Encoding/Decoding

After reading Stuart Halls essay "Encode/Decode" I did think that it could be 'interesting' in a lot of ways, but that didnt keep it from being ridiculously hard to digest. Maybe its just me; Maybe its because its 3 in the morning. Either way, I had to read alot of it over several times, and some parts of it Ill admit I really didnt read at all. Albeit, what he was discussing was a very prevalant and casually discussed issue. Dont let the wording throw you off, this is something you would see brought up in everyday conversation and seen in various forms of media.
Semiotics, which is the study of signs and symbols in relation to communicative behavior, and the analysis of systems of communication, may help us to more intelligently decipher the encoded symbols thrown at us every day. Of course, how we decode certain things may be completely different from culture to culture, it has been argued that there can be "national" symbols, but this has been concluded with little success. Depending on the cultural mindset of an individual, which varies drastically from country to country and eve region to region, they will perceive symbols extremely different.
Any Art has an idea encoded into it by the creator, this original idea, when presented to the public, is decoded into a different meaning. This is seen very strongly in television. Although the images, an image of a cow for example, may look and sound like a cow, it is not a cow. Art can be deceptive in this fashion.