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A

aberrant Making sense of a *message or *text in terms of a different *code from the one used to encode it (Eco). This can be the basis for cultural misunderstandings: for example, the hand gesture made by joining the thumb and forefinger into a circle signifies ‘OK’ in the UK and the USA but in France it signifies ‘worthless’ or ‘zero’ and in Brazil it is an obscene gesture. See also / decoding model; preferred reading. above-the-fold Compare below-the-fold. 1. (print journalism) The top half of a newspaper, visible when folded in a vendor’s rack—the place occupied by the *masthead and main headline. 2. (web design) The area of a webpage visible Awithout *scrolling—where the most important content goes.  Blasting the myth of the fold above-the-line 1. A business model for creating mainstream *advertising, distributing it through *mass-media *channels, and charging clients a commission. This model is predicated on the logic of mass where one advertisement reaches millions of consumers simultaneously. However, it is being challenged by the rise of digital broadcasting and the *internet which have led to a more fragmented media audience. See also audience fragmentation; digital transmission; compare below-the-line. 2. (film-making and television) Expenditure prior to filming, including the salaries of those on individual contracts. absent presence 1. In *poststructuralist theory, a concept most closely associated with Derrida, for whom it refers to the mythical status of the supposed hub of any system of ideas (see also deconstruction; diffe´rance; transcendent signified). This derives from the point voiced by Socrates in Plato’s Phaedrus (c.370 bc) that the absence of the writer from a (circulated) text leaves it open to misinterpretation, in contrast to *presence in *face-to-face interaction (see also phonocentrism). This is in fact a feature of all *mediated communication, where the participants are spatially and/or temporally separated. 2. The *structuralist notion of (present) *signifiers referring to (absent) *signifieds, which is also a *design feature of language (see also displacement), and of all *representation. 3. The mass-mediated presence of onscreen personalities and events which can generate the illusion of almost immediate presence or even (particularly with television) *parasocial interaction. 4. Some important and relevant term, concept, factor, question, or issue that is ‘conspicuous by its absence’ in a *discourse (‘the elephant in the room’ phenomenon). The avoidance involved is often based on embarrassment or social taboo (e.g. in the case of disability). 5. The *symbolic OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 23/11/2010, SPi

absent signifier 2 a erasure of a particular sociocultural group (e.g. females, gay people, or ethnic minorities) in a *text, *genre, or *medium, or in a particular social context. 6. The discernible influence of a particular individual on some social or textual practice even when they are not present (especially when they are no longer alive), e.g. in film, when one discerns the absent presence of Hitchcock in the style of a contemporary thriller.

absent signifier 1. A particular feature which is perceived as missing from a *representation in any medium, especially where it is ‘notable by its absence’, breaching *expectations. See also commutation test; deconstruction; paradigm; markedness. 2. A *medium, tool, or *representational code which is *phenomenologically *transparent. See also imaginary signifier.

Academy aperture Named after the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, this is the standard size of the 35-mm aperture plate of film projectors and printers. It produces an *aspect ratio (expressed as 1.33:1 or 4:3) which is associated with Hollywood films of the 1930s and 1940s and with television programmes Afrom the 1950s to the 1990s.  Aspect ratios

access 1. (accessibility) General availability for use: e.g. the percentage of a given population owning or having access to a medium/technology. This was a key issue for Cooley in 1909; policy-makers have argued that *public service broadcasting or the *internet should be universally available (see Reithianism). Both social factors and the *affordances or *biases of particular *communication technologies can have implications for access. See also circulation; diffusion; digital divide; global village; primary and secondary definers; reach. 2. (accessibility) The availability of *information. See information flow. 3. (access television) In pay-TV, a special timeslot or *channel devoted to non-commercial use. See also community broadcasting. 4. (accessibility) (*semiotics) The extent to which the *codes employed in *texts and communicative practices are available to those interpreting them. See also aberrant decoding; broadcast codes; encoding/decoding model; interpretive repertoire; narrowcast codes; symbolic capital. 5. v. To extract *data from a computer.

accommodation 1. (*optics) The process where the eye changes focus to keep near or distant objects clearly in view. 2. (communication accommodation theory, CAT) In *interpersonal communication, the conscious or unconscious modification of verbal and/or nonverbal features to be more like those of others present (see also postural echo). In *linguistics, accommodation theory postulates that people adjust their speaking styles in order to fit in with others. 3. (sociology) The efforts made by immigrants to conform publicly to the *norms of a host culture (while actively resisting becoming assimilated to its *values). 4. (psychology) For Piaget, the process of modifying our existing *knowledge or *schemata in order to integrate new *information. Compare assimilation. OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 23/11/2010, SPi

