Semitonics is present in every day life, we see iconic signs everywhere. Some signs are recognised universally and some are only relevant to specific cultures. For instance, a picture of a dog would be universally recognised as a dog, yet the word DOG is only recognised by those that speak and can read English. The general idea then is that the more constrained the thing you are trying to communicate is to reality, the more iconic it is, the less constrained something is to reality is Arbitary (Symbolic)
When it comes to films we can apply the same idea , for example a film like Avatar is less contrained by reality and is therefore more symbolic. A documentary film like Frozen Planet( David Attenborough) is based around real life , it is totally constrained by reality. Using this theory Frozen Planet is Iconic and Avatar is Arbitary.
Another example of this theory would be the slight cultural differences between my home country - Northern Ireland and England. I have realised that talking to english people in my accent results in some confused looks, I am having to repeat myself! Even though our language is the same, the difference in accents can cause misunderstanding or bad communication. Therfore my accent is more abstract(or arbitary) to most English people and more realistic(or Iconic) to my friends and family back home.
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