We become so used to familiar conventions in our everyday use of various media that the codes involved often seem 'transparent' and the medium itself seems neutral. The medium is characterised by instrumentalist thinking as purely a means to an end when the text is regarded as a 'reflection', a 'representation' or an 'expression'. The status of the text as text - its 'textuality' and materiality - is minimized. Commonsense tells us that the signified is unmediated and the signifier is 'transparent' and purely denotative, as when we interpret television or photography as 'a window on the world'.