3 ADC account handler In *advertising and web design agencies, the person who acts a as the intermediary between the *agency and the client, whose job is to interpret the client’s brief and manage the process of its realization. acoustic flow In *speech perception, the stream of vocal sounds in which a listener competent in that spoken language is able to identify words. action code See proiaretic code. action theory See interaction. active audience theory The view (particularly associated with *mass-media usage) that the audiences are not merely passive receptacles for imposed *meanings (see hypodermic model) but rather individual audience members who are actively (albeit often unconsciously) involved—both cognitively and emotionally—in making sense of texts. This active involvement has several interrelated dimensions: *perception, *comprehension, *interpretation, *evaluation, and response. Proponents of active audience theory claim that scholars cannot assume that the meaning of a text is fixed in advance of its reception because meaning is the product of a negotiation between the audience and the text in a particular *context of reception. They argue that people use the media for their own *purposes (see uses and gratifications). See also beholder’s share; constructivism; encoding/ decoding model; reception model; compare cultural populism; effects tradition. active picture The television picture visible to the viewer, as distinct from the parts of the image at the top and bottom of the screen visible only to the television Aengineers. See vertical interval.  Television active picture sizes actuality 1. Film of real people going about their everyday lives rather than of actors playing roles (often as segments incorporated into fictional or fictionalized narrative films in order to add *realism). 2. [French actualité] An early *film genre that featured short accounts of non-fictional subjects in the form of travelogues or newsreels. 3. (philosophy) That which is present at a particular place and time, and is accessible to the senses—as opposed to that which is falsified, fabricated, or that exists only in its potentiality. actual sound See natural sound. ad See advertisement. adaptors In *nonverbal communication, acts involving physical manipulation that serve to manage stress or tension. These include self-adaptors (see self- touch); alter-adaptors (adaptations to others), including protective arm movements and arm-folding; and object adaptors, such as tapping a pencil on a table. One of five types of nonverbal acts according to Ekman and Wallace Friesen (the others being *affect displays, *emblems, *illustrators, and *regulators). ADC See decoder. OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 23/11/2010, SPi

addition 4 a addition 1. One of the four logical ways in which *perception, *memory, or *representation can transform an experience that is ostensibly merely reproduced. Addition involves adding one or more elements which were not identifiably part of the original source material. For example, in eyewitness testimony, we might innocently recall a particular observation or *event which would normally be part of a similar situation but which did not occur on the particular occasion in question. See also deletion; levelling and sharpening; selective perception; selective recall; substitution; transformation; transposition. 2. In *rhetoric, adjectio, one of Quintilian’s four types of rhetorical *figures of speech involving deviation (mutatio): in this case, the addition of elements.

additive colour A process of generating colours by combining red, green, and blue *light that is used in film, photography, stage-lighting, and graphic design. Mixing the *primary colours of red and green produces the secondary colour yellow, similarly, green and blue produce cyan, and blue and red produce magenta. The more that colours in light are mixed together, the lighter they become. Mixing every colour produces white light. See also colour; RGB; compare subtractive colour.

addresser and addressee 1. Alternative terms to *sender and *receiver originated by Bühler and employed in *Jakobson’s model of communication. See also encoder. 2. Roles implied within a *text and/or inferred by readers: addresser refers to an authorial *persona, while addressee refers to an *ideal reader.

adjacency pairs In *conversation analysis, two successive *utterances where the second (e.g. an answer) is required by the first (e.g. a question). Compare interchange.

ADR (Automatic Dialogue Replacement) A process in audio *post-production where an actor records lines of dialogue in synchrony with a character’s onscreen lip movements.

ad retention (retention, retention level, adstock) (*market research) The percentage of consumers who recall a specific *advertisement or *brand even after exposure to the *advertising has ceased. Advertisements thus have a residual ‘half-life’. See also advertising effectiveness; aided recall; forgetting rate; message decay; wearout.

adventure games See interactive fiction.

adversarial journalism A model of reporting in which the journalist’s role involves adopting a stance of opposition and a combative style in order to expose perceived wrongdoings. This style is sometimes criticized as being aggressively antagonistic or cynically divisive. See also agonistic style; fourth estate; watchdog; compare advocacy journalism; investigative journalism.

