The concept of Polysemy was created by Roland Barthes a french theorist, Philosopher and critic.
"Polysemy" was invented to distinguish the difference between open texts and closed texts. The definition is "Polysemy is the capacity for a sign to have multiple meanings, usually related by contiguity of meaning within a semantic field." An open text has plenty of material which is open for interpretation. Whereas Closed texts intend to drive people to the preferred reading.The degree of polysemy depends on the audience and there cultural competence. John Fiske an american media scholar said "In order to be popular a television program must be polysemic". This was so different sub cultures would find the text interesting. Polysemy is however a spectrum and no media text is either 100% open or 100% closed.
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