Media Studies 10 (Fall 2024) - Midterm 1 - UC Berkeley

media + literacy

- all media are texts that can be read for meaning

- reading skills are learned through media literacy- learning process

- we require learned skills to understand texts- to decode them

- reading requires an active process of interpretation- consumption is never passive, we are always using our media literacies to read the text for meaning/ interpreting it

media + everyday life

- a source of pleasure and routine

- a tool for learning and interpretation

- a form of connection and social currency

- an expense paid for $$$ and or time and or info

utopian views + critiques

Utopian perspective: medium/genre/practice is good AND/OR was bad but it's getting better.

- If you find it objectionable, there's something else.

- It can act as an informational and educational resource.

- Its a window to new experiences

- Multiplicity of choice and viewpoints.

Criticisms of utopian:

- Dismissive of social harm.

- Ignores commercial interests: Is there really something for everyone?

- Ignore production hierarchies.

- Employs the "myth of progress."

dystopian views + critiques

Dystopian perspective: medium/genre/practice is bad AND/OR was good but it's getting worse.

- Passive & addictive.

- Exploitative & formulaic.

- Consumerist.

Criticism of the dystopian:

- Totalizing: is it all bad?

- Nostalgic.

- Elitist.

- Assumes audience is "passive composition."

mirror views + critiques

Mirror perspective: medium/genre/practice reflects reality AND/OR the interest of the audience.

- Media mirrors major social changes.

- Ignore mediamaker agencies.

- Ignores selective process of production

- Ignore reasons why audiences watch.

- Ignores different audience interpretations.

cultural studies & methods

Media changes society + society changes media.

Methods: Text, Audience, Industry

- Textual Analysis: Interpretation of the text itself. Look for formula, themes, representations, etc.

- Audience Studies: Study of the reception of the text. Interpretation, role, reason, etc.

- Political Economy: Relationship between industrial media power and influence on politics/culture. Mainly consumer/commercial media.

technological vs. content convergence

Technological convergence: all technological capabilities in one device

Content convergence: all the content is available on all devices

implications of content convergence

Implications: industry, producers, audience

- Industry: collect fragmented audiences

- Producers: more outlets and opportunities form money. New metrics for success

- Audience: facilitate individualized consumption experience. Tv on your own time [timeshifting, place shifting, greater content variety]

transmedia extensions & goals

A type of Content Convergence.

Definition: Supplemental content from one medium on additional platforms in order to foster greater engagement.

Goals:

- Keep audience engaged between installments

- create brand advocates to generate buzz/awareness

- expose viewer to ads and promotion

- collect user data

transmedia storytelling (Mikos)

"The systematic planning of a story throughout different platforms."

Definition: A kind of transmedia extension in that all the media share the same "textual universe."

Books, movies, TV making up stories all in the same canon.

NOT a standalone adaption.

- i.e. the Harry Potter books being adapted into movies are NOT transmedia storytelling; this is telling the same story through different mediums.

- i.e. Star Wars IS transmedia storytelling; The Mandalorians' story takes place across three forms of media.

Each designed to "stand on its own" + contribute to the larger "storyworld."

unauthorized content convergence

- content convergence "piracy"

- transmedia extensions as fan practice

- transmedia storytelling as fan fiction

ideology & dominant ideology

Ideology: Values and beliefs people use to make sense of the world

Dominant ideology: Those in power shape ideology though institutional control

Reinforced by: institutional control & serving their interests

hegemony & counter-hegemony

Hegemony: Those in power replicate their privilege through dominant ideology, ruling through agreement. Must be reaffirmed

Counter-hegemony: Challenge current ideology and critiquing it

texts as polysemic

Definition: Texts are not fixed in meaning, they can be understood/decoded in a multiple of ways.

encoding vs. decoding (Hall)

Encoding: Texts are *ENCODED* at the level of production.

- Media makers encode the text with preferred meanings which are often hegemonic in that they reflect the dominant ideology.

Decoding: Texts are *DECODED* at the levels of consumption in one of three positions:

- Dominant-hegemonic = accepts preferred meaning.

- Negotiated = partially accepts preferred meaning.