advertisement (ad, advert) An *attention-grabbing presentation in any medium which typically serves the *marketing function of persuading consumers to purchase a product or service but which may also function to raise or maintain awareness of a brand and of the distinctive *values with which it seeks to be allied OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 23/11/2010, SPi

5 advertising campaign

(part of the way a brand is positioned against its rivals: see brand positioning). a In terms of *communicative functions, although the advertisement is primarily a persuasive *genre, ads are not limited to commercial purposes (e.g. political ads); they may also be *informational (notably in advertisements from public bodies) and in the context of the *clutter of competing claims for *attention, they often seek to be entertaining. See also above-the-line; advertising appeals; advertising formats; commercial. advertising 1. The process and means by which products, services, ideas, and *brands are promoted through *mass-media messages with the intent to influence audience behaviour, awareness, and/or attitudes. See also above-the-line; advertisement; advertising agency; advertising campaign; advertising effectiveness; elaboration likelihood model; marketing communications; compare public relations. 2. The manipulative generation of ‘false needs’ which can be met by *consumption—the stance of Vance Packard, an American journalist (1914–96)—and which promotes capitalist *values. See also conspicuous consumption. 3. The business of linking specific *commodities or *brands to existing *values among *target audiences, producing new commodity *signs. See also meaning transfer. 4. The shaping of lucrative *target audiences around which commercial *mass-media content is planned. See also publicity model. 5. A cultural currency of *lifestyle *imagery reflecting dominant social values upon which consumers draw in the construction of *personal identities. See also Abricolage; conversational currency; uses and gratifications.  History of Advertising Trust advertising agency (agency) In *advertising, *public relations, and web design, a company that provides advertising services for paying clients: e.g. Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO. See also above-the-line; account handler; advertising campaign; art director; copywriter; creative brief; creatives; full-service agency; media buying; media planning. advertising appeals The rhetorical modes of *persuasion underlying the implicit psychology of advertisements. Distinctive appeals contribute to *brand positioning. For analytical purposes, ad appeals are often broadly categorized as *rational (e.g. value for money) or *emotional (e.g. ‘you deserve it’). This basic choice of ‘routes’ can be related to the *Elaboration Likelihood Model of persuasion in which the focus is either on *argument and *information or on ‘the peripheral route’ (the subtleties of *connotation, *symbolism and so on). Appeals may also be *positive or *negative, or related to hierarchical systems such as *Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. *Advertising campaigns are designed around particular appeals—often encapsulated in a product slogan. See also advertising formats; appeal; ego appeals; fear appeals; guilt appeals; novelty appeals; price appeals; social acceptance appeals; utilitarian appeals. advertising campaign A series of advertisements for a product, service or *brand based around a single *theme. Campaigns are carefully planned as part of an OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 23/11/2010, SPi

advertising codes 6 a integrated *marketing communication strategy to appear across different media over the same period so as to reach and influence a specific *target audience as effectively as possible.

advertising codes 1. Formal, published ethical codes of professional practice within the *advertising industry. 2. In *semiotics, *conventions of *form and/or *content regularly employed within advertisements. See also advertising formats; codes.

advertising copy The verbal (spoken or written) text in an *advertisement, which is the responsibility of a *copywriter.

advertising cultures (commercial cultures) The occupational contexts in which *advertising is practised and the prevailing practices, *value systems, and professional discourses within the advertising industry and *advertising agencies. Compare promotional culture.

advertising discourse 1. In *linguistics and *discourse analysis, the ways in which different forms of language and various linguistic (and sometimes also visual and aural) techniques—are deployed within the advertising *genre, within individual ads or *advertising campaigns and/or more broadly in the *advertising industry or in particular contexts within it. See also advertising appeals; advertising codes; advertising formats. 2. In Foucauldian cultural theory and in *semiotics, a particular ‘regime of truth’—the world of advertising *myths—which commentators seek to identify and deconstruct.

advertising effectiveness Whether, and to what extent, advertisements or *advertising campaigns achieve their *marketing goals (most importantly the effectiveness with which they reach and influence their specific *target market in the desired ways). Measures for assessing ad effectiveness include *ad retention and *aided recall. Within advertising agencies, an issue often seen as in tension with advertising creativity in the motivations of some *agency staff; this is reflected in and reinforced by the separate awards that exist in advertising for effectiveness and creativity. See also copy testing; effective frequency; effective reach; forgetting rate; message decay; ratings; reach; wearout.

