For Task 6 – An Emoji Story, I chose to use the last television show I watched. I found it would be easier if I relied more on ideas rather than syllables or words. Emojis act as a visual language, similar to multimodal children books like Geronimo Stilton and Amelia Bedelia. With this in mind, I focused on capturing the key ideas of the show—its main character’s job, his secret life, the city it takes place in, and his childhood/past—rather than trying to translate words directly. This aligns with Kress & Van Leeuwen’s (2001) idea that meaning is constructed through multimodal communication, where images contribute to understanding just as much as words.
I chose not to start with the title of the show. Instead, I began by identifying key themes and elements. I then browsed the emojis from my Emoji keyboard and tried to select emojis that best represented them. Following this, I narrowed down the emojis, only keeping the most important ones. I then arranged them in a sequence that made sense visually and logically. This approach reflects visual grammar, as described by Kress & Van Leeuwen, where meaning is shaped by the placement and order of visual elements. The title wasn’t the first priority because my goal was to summarize the plot, not just name the show.
I did not choose this show because it would be easy to convey visually. I picked it because I had just started the series on Netflix, and it was fresh in my mind. However, I realized it was a good fit for an emoji description because the show has strong symbols that carry meaning, such as blood, knives, Miami, and police, which all translate well into emojis. This supports Kress & Van Leeuwen’s argument that different modes, like visuals and text, contribute to meaning-making.
Additionally, Kress (2005) states that “aptness of mode and what is represented is not the only issue, equally significant now is the aptness of fit between mode and audience” (p.19). This suggests that my emoji choices were not just about accuracy in representation but also about how well they would be understood by my classmates. Since emojis rely on shared cultural understanding, I considered incorporating commonly recognized symbols, such as ???? for violence, ???? for law enforcement. My hope was that these commonly recognized symbols would make it easier to communicate the show’s themes.
Any ideas as to what television show this might be?
References
Kress, G.R., & Van Leeuwen, T. (2001). Multimodal discourse: The modes and media of contemporary communication. Oxford University Press