ical, or commercial, or whatever" (Maasik and Solomon 7). Much of popular culture uses signs to conceal the fact that the cultural artifact has an interest in the creation of cultural artifacts as such, meaning that it has an interest in examining itself. In many cases, the sign conceals an interest in developing the meaning of or analyzing the effect of the sign itself, as noted, and so when we examine the meaning of the images involved, we are analyzing an analysis, or looking at a semiotic structure that is looking at itself and at us simultaneously. This can be conscious or unconscious, but it is somewhat inherent in the imitative nature of poplar culture itself, which repeats certain forms, stories, narratives, and images to convey meaning without having to develop new symbols, new ideas, or new modes of presentation. Popular songs thus tend to sound alike and reflect similar concerns at a given point in time, popular movies repeat the same formulas, television shows clump together with the same basic setup a
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