European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 27, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Semiotics the study of signs and symbols attempts to discover the hidden meanings behind things such As Why Golden frogs surround this Globe at an Atlanta shopping mall. Decoding american culture by Connie Koenen los Angeles times As it Ever occurred to you that the cabbage Patch doll craze that swept the United states a few years ago was not just a Case of consumer fever for an expensive toy but actually represented the guilt of two career parents who did t spend enough time with their children today s elaborate shopping malls with their soaring Levels of luxury shops fountains and gardens Are not a sign of National Prosperity but an indication of the shaky consumer Economy of the 1980s and Are actually designed to Lull nervous shoppers into a fantasy world where spending Money is of a ring around the Collar to commercial is not just a plug for a laundry detergent but the contemporary equivalent of an ancient religious rite in which the offending husband and wife Are jeered for committing a social error and Are ostracized until they seek product salvation in the marketplace though All that May seem a strange Way to look at things Welcome to Jack Solomon s world. Solomon is an intellectual detective who goes through life seeking clues to explain what is really happening. Even the most innocent object he says conveys important new social information when you look beneath its surface. Everywhere we look we Are bombarded with hidden codes Solomon says. The trouble is that most people Don t realize  Solomon is busily engaged in decoding the culture because he is a student of semiotics the social science that studies signs and symbols and the interests that lie behind them. Semiotics which was introduced in the late 19th Century has become a tool for scholars to Analyse human cultures literature linguistics Lega systems and even animal communications. The semiotic society of America has about 2,500 members and its official journal publishes such obscure semiotic titles As Beowulf s swords and signs and metaphor recognition and neural process. In Short semiotics is not exactly a household word but Solomon an assistant professor in the English department at the University of California los Angeles he incorporates semiotics in his critical theory courses wants to bring the concept from its academic shelter into everyday awareness. I find it very frustrating he says. Here we Are interpreting culture and the culture does t even know  to Bridge the Gap the 34-year-old Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brandeis University with a . In English from Harvard has written the signs of our times. However one describes it As a consumer Book or a How to Book or a consciousness Raiser it is aimed at making semiotic ians of us All. The passive american consumer is afloat in a cultural limbo and is victim to every manipulating message that comes Elong says Jack Solomon in his Book the signs of our times. Is that awareness is important Solomon insists with passion because America has become a semiotic society moving from the Era of print communications to a culture awash in visual symbols. Waves of images launched by growing armies of advertisers politicians consultants designers publicists manufacturers and marketers leave the passive american consumer afloat in a cultural limbo and victim to every manipulating message that comes along he maintains. And he adds the consumer is also powerless because while schools teach us How to read and interpret the written word no one is taught How to Analyse or even question the images that influence every waking moment. In the face of that Media marketing onslaught Solomon advises continual vigilance. In the Book s opening chapter he counsels his readers to think of this Book As a guide to the signs of contemporary american culture one that will show you the powerful influence of signs in your life and How to spot interpret and ultimately control  he offers some guidelines that the semiotic student might apply to any subject to strip away its surface meaning and he suggests that there is a single commanding reason Why any one would want to think like a semiotic Ian. The reason is Short and simple so you won t get  and we Are being hoodwinked much of the time he insists. For example when you Are made to feel inadequate because you Don t have a lot of Money you have been duped by a culture that measures everything in monetary terms. When you Are told that a woman s place is in the Home your culture is trying to conceal a patriarchal interest behind the veil of nature or common sense " in his Book he hop skips energetically Over the contemporary landscape fixing a semiotic gaze on the hidden messages lurking in such Fields As advertising architecture television food dress and gender. In the process he analyses everything from the meaning of a supermarket s countless varieties of cereals cookies crackers and soft drinks America is putting an inordinate proportion of its creative Energy today into the development of consumer products to the runaway prime time Success of Abc s the Cosby show a representation of our desires for a world that is practically the inverse of the one in which we actually live. And he encourages readers to Challenge Long held beliefs As ancient As the biblical genesis creation Story and As contemporary As the american dream of a single family Home. Once you do learn to read the signs that surround you he says you can free yourself from their often hypnotic  currently he is explaining semiotics and plugging his Book on a dizzying round of radio and television talk shows As Well As in phone interviews everywhere from Bridgeport conn., to Tucson  he usually takes a Teddy Bear along on his rounds As a conversation starter because one of the cultural signs that fascinates him is the increasing number of Young adults who Are buying expensive sophisticated stuffed animals with names like Lauren Beardall or Douglas Bear Banks. We Are buying these like crazy says Solomon who then explains Why. For one reason toys answer the nurturing instinct of Young professional couples who do not have time to raise a family. I think i m an example. My wife Sonia Maasik teaches composition at Urcla and we live in Van Guys a Section of los Angeles with our three  but he sees a second reason for the return to Teddy bears. They Are soothing both literally to hold physically and because we live in a very stressful world and these bears Are icons of a pre nuclear pre freudian age a time of edwardian  that was the Point he was discussing recently on Kab s Tom Snyder show when a listener called in with this question would t it be better if people instead of acting like kids with their dolls tried to make the world a less stressful place to live got involved in politics tried to clean up the environment Solomon s answer was a semiotic  rather than being lulled by toys he said it would be better to look at what they Are really telling us and then try to change the world that makes us run to  the stars and stripes Page 13