- Oppositional = rejects preferred meaning for an alternative one.

values of encoding/decoding

- All messages contains more than one potential interpretation

- Producers can't close off all decodings

- Our experiences and beliefs color our decodings

- The struggle with getting people's ideological agreement

criticisms of encoding/decoding

- Few perfectly dominant or oppositional readings

- Works better for overtly ideological texts over ambivalent/ambiguous ones

- Multiple motivations behind production/encoding

- Needs to link decoding back to encoding

textual approach to genre

GENRE = content sharing (narrative) conventions and (storytelling) codes.

CODES = modes of production external to the narrative (STYLE).

- (length, visual, audio style)

CONVENTIONS = specific narrative elements (STORY).

- (setting, character types, plot, technology)

problematizing the textual approach

Determining genre is based on a mix of conventions and codes.

BUT: based on select differences.

i.e. a rebel character can be in comedy, drama, action.

SO: no system for what difference demands a new category.

THUS: some shared cate matter, others don't.

THIS MEANS: genres are not actually self-evident.

discursive approach to genre (Mittell)

genres are determined by cultural discourse (common shared understandings).

genres are categories agreed upon by industry + critics + audiences (not fixed codes and conventions).

places genre in the context of culture, industry criticism, and audience practices

ex. kids movies and chick flicks are built around who the movies are for, their audience, not codes/conventions

industrial utility of genre

1. organize production by genre

2. genre is a label to manage consumer interest

- a way of creating familiarity with the unfamiliar

- an attempt to succeed by offering familiar genres that you enjoy already

- genre is a contract or promise between the producers and the audience, we are disappointed if the text isn't what it was promoted to be

AND: genres can become more or less popular over time.

- Production run = spike in a genre/subgenre copycats and continues producing after success.

genre innovation

Problem of generic (relating to genre) repetition = risk of bored audience.

SO: genres are "dynamic" & mutate to add differences.

- Repetition = follow established genre C&Cs.

- Innovations = deviate from genre C&Cs.

RESULT: predictability + surprise

- i.e. sitcom C&Cs.

AND: becomes established C&Cs if widely adopted.

genre hybrids

Combine elements of 2+ established genres.

- i.e. "indie-rock musical" combines both indie, rock, and musical genres.

- Texts that cannot be reduced to a single genre.

- Shows how generic elements can be used, subverted, and combined.

- AND: This is part of the pleasure audience's pleasure in consumption.

mediation

Practice of recording/selecting/ordering events into media narratives.

- Not reality but a representation of it.

- A construction shaped through C&Cs + narrative structure.

news & how it's shaped

The result of routines that become formalized into professional norms.

GOAL: newsworthiness + objective reality.

SHAPED BY:

- Social process ($$$, deadlines, experts used, creator biases, recording, etc.) SO: No objective representations of reality.

i.e. News channels may be less biased but they still choose what events to talk about.

- Codes & Conventions (visual styles, music, character types, setting, etc.) SO: News is constructed to "feel" objective and newsworthy.

i.e. People trust news reporters on major broadcasts sites over news through small social media accounts.

value of studying media workers (H/L/P)

Provides nuanced understanding of media industries- especially re: tasks & "negotiations of agency" or "many types of work & workers."

- How they evolve over time (including duties, skills required, and status).

- How they shape content.

- Reflects in part larger "traits or issues facing media industries."

story characters & audiences

CHARACTERS are assigned traits that impact the story.

- Lead character = the protagonist driving the story.

- Audiences are encouraged to identify with the protagonist. *Externally (frequency/screen time, reaction shots, achievements). *Internally (voiceover, narration, POV, memory/dream sequences).

AUDIENCES consume/decode the story.

- Imagined audience = intended audience of consumers.

i.e. Sesame Street is created for kids (but also parts so parents can watch with them).

- Actual audience = including "interlopers" not part of the imagined audience.

Interlopers- i.e. Kids in the room while their parents watch their show.

four ways of constructing reality TV (Kraszewski)

1. Selecting participants:

- Represent a certain character type: extreme, combustible people who will come into conflict with others.

2. Overarching and Mini Narratives Structures:

- Make disparate events into a narrative structure with cause and effect, resolutions of conflicts, and deeper meaning.

3. Location:

- Provides opportunity to set up narratives.

Decked out house, desert wasteland, etc.

4. Editing:

- Cameramen choose what to film, picking those more exciting.

