media theories year 1

Steve Neale- Genre Theory (Language)

A Theory which suggests 2 things about Genre.

1) audiences enjoy specific texts because of “repetition and difference”

2) Genre is not something static as it is always evolving.

Roland Barthes Semiotic Theory (language)

Barthes theorised that media products were embedded with codes by producers which audiences could decipher/decode to gain more meaning.

Roland Barthes symbolic codes

These are semantic elements, which have become so ingrained in us that they have taken on a very specific meaning.

E.g. a cross connotes religion, a heart connotes love.

Sometimes people say they have taken on the status of a ‘myth’.

Roland Barthes semantic code

These are elements of a product that connote particular meanings that most audiences understand.

E.g. the colour red connotes danger or love, a suit connotes wealth and class. These are mostly within the product itself.

Roland Barthes enigma codes (hermeneutic)

These are mysterious enigmatic elements of a product, that leave the audience with unanswered questions.

These are good at hooking and audiences in because they often have to consume the whole product.

E.g. see the film, read the magazine etc in order to find out the answers to these questions.

Roland Barthes action code (proairetic)

These are elements that tell an audience about something that is going to happen.

E.g. a gun shot suggests there will be a shooting or violence, an elipses (…) suggests something dramatic is going to happen as a result of what has just been said.

Roland Barthes cultural codes

These are elements that might only be understood by a very specific audience in a specific culture.

E.g. perhaps only some audiences would recognise a military logo on someone’s uniform and so only they would understand the rank and importance of that soldier.

Claude Levi Strauss's Theory of Binary Opposites (language)

A Theory which suggests that a good story revolves around conflict between binary opposites.

E.g. good vs evil, men vs women, young vs old.

The idea that meaning is dependent on (and produced through) these pairs of oppositions.

Vladimir Propp's character types theory

A Theory which suggests that all stories feature very similar character types who all play specific roles in developing the narrative. He thinks the characters make it easy for an audience to understand the story.

His character types include:

Hero, villain, dispatcher, donor, helped, princess/prize

Clay Shirkys ‘end of audience’ Theory (audience)

Shirty believes that the Internet and technology has completely changed the relationship between producers and audiences.

He believes that the idea of passive audience consuming the media no longer exists because technology has turned them into an active ‘prosumer’ who likes to ‘speak back’ to the media and create and share their own content.

Stuart Halls Theory of representation (representation)

Hall believes we can understand representations by looking at the meaning of media language. He believes that media often contains stereotypes which reduce groups of people to a few.

Stereotypes occur when there is an inequality of power. Where dominant groups of society often make the media products and so represent non dominant groups in stereotypical ways.

David Gauntlett identity Theory (representation)

Gauntlett suggests that the media provider with ‘tools’ or resources that we use to construct our identity.

He suggests that in the past media tended to convey singular, straight forward messages about the ideal types of male and female identities, however the media today offer us a more diverse range of stars,icons and characters from whom we may pick and mix different ideas.

Van Zoonens feminists theory (representation)

The idea that gender is constructed through discourse, and that it’s meaning varies according to cultural and historical context.

The idea that in mainstream culture the visual and narrative codes that are used to construct the make body as spectacle differ from those who used to objectify the female body.

Bell Hooks feminists theory (representation)

The idea that feminism is a struggle to end exists patriarchal oppression and the ideology of domination.

The idea that race and class as well as gender determine the extent to which individuals are exploited, discriminated against or oppressed.

Curran and Seaton's power and media theory (industry)

The idea that the media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the logic of profit and power.

George Gerbners cultivation theory (audience)

Being exposed to repeated patterns of representation over long periods of time can shape and influence the way in which people perceive the world around them ( I.e. cultivating particular views and opinions).

This process of cultivation reinforces mainstream hegemonic values (dominant ideologies).

E.g. advertising, newspapers, magazines, online media.

Todorovs narrative theory (language)

A typical narrative will follow a three part structure-

Equilibrium, disruption and new equilibrium.

Baudrillard- postmodernism theory (language)

The theory centres around reality vs artificial reality.

As society had evolved we now see artificial reality as well as reality in the media.

The media is showing us a version of heightened reality.

Paul gilroy- post colonialism (representation)

Colonialism has had a lasting impact on the media.

Ethnic minorities are often shown as powerless, weak, humanised and marginalised.

White western people are often shown as more powerful,successful and important.

Judith Butler- gender performativity (representation)

Identity is a performance and it is constructed through a series of acts and ‘expressions’ that we perform every day.

While there are biological differences dictated by sex, our gender is defined through series of acts. These may include the way we walk,talk,dress and so on.

Therefore there is no gender identity behind these expressions of gender.

Gender performativity is not a singular act, but a repetition and a ritual. It is outlined and reinforced through dominant patriarchal ideologies.

Sonia livingstone and Peter lunt

They are associated with the concept of regulation in media.

What does regulation refer to in the media industry?

Regulation refers to the rules and restrictions that every media industry has to follow.

What is the role of the BBFC in the UK film industry?

The BBFC provides age certifications for films.

What does OFCOM regulate in the UK?

OFCOM regulate television.

What is a key struggle in recent UK regulation policy?

The struggle between protecting citizens from harmful material and ensuring consumer interests like choice and market competition.

What challenges do global media corporations pose to traditional media regulations?

The increasing power of global media corporations and convergent media technologies threatened traditional approaches to media regulation.

How does online media affect media regulation?

Online media production,distribution and circulation often allow producers to ignore media regulations.

David Hesmondhalgh- cultural industries theory (industries)

Culture and industry are 2 terms that often at odds with one another. Producers try to minimise risk and maximise audiences through vertical and horizontal integration.

They also standardise and format their cultural products.

E.g. through the use of stars,genres, and serials.

The largest companies or conglomerates now operate across a number of different cultural industries.

Albert Bandura media effects (audience)

This old fashioned view of how media products effect audiences is associated with the frankfurt school in Germany.

The effects model suggests that media can implant ideas in the mind of the audience directly.

It is also known as hypodermic needle model.

Audiences acquire attitudes, emotional responses and behaviours through media products modelling ideologies.

If a media product represents behaviour such as violence or physical agression,this can lead to audience members to imitate those forms of behaviour.

Stuart Halls reception theory (audience)

To watch/read/play/listen/to consume a media product is a process involving encoding by producers and decoding by audiences.

There are millions of possible responses that can be affected through factors such as upbringing cultural capital, ethnicity, age, social class and so on. Hall narrowed this down to three ways in which messages and meanings may be decoded.

The preferred resding- the dominant hegemonic position, where the audience understands and accepts the ideology of the producers.

The negotiated reading- where the ideological implications of producers messages is agreed with in general, although the message is negotiated or picked apart by the audience, and they may disagree with certain aspects.

The oppositional reading- where the producers messages is understood, but the audience disagrees with the ideological perspective in every aspect.

Henry Jenkins Fandom theory (audience)

Random refers to a particularly organised and motivated audience of a certain media producer franchise.

Unlike the generic audience or the classic spectator, fans are active participants in the construction and circulation of textual meanings.

Fans appropriate texts and read them in ways that are not fully intended by the media producers ( ‘textual poaching’ ). Examples of this may manifest in conventions, fan fictions and so on.

Rather than just a play or a video game or watch a tv show, fans construct their social and cultural identities through borrowing and utilising mass culture images and may use ‘sub cultural capital’ to form social bonds for example, through online forums like reddit.