霍尔的编码与解码

10Encoding/decoding*StuartHallTraditionally,mass-communicationsresearchhasconceptualizedtheprocessofcommunicationintermsofacirculationcircuitorloop.Thismodelhasbeencriticizedforitslinearity—sender/message/receiver—foritsconcentrationonthelevelofmessageexchangeandfortheabsenceofastructuredconceptionofthedifferentmomentsasacomplexstructureofrelations.Butitisalsopossible(anduseful)tothinkofthisprocessintermsofastructureproducedandsustainedthroughthearticulationoflinkedbutdistinctivemoments—production,circulation,distribution/consumption,reproduction.Thiswouldbetothinkoftheprocessasa‘complexstructureindominance’,sustainedthroughthearticulationofconnectedpractices,eachofwhich,however,retainsitsdistinctivenessandhasitsownspecificmodality,itsownformsandconditionsofexistence.Thissecondapproach,homologoustothatwhichformstheskeletonofcommodityproductionofferedinMarx’sGrundrisseandinCapital,hastheaddedadvantageofbringingoutmoresharplyhowacontinuouscircuit—production-distribution-production—canbesustainedthrougha‘passageofforms’.1Italsohighlightsthespecificityoftheformsinwhichtheproductoftheprocess‘appears’ineachmoment,andthuswhatdistinguishesdiscursive‘production’fromothertypesofproductioninoursocietyandinmodernmediasystems.The‘object’ofthesepracticesismeaningsandmessagesintheformofsign-vehiclesofaspecifickindorganized,likeanyformofcommunicationorlanguage,throughtheoperationofcodeswithinthesyntagmaticchainofadiscourse.Theapparatuses,relationsandpracticesofproductionthusissue,atacertainmoment(themomentof‘production/circulation’)intheformofsymbolicvehiclesconstitutedwithintherulesof‘language’.Itisinthisdiscursiveformthatthecirculationofthe‘product’takesplace.Theprocessthusrequires,attheproductionend,itsmaterialinstruments—its‘means’—aswellasitsownsetsofsocial(production)relations—theorganizationandcombinationofpracticeswithinmediaapparatuses.Butitisinthediscursiveformthatthecirculationoftheproducttakesplace,aswellasitsdistributiontodifferentaudiences.Onceaccomplished,thediscoursemustthenbetranslated—transformed,again—intosocialpracticesifthecircuitistobebothcompletedandeffective.Ifno‘meaning’istaken,therecanbeno‘consumption’.Ifthemeaningisnotarticulatedinpractice,ithasnoeffect.Thevalueofthisapproachisthatwhileeachofthemoments,inarticulation,isnecessarytothecircuitasawhole,noonemomentcanfullyguaranteethenextmomentwithwhichitisarticulated.Sinceeachhasitsspecificmodalityandconditionsofexistence,eachcanconstituteitsownbreakorinterruptionofthe‘passageofforms’onwhosecontinuitytheflowofeffectiveproduction(thatis,‘reproduction’)depends.Thuswhileinnowaywantingtolimitresearchto‘followingonlythoseleadswhichemergefromcontentanalysis’,2wemustrecognizethatthediscursiveformofthemessagehasaprivilegedpositioninthecommunicativeexchange(fromtheviewpointofcirculation),andthatthemomentsof‘encoding’and‘decoding’,thoughonly‘relativelyautonomous’inrelationtothecommunicativeprocessasawhole,aredeterminatemoments.A‘raw’historicaleventcannot,inthatform,betransmittedby,say,atelevisionnewscast.Eventscanonlybesignifiedwithintheaural-visualformsofthetelevisualdiscourse.Inthemomentwhenahistoricaleventpassesunderthesignofdiscourse,itissubjecttoallthecomplexformal‘rules’bywhichlanguagesignifies.Toputitparadoxically,theeventmustbecomea‘story’beforeitcanbecomeacommunicativeevent.Inthatmomenttheformalsub-rulesofdiscourseare‘indominance’,without,ofcourse,subordinatingoutofexistencethehistoricaleventsosignified,thesocialrelationsinwhichtherulesaresettoworkorthesocialandpoliticalconsequencesoftheeventhavingbeensignifiedinthisway.The‘messageform’isthenecessary‘formofappearance’oftheeventinitspassagefromsourcetoreceiver.Thusthetranspositionintoandoutofthe‘messageform’(orthemodeofsymbolicexchange)isnotarandom‘moment’,whichwecantakeuporignoreatourconvenience.The‘messageform’isadeterminatemoment;though,atanotherlevel,itcomprisesthesurfacemovementsofthecommunicationssystemonlyandrequires,atanotherstage,tobeintegratedintothesocialrelationsofthecommunicationprocessasawhole,ofwhichitformsonlyapart.Fromthisgeneralperspective,wemaycrudelycharacterizethetelevisioncommunicativeprocessasfollows.Theinstitutionalstructuresofbroadcasting,withtheirpracticesandnetworksofproduction,theirorganizedrelationsandtechnicalinfrastructures,arerequiredtoproduceaprogramme.UsingtheanalogyofCapital,thisisthe‘labourprocess’inthediscursivemode.Production,here,constructsthemessage.Inonesense,then,thecircuitbeginshere.Ofcourse,theproductionprocessisnotwithoutits‘discursive’aspect:it,too,isframedthroughoutbymeaningsandideas:knowledge-in-useconcerningtheroutinesofproduction,historicallydefinedtechnicalskills,professionalideologies,institutionalknowledge,definitionsandassumptions,assumptionsabouttheaudienceandsoonframetheconstitutionoftheprogrammethroughthisproductionstructure.Further,thoughtheproductionstructuresoftelevision*Thisarticleisaneditedextractfrom‘EncodingandDecodinginTelevisionDiscourse’,CCCSStencilledPaperno.7.118ENCODING/DECODINGoriginatethetelevisiondiscourse,theydonotconstituteaclos