LY #91 The Semiotic Rabbit

I had fun jumping back into semiotics today, although I'm not sure my students would say the same.  We'll see how things go when we dig into Understanding Comics next week and start stirring together rhetoric, semiotics and comics.

I've been remembering a Utah semiotics class taught by Professor R. Fox.*  For several weeks Dr. Fox came to class carrying an empty box.  I don't remember now if anyone took the bait and asked what it was.  Eventually he asked us (perhaps in frustration) if anyone was curious about it.  I think that the box represented the "empty signifier."  According to Wikipedia (ah, a lovely tertiary source), an empty or "floating" signifier is one without a clear referent -- one without an agreed-upon meaning or one with so many meanings that it is highly ambiguous.  I didn't talk about empty signifiers today, though.

 Steiff bunny puppet (Nedley)

My favorite moment with Dr. Fox, however, was the night of the semiotic rabbit.  Now, don't try to Google this term.  I did this afternoon and found a very thoughtful Prezi by jojo damonkey (yes, you read that right) about Toril Moi's critique of Judith Butler's semiotic rabbit holes.  But no semiotic rabbits!

Well, one night Dr. Fox came to class wearing a classic Steiff bunny hand puppet.  He told us that all questions that night should be addressed to the "Semiotic Rabbit."  There was some hilarity and disbelief about this demand but we all then began talking about our readings with the puppet on his hand.  After awhile two other students and myself got into a rather fierce confrontation with our pointy eared instructor.  (What was the argument about?  Heck, it was 27 years ago!  Maybe someday I'll pull my journals up from the storage area.)

What I do remember are the last words of the argument.  The "discussion" had grown louder and louder and I finally said something that undercut and challenged his authority more that usual.  His face flushed.  "Fuck you!" he barked at me, paused, took a breath, smiled, and added,  "Says the Semiotic Rabbit."



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*This is a pseudonym for the character I've previously called Zephod Beeblebrox.  I've decided that, rather than violate copyright, I should instead give him the name of a trickster -- the Fox.  I would have called him Professor Coyote but a European trickster seemed more apropos.