advertising formats 1. Widespread *conventions of *form and/or *content that can be discerned in ads within a particular *medium. Three key elements in ad formats are product, person, and *setting. On television, the traditional format for selling domestic products to women is known within the industry as 2CK, or euphemistically as ‘two women in the kitchen’. Another way of categorizing formats identifies the primary focus of the ad: e.g. on product *information, on *symbolism, or on user gratifications (see also advertising appeals; demassification; lifestyle format; personalized format; product-information format; product-symbol format). In *semiotics, the identification and analysis of such formats is part of the broader study of *advertising codes and *conventions. 2. In the buying of media space by advertisers, differentially priced options: e.g. in print publications, specific formats offered to advertisers by a magazine or *newspaper— such as full-page, half-page and so on. See also media buying. OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 23/11/2010, SPi

7 aestheticization advertorial A portmanteau term (advertisement + editorial). Material in a a *newspaper or magazine that has been constructed to look very similar to journalistic articles in the same publication but which is intended to raise awareness of a product or service and to imply endorsement by the magazine. Typically, advertorials are paid for by an *advertising agency but produced by the staff who work for the publication in which they are placed. advocacy journalism A style of journalism that actively campaigns for a certain cause or adopts a particular perspective, sometimes derogatively contrasted with a journalistic ideal of *impartiality and *objectivity. aerial perspective (atmospheric perspective) A *depth cue in the *visual perception of the world and a *pictorial depth cue and representational *convention in which objects appear less distinct (with less contrast) the further away they are. They also become less *saturated in colour and more like the *background colour (usually blue). See also perspective. aerial shot See high-angle shot. aesthetic codes In the discourse of *semiotics, recurrent features of *form and *style within the various expressive arts (poetry, drama, painting, sculpture, music, etc.) or *expressive and *poetic functions (sometimes termed aesthetic functions) which may be evoked within any kind of *text. These tend to celebrate *connotation and diversity of *interpretation in contrast to logical or scientific *codes which seek to suppress these *values. See also communicative functions. aesthetic distance (psychical distance, distance) 1. In literary and aesthetic theory, a psychological relationship between an audience and an artwork reflecting a certain degree of disinterest, or critical detachment from it. Some critics (influenced by Kant) have regarded distancing (or distanciation) as necessary in order to *background subjective emotional responses and to cultivate an approach thought to be appropriate for an aesthetic construct as opposed to everyday experience. This is consonant with the *formalist technique of *defamiliarization. 2. A similar detachment on the part of the creator of the work. 3. (Brechtian distance) The manipulation of audience detachment and involvement by the creator of an artwork (see also Brechtian alienation). This is reflected in signs of *constructedness in any kind of *text. See also reflexivity. 4. In *reception theory, the difference between how a work was regarded from the *horizon of expectations of contemporary commentators at the time of its creation and how it is viewed at the current time (Jauss). aesthetic function See poetic function. aestheticization 1. An alleged social trend which involves an increasing personal concern with visual displays and/or a growing role for public *spectacle in *everyday life; typically a pejorative term. See also visual imperative. 2. A process where a set of *values defined by ethics and based on principles and truth is replaced with a set of values defined by *aesthetics and based on feelings and *appearances. OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 23/11/2010, SPi

aesthetics 8 a aesthetics See also media aesthetics. 1. The philosophical study of the nature of art and the arts (e.g. what is art and what is its value?), of works of art in any medium, of the nature of beauty (in nature as well as art), of aesthetic experience and pleasure, and of theories of *taste and criticism. 2. Formal compositional or stylistic aspects of a *production in any medium as distinct from its *content or what it may depict or represent. 3. In design and *advertising contexts, what are typically thought of as ‘artistic’ or ‘creative’ aspects of design (e.g. the ‘look’ of a product)—stylistic rather than technically functional features.

affect 1. v. To have an effect on (‘it affected me’). 2. n. The subjective or evaluative dimension in human experience (see also evaluation; subjectivity). (psychology) *Emotion or feeling, mood, or desire which may be reflected nonverbally in *affect displays. Psychology has sometimes been divided into the domains of affect, behaviour, and *cognition, but affect leaks into all human behaviour and cognition.

affect blends *Facial expressions revealing two or more *emotions simultaneously.