WE MUST BE CRITICAL of reality TV's "reality."

Example: The Real World is constructed in its industrial utility AND narrative.

The Real World utility + narrative (Kraszewski)

"The Real World" (TRW) is constructed in its industrial utility + narrative.

INDUSTRIAL UTILITY:

- Expand original production using cheap reality TV.

Help create a routine/fixed schedule.

NARRATIVE:

- Respond to charges of racial exclusion & promote liberal values.

- Blames racism on the rural individuals.

- Absolves target demographic and structural factors.

SO: The construction of reality TV helps construct our beliefs & values.

celebrity

Celebrity = A person who attracts attention to such a degree that their life & personality are of public interest.

BOTH:

- Workers (i.e. of a film) + Products (i.e. of their work).

- Cultural products + Economic products.

economics of celebrity

GOAL: Encourage consumers to buy a new product by offering something familiar & appealing.

Proliferation of celebrity bc:

- Celebrities want to increase their audience appeal by increasing their visibility. i.e. Social media, charity events, etc.

- Media companies want to promote their products using celebrity marketability. i.e. Interviews.

- Other media also rely on celebrities to generate $$$. i.e. Using celebrities in advertisements.

star image & its four components

1. Bodies of work - (roles, albums, etc.)

2. Promotion - (authorized & calculated image construction).

3. Publicity - (generated by the press etc; outside of direct control).

4. Criticism & commentaries Audience practices - (including general public, fans, and anti-fans).

celebrity & audiences

Stars are the product of audience fascination.

"Embodied Attention" = mimicking celebrity's styles, buying products, consuming their media & media about them, etc.

AND: Celebrities proxies representing broader cultural identities, value, concerns.

SO: What does the public's interest in particular celebrities, at particular times, say about our concerns and values?

relevant fantasy (Fiske)

Celebrities can provide an empowering relevant fantasy that is capable of modeling alternative identities.

SO: They're polysemic in meaning, in that they are capable of multiple decodings.

character types vs. stereotypes

Character types:

- A "shorthand" to help mediamakers communicate quickly meaning."

- Intertextual constructions with commonly understood traits & behaviors. i.e. In Friends: Joey is goofy, Ross being smart, Monica is orderly.

- *Not all character types are stereotypes.

Stereotypes:

- Reduces an entire group into a few simple characteristics, + or -. i.e. By race, social class background, smartness, popularity.

- Emerge from inequalities of representational power.

- Spread intertextually through repeated media representations & "add up."

the Other & how media spread it

Anyone who is "not like us."

We are "normal" while the Other is "strange & different."

Presented as a contrast to "us."

Media spreads othering through:

- "Symbolic annihilation" (absence of representation).

- Stereotypes

- Absence of self-representation.

"splitting" (Hall)

Splitting = Fix boundaries between social groups.

Create differences & fix boundaries.

"Us" vs "them" - (normal/mainstream vs abnormal/outsiders).

GOAL: Maintain "social order" through reinforcing power inequalities.

multicultural representation

- Portrayal of cultural differences within groups.

- Not just "role models" but multiplicity of characters, realities, contexts.

- More characters = Less weight of single representations as "burden of representation."

four media sales logics

1. Commodities = Paid in full-price by the consumer.

2. Turnstile = Selling access to content.

3. Ad-supported = "Free" to consumers.

4. Microtransactions = Lots of little payments.

three hybrid sales logics

1. Combination = Multiple simultaneous logics.

- i.e. Minecraft + buying DLC and skins.

2. Economies of Scope = Selling a product across multiple rev "windows" & logics.

- i.e. Movies in theaters only (turnstile) now, but later may turn to videos/DVDs" - (commodities).

3. Premium Option = Charging additional $$$ for a premium version with additional perks.

- i.e. Ad-free Spotify Premium, YouTube Premium.

maximizing profit vs. market share

MAXIMIZE PROFIT:

1. Increase revenue:

- Economies of scope.

- Expand to international markets.

- Overproduction (success offsets failures).

2. Minimize expenses through economies of scale:

- The cost of making a product decreases with the number of units sold.

MARKET SHARES:

1. The percentage of a market held by a specific business.

- i.e. Warner Brothers' owns 13% of ticket sale shares in the US

2. Tracks how well a company does compared to its competitors.

- i.e. In a down year, one is "doing better/more with less."

maximizing investment capital vs. sunk cost

The more money it invests in/promotes the project, the greater likelihood of success.

