Theories for Media Studies

semiotics

• Roland Barthes

• The study of signs and meaning texts communicate their ideas through signification.

• Signs function at the literