their American identity in relation to gun violence.

SHIRTS

Signifier: Red and blue color scheme Signified: Two primary colors

Sign: Twenty One Pilots highlights primary colors.

Signifier: Twenty One Pilots highlights primary colors. Signified: Other colors can be created

Sign: Band creates brand new products.

The bold shirt details--"Tiger pride" and the tiger picture--highlight their passion and dedication to their products, despite comfort levels or standardization.

IMPLICATIONS:

Consumers seek abnormal bands
Their music is not for everyone
Twenty One Pilots' tactics appear unique, but they're actually not
Song content will continually cover obscure topics

REFERENCES

Adorno, Theodor W. (1941). On Popular Music. Indiana: Institute of Social Research.

[Alternative Press]. (2014, October 16). Twenty One Pilots Tell the Story Behind Their Masks [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDCYFvrw7DM

Palmer, D. (1997). Structuralism and Poststructuralism for Beginners. California: Writers and Readers.

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