affect displays (emotional expressions) In *nonverbal communication, *facial expressions in particular, but also *gestures, *postures, or other body movements demonstrating *emotion. One of five types of nonverbal acts according to Ekman and Wallace Friesen (the others being *adaptors, *emblems, *illustrators, and *regulators). Display rules are culturally variable; however, affect displays are not necessarily intentional.

affective communication A *communicative function involving the expression of *emotions to another person, in particular contrast to *instrumental communication. This is a key factor in *nonverbal communication and is frequently regarded as a primarily nonverbal function which is hampered by *cuelessness. Compare expressive communication.

affective fallacy A tendency to relate the *meaning of a *text to its readers’ *interpretations, which is criticized as a form of *relativism by those literary theorists who claim that meaning resides primarily within the text (see also literalism). Few contemporary theorists regard this as a ‘fallacy’ since most accord due importance to the reader’s *purposes. Compare intentional fallacy.

affective language See expressive communication.

affective meaning Compare ideational meaning. 1. (expressive meaning) The personal feelings expressed by a speaker or writer. 2. (attitudinal meaning) The personal feelings, *attitudes, or *values of an author or speaker inferred from their words and/or *nonverbal behaviour. 3. The subjective feelings aroused in audiences or readers by a *text in any medium (see also catharsis), or by particular words (which may be ‘emotive’). The *evaluation of texts on this basis was condemned by Wimsatt and Beardsley as the *affective fallacy. 4. Sometimes synonymous with *connotation.

affective stylistics See reader-response theory. OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 23/11/2010, SPi

9 agenda setting affiliation See also extraversion. 1. (social psychology) *Liking, or the a degree to which one individual likes another. According to Argyle, this is the most important dimension of *attitudes towards other people. This is expressed in affiliative behaviour in *verbal communication generally through greater self-disclosure (see disclosure), in *speech communication also through warm and soft tones of voice and/or higher vocal *pitch, and additionally in *face-to-face interaction through nonverbal *cues such as closer *proximity, forward leaning, more *gaze and *eye contact, more smiling, nodding, *open (and relaxed) postures, greater touch, *tie signs, and *postural echo. 2. Affiliative motivation (also affiliation need). A human social need for close relationships with other people and for approval from them, especially those of a similar age and circumstances. Social psychologists have reported that women tend to have stronger affiliative needs than men. affordances (affordances and constraints) The different kinds of benefits and restrictions that a particular *medium, tool, *technology, or technique involves. James Gibson introduced the term affordances (which for him also implied constraints) in order to describe the interrelationship between an animal and its environment. Just as particular environment is conducive to certain kinds of life, so a particular medium is conducive to certain kinds of communication (due to its technical properties and the uses to which it is put): for example, the telephone affords simultaneous *interpersonal communication at a distance, but constrains that communication to voice only. See also media environment; medium theory. after-image 1. A ghost image that appears in a person’s vision after fixing their gaze upon an area of flat colour (such as a red triangle) for thirty seconds or more. It is caused by the eye’s photoreceptors losing sensitivity to high contrast images that remain stationary in vision. Hering after-images are paler than the stimulus; Perkinje after-images are a *complementary colour. 2. A phenomenon also known as iconic memory that forms the basis for the concept of the *persistence of vision. The after-image described in this context is conceived of as a frozen instant of reality that remains stationary on the retina for a brief period before decaying. Identified by George Sperling (b. 1934), an American psychologist. See also phi phenomenon. age cohort A group of people born in the same generation. In *marketing and popular cultural history, distinctive labels are often retrospectively applied to distinguish the differing *values and *lifestyles of successive generations (such as *baby boomers, *generation X, *generation Y). Compare peer group. agency 1. (sociology) A central thematic opposition with *structure representing the scope for human freedom of action—versus the ways in which actions may be determined by *social structures. See also determinism; ethnomethodology; phenomenology; symbolic interactionism. 2. (advertising) See advertising agency. 3. (news) See news agency. agenda setting A situation where critics perceive inexplicit political motives (or an institutional tendency to overlook underprivileged perspectives) to lie behind the choice of topics covered (e.g. in news, current affairs, and *documentaries), their relative importance (inferred from sequence and/or the relative amounts of OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 23/11/2010, SPi

