We give labels to things to know the difference between similar things.
In using a name or a label which our audience has used before, we evoke a meaning for our audience. This is the meaning which we intend to evoke. This is denotation.
However, in using a name or a label which our audience has used before, we evoke not only the meaning we intend but also a varying range of personal memories of other occasions when this word or label has been encountered. This is called connotation.
For example, when we think of a kitchen knife, many things could come in to our heads as we think of things that relate to personal memories or simple stereotypes.
Denotation refers to the basic interpretation of the light hitting our eyes, but connotation refers to the meanings we then associate with what we are seeing.
If you make the connotations that the producer of the media text meant you to make, this is called a preferred reading.
If you make different connotations from those which the producer intended you to make, then this is called an oppositional reading.
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