The World Through the Lens of a Lorgnette: Biased Focusing of Signification
Alex Shorkin
Frame analysis, which examines the biased nature of our ways of using signs in communicative processes and which is relevant to the modern synergetic picture
of the world, continues the long-standing traditions of hermeneutics and medieval exegesis. In acts of communication, frames of perception and presentation
are permanently converted: response presentations are formed on the basis of received and understood messages. Conversion processes generate an abundance of connotations with which the original meanings are overgrown. Sometimes they are destructive, often banal. But it is the competition of connotations that serves as a source of development. Perceptual frames are always
based on hidden premises (prejudices). The cultural and personal codes of thi bias are invisible to its bearers. In the lexicon of frame analysis, these initial dispositions
of perceptions can be presented as expectation frames. The clash of expectation frames with reality awakens emotions, with which the comprehension of the world begins. The possible cultural shocks in this connection constitute
the empirical material for identifying and criticizing the hidden prerequisites of perception, the features of its “optics”.
After Wittgenstein, researchers prefer the concept of a “door” to the frame of a dispassionate “mirror” as a generally accepted metaphor of cognitive relations in the New Age. It is set in motion by acts of doubt, but the lower door hinge, with its immobility, symbolizes bias as the absence of any doubts regarding preconceived contents, that is, frames of expectations. Now the world behind the looking glass is of interest, the door to which still needs to be discovered.
In connection with the modern emphasis on pragmatic aspirations, presentation frames have been better studied. Brands are of particular interest: they noisily claim the generally signifi cant value of presentations and are effective for manipulative purposes. Meanwhile, the lexicon of frame analysis should be introduced with a whisper of expectation frames. Lively games of frames of perceptions
and presentations constitute the main communicative body, while brands only close the lexicon from the side opposite to the original preconceived expectations.