agent 10 a space or time devoted to them), how they are presented, and what issues are backgrounded or excluded (see also selective representation). Media agendas are often set by ‘authoritative sources’ in government and industry upon which news organizations rely. The primary concern is that those in power thus call attention to issues that suit their agendas and distract attention from those that undermine them. It is usually argued that this influences or determines the terms and scope of public debate—not by telling people what to think but by telling them what to think about and influencing the *salience for them of particular issues. See also framing; newsworthiness. agent See subject. agon [Greek ‘contest’] Games of *competition; one of four game categories introduced by Caillois. See also alea; ilinx; mimicry. agonistic style A type of oratory taking the form of an interactive exchange between persons that is characterized as a verbal duel or contest of wits. Ong characterizes *oral cultures as having an agonistic style in comparison with literary cultures. ahistorical A critical adjective applied to a theory or a research claim that is not anchored in a specific historical *context or that does not account for change over time. See also historicity. aided recall In *market research, a technique to determine how well an advertisement is recalled by a subject prompted with hints or clues. In contrast, unaided recall elicits subjects’ recollections of a specific ad without prompting: for example, by asking them to recall any ads to which they had been exposed within the last 24 hours. See also ad retention. airbrushing 1. Altering the appearance of a photograph using paints or dyes which were often applied to photographic prints with an airbrush. Airbrushing was routinely used to remove unwanted blemishes in fashion magazine shoots, hence the *connotation of presenting an unattainable idealized image. In Stalin’s Russia, officials were removed from photographs altogether and thus airbrushed from history. 2. Loosely, any photographic alterations, including those done digitally. Compare photoshopping. alea [Latin ‘die,’ as in a six-sided cube marked with numbers] Games of chance: one of four game categories introduced by Caillois. See also agon; ilinx; mimicry. aliasing 1. The rendering of curves or diagonal lines in a television or digital image as a series of steps. Aliasing is an *artefact of the process of *rasterization in television and *quantization in *digital media. At lower *resolutions, the ‘blocky’ nature of electronic pictures begins to manifest in the form of jagged lines around diagonals and circles. Compare anti-aliasing. 2. In digital audio, a characteristic distortion caused by a low sample rate, which is unable to approximate higher Afrequencies.  Digital audio aliasing OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 23/11/2010, SPi

11 allusion alienation effect (Brechtian alienation, distanciation) A theatrical a technique intended to remind audiences that the drama is a *performance, the characters are actors, and the *events are taking place on a stage. For example, an actor may suddenly break out of character and speak to the audience as themselves. Brecht believed it was important for audiences to maintain a sense of critical distance and not to get swept up in the drama. This runs counter to the goal of audience involvement in the *classic realist text. See also high and low involvement; compare aesthetic distance; defamiliarization; suspension of disbelief. alignment 1. (*semiotics) The relation of one pair of culturally widespread oppositional concepts (such as male/female) to another pair (such as mind/ body)—reflected in the thematic structure of texts and/or cultural practices as revealed by *structural analysis. Lévi-Strauss illustrated a human tendency to relate such *oppositions to each other by *analogical thinking. If we imagine commonly paired oppositions as a horizontal dimension, then associating such pairs with each other generates vertical relationships also—forming a conceptual basis for cultural *codes and *myths. An *advertising campaign launched in 2005 for the washing powder Persil in the UK was ‘dirt is good’. This provocative inversion of the Christian folklore that ‘cleanliness is next to godliness’ can be seen as part of a deliberate strategy of conceptual realignment which has a distinctly Lévi-Straussean flavour. 2. In document design, the layout of the text on the page or onscreen—left- or right-alignment referring to which side of a textual block is uniformly aligned with a margin on that side (the other side being consequently ‘ragged’). allegory of the cave A story told by Plato in Book VII of The Republic to illustrate the superiority of *information derived from reason to that derived from the senses. The allegory takes the form of a dialogue between the philosopher Socrates and Plato’s older brother Glaucon. Socrates likens people who rely on their senses to a group of prisoners who have spent their entire lives chained inside a cave facing the blank back wall and unable to turn around. All they see before them are the shadows projected onto the wall by things passing in front of the cave entrance. These shadows of things are their only reality. In contrast, experiencing reason is likened to a prisoner escaping the cave into the full sensory richness of the world outside. The shadows on the wall are often used as a *metaphor for the cinema (Baudry); the film The Matrix (1999) and its sequels can be seen as a Acinematic variation.  Book VII of Plato’s Republic allusion An indirect reference within a *text or *utterance to a person, place, *event, or another text or utterance. This either presupposes that such references will be generally recognized or favours a particular *target audience (e.g. a classical allusion for the well-educated, an in-joke for friends, or an allusion to *popular culture for a youth audience).