Eduqas GCSE Media Studies ALL THEORIES

Neale's Genre Theory

1) Genre is always evolving

2) Audience enjoy films that are typical and x typical of a genre

Levi Strauss's theory of Binary Opposites

- A good plot = conflict between binary opposites

-Meaning is produced by it

- There is a always a medium

- The way in which the conflict is resolved is significant

Todorov's Narrative Structure theory

• Equilibrium

• Disruption

• Realisation

• Battle for Resolution

• New Equilibrium

Propp's character types theory

These characters make it easy for an audience to understand the story.

- Hero

• Villain

• Dispatcher

• Donor

• Helper

• Princess / Prize

Stuart Hall's Reception theory

Producers encode ---- Audience decode

• Preferred reading - accept the messages in the product

• Oppositional Reading - reject the messages in the product

• Negotiated Reading - partially accept/reject the messages in the text

Blumler & Katz's Uses & Gratifications Theory

- Escapism/Diversion

• Personal Identity

• Entertainment

• Information/Education

• Social Interaction

Henry Jenkins Fandom theory

Fan - active in constructing/circulating textual meanings

Textual Poaching - Fans use/interpret media in x intended ways

Fans construct their identities in society by borrowing/adapting media texts

Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory

Women - passive gender Men - active

Viewpoint of heterosexual man

Wolf's Beauty Myth/Standards

Imagery - x attainable

Women's bodies presented as 'in constant need of improvement'

'Iron Maiden', a standard that is unobtainable but aspirational

Butler's Gender Performativity

Genders are expected to act in certain ways by society

We are all 'performing' by following it

Gender is not linked to the biology

(Female doesn't biologically have to like makeup)

News Values by Galtung and Ruge

Factors which determine the possibility of a story to be covered.

Threshold - size

Meaningfulness - Relevance

Unambiguity - Simple, complex is too hard to explain

Unexpectedness - element of surprise

Continuity - Updates as a story develops

Elite persons/nations - major news

Personalisation - directly affecting/involving people (human angle of events)

Negativity - more likely than good news.

Dyer's Star Theory

The star is a construction, commodity and ideology (represents a set of values and attitudes that reflect the audience's own values)

Maslow

Hierarchy of Needs

Physiological, Security, Social, Self-Actualization

Desensitisation

Repeated exposure to certain messages can influence audiences to accept them

Two step Flow

In society there are opinion leaders who are influential

Hypodermic Syringe

media messages can be 'injected' into the 'system' to influence behaviour

David Buckingham

events are not presented but re-presented to the audience

john berger

men act and women appear

cultivation theory

a perspective on media use that emphasizes the impact media exposure of the same products/representations has on individuals