A MULTIMODAL ANALYSIS OF POSTERS FROM THE AMERICAN HORROR STORY TV SHOW

Abstract

The present study, a multimodal genre analysis, investigates verbal and visual components of posters from the American Horror Story TV show in order to understand how this genre functions and maintains its social purpose. The corpus consists of three posters from the American Horror Story show, and each one stands for the first three seasons of the show. The Grammar of Visual Design (KRESS; VAN LEEUWEN, 2006) was used as analytical tool for the identification of meanings in visual language. Verbal language was analyzed through the recognition of information blocks (SWALES, 1990). Results showed that a mysterious atmosphere is built by representative and compositional meanings altogether. On the other hand, interactive meanings are responsible for the inviting and appealing features of posters, which aim at convincing people to watch the TV show.