Media Industries - Agency and Ideology in Media Inustries : Week 2

What is Idealogies?

Ideologies structure our beliefs and influence what we see & what we see will influence how we understand the world.

What is Dominant Ideology?

• Common sense of our time, and their capacity to define that common sense is a powerful political tool

• The shared set of beliefs, values, morals, attitudes, and cultural norms held by majority of people in a society

What is Media?

• Plays a role in politics

• Roles of men and Women

• How the world is portrayed & reflected

What is Agency? `

• The autonomy or agency of the people who work in the media industries.

What is the current issue defined by Havens/ Lotz with Agency?

Are creative people in the industry able to express their creative visions for clear political and ideological ends, or are they trying to satisfy those in power with media of only certain ideologies?

What is a constructed audience?

Media that is tailored towards a perceived audience in means to accomplish commerical success.

What do media industries operate under?

• Creativity

• Business

• Technology

• Culture

• Society

What are the 3 theoretical principles?

• Principle 1 - Circumscribed Agency

• Principle 2 - Ideological Uncertainty

• Principle 3 - Cultures of Production

Describe Circumscribed Agency. (Havens/Lotz)

• People who work in commercial media have some degree of personal expression.

• Writers, editors, and producers have creative freedom, but corporate policies, budgets, market demands, and unwritten industry lore about what sells heavily restrict their work.

What are some examples of creativity being limited?

• Money → Budget

• Organization → Netflix, CBC, Bell Media = diff piorities

• Technology → vertical video on TikTok

• Audience Expectations → horror

• Regulations → Canadian-regulated content

Describe Ideological Uncertainty. (Havens/Lotz)

The idea is that it is impossible to preordain or control the exact social, cultural, or political impact a piece of media will have on society.

Why can audiences read media differently?

• Influences

  • Age

  • Culture

  • Identity

  • Political Beliefs

  • Historical moment

Describe Cultures of Production ( Havens/ Lotz )

• Havens and Lotz use "culture" in two ways:

  • (1) the actual cultural content and texts that media industries produce (films, shows, songs, news)

  • (2) the shared social practices, values, norms, morals, and organizational hierarchies of the people who make and consume them

What shapes production culture?

• Language → Call sheet, 1st AD, PU shots

• Professional norms → Union roles, hierarchy

• Shared Taste → Executives think the audience want

• Deadlines → Production schedules

How do shows come to be in Canada?

• Audience Demand

• Funding

• Canadian Identity

• CRTC

• Broadcaster mandates

Define Material Culture.

• The tangible aspects of media you can see, touch, and interact with in the physical world.

• Functional, Sensory use

  • Vinyl records

Define Non - Utilitarian Feature of Media.

• Designed for utility serves as an aesthetic, symbolic or emotional value.

• Focus on how the object makes you feel and what it communicates to others.

  • collector’s box

  • colour of ipad

What is Mass Customization?

• Producing commodities that are tailored to market conditions

• Tailoring to buyer’s preferences than traditional mass - produced goods

What is Niche Market?

A media product, platform, publication, or channel designed for a specific audience with shared interests, identities, language, age, geography, or lifestyle rather than the general public.

What did Adorno, Marcuse and Horkheimer believe in for Mass Media?

• They believed that the mass media in United States was used to generate flase consciousness

Define Western Marxism.

• The belief that culture plays a role in shaping society

• Influences the way people think, understand the world and see power in social settings

  • Media

  • Art

  • Entertainment

What is Enlightenment?

• A time period when people started using logic, science, and independent thinking instead of blindly trusting kings, traditions, or religious authorities

• Meant to replace superstition

• Expand freedom

• Improve society

What is Culture Industry?

• Popular culture is produced like an industry, not created by the masses

What is Enlightenment’s Paradox?

Reason and technology can liberate people, but also be a tool for domination

Is media neutral?

Media is never neutral as entertainment shapes values, desires, indeintities and patterns of consumption