- i.e. Disney producing a movie then increases its marketing and promotion of it.

BUT: Can lead to the "sunk cost fallacy" - (the more time & money you invest in something, the harder it is to walk away from it).

the culture industry

Definition: The commercial producers of mass culture.

GOAL 1: Maximize return on investment.

GOAL 2: Reinforce the dominant ideology through the media.

PRODUCT: Spectacle, diversion, consumerism INSTEAD OF communication & enlightenment.

- i.e. Juvenile tastes and interest, immediate gratification.

RESULT: Mass produced entertainment exploits, alienates, and stunts the working class.

mass culture

Not authentic "folk culture" or original "high culture" but rather industrialized & formulaic media produced by the culture industry.

SO: Not from the masses, but FOR the masses.

impact of mass culture

Undifferentiated "dull, unimaginative, repetitive" media fosters undifferentiated "dull, unimaginative, repetitive" audiences.

- conformity

- mindless stimulation

- artificial concerns

- leisure time becomes commodified

- no sense of community/collectivity

false consciousness

Misleads people into thinking that the route to contentment comes from consumption rather than upward mobility.

RESULT 1: Fantasy of control creates inexhaustible dissatisfaction.

RESULT 2: De-skills, de-politicizes, desensitizes, and isolates the overworked masses.

mass media industrialization

Media is manufactured like other industrialized commodities.

1. Standardization = Formulaic assembly-line production.

2. Social Cement = "Commodified catharsis," providing just enough relief to sustain capitalism through work.

3. Pseudo-Individualism = Same product hidden by a veneer of difference.

- i.e. Ariana Grande and Billie Ellish are different but work for the same parent company Universal Music Group.

criticisms of the Frankfurt School

Criticism:

- elitist defense of high culture

- greater media choice today

- multiple motivations behind production

Doesn't account for:

- innovation

- failure

- other interpretations

structuring social relations (Fiske)

Value systems to which we understand & orient ourselves.

Social norms that guide individual social relationships.

Grants power to some groups over others.

- i.e. New Newlywed Game and its "official" vs "popular" winners. The "official" winners follow the dominant ideology "rules." The "popular" winners challenge the rules and showcase the reality, answering truthfully and candidly for audience laughs.

BUT: These can be contested in the "space between social norms & their particular application."

embarrassment & quality (Fiske)

Embarrassment occurs when social norms/SSRs are disrupted.

INCLUDING: Taste hierarchies as "legitimate" & "illegitimate" pleasures.

- i.e. people outwardly being a fan of hard-rock music but having a guilty pleasure in bubblegum-pop music.

AND: Overcoming embarrassment can challenge & change cultures.

ON QUALITY: Who has the power to decide? Whose tastes are marginalized?

popular culture

Pop culture is a process, not a thing or category.

Pop culture is assembled from mass culture resources.

Concerned with meaning at consumption, not producer's intentions.

***The meaning-making process turns MASS CULTURE into POP CULTURE***

Examining how people use & understand media.

- Interpretation - decodings, voicing opinions.

- Pleasure - engage with mass culture, through enjoying, into - pop culture.

- Socially - communicating with people.

- Contestation - "a site of struggle."

excorporation vs. incorporation (Fiske)

Mass culture & pop culture feed off each other.

Excorporation = Pop culture scans mass culture for resources it can appropriate (and make its own).

Incorporation = Mass culture scans pop culture for tastes/interests it can commodify.

pop culture & immediacy

Critics complain pop culture is "throwaway" or short-lived.

Not like the works of "high culture."

BUT: Tied to the immediate social conditions.

- i.e. Brat summer

SO: Represents immediate values & concerns.

- i.e. Brat summer heavily influenced Kamala Harris' campaign.

criticisms of pop culture analysis

1. Populist celebration

- i.e. resisting and contesting the meaning of media.

2. Pop culture can spread harmful ideas too

- i.e. stereotypes and othering, fake news.

3. Validates dominant/commercial interests.

- i.e. benefitting the corporations.

4. Audiences can be active but that doesn't mean they're powerful

- i.e. a majority can respond, but only a minority truly participate in the making.