Media Language theories

Roland Barthes’ semiotics theory:

• That a sign/signifier has a denotation (a literal meaning) and a connotation (a signified meaning).

• Signs are polysemic (multiple meanings)>

Steve Neale’s genre theory:

• Genres are instances of repetition and difference.

• Genres evolve over time as producers find balance between conforming and subverting conventions.

Tzvetzan Todorov’s Narratology theory:

There are 5 stages to any narrative.

• Equilibrium - the norm.

• Disruption - conflict, breaks the norm.

• Recognition - characters become aware of disruption.

• Repair - disruption is fixed/tried to be.

• (New) Equilibrium - return to norm or ne norm created.

Claude Lévi-Strauss’ structuralism theory:

• In media, opposing forces are placed in binary opposition, representative of the conflict between two polarising ideas and ideology.

• The way that the conflict is resolved suggests ideology of producers.

Jean Baudrillard’s postmodernism theory:

• In the modern world, what something represents is more important than what it actually is.

• Links to intertextuality: when one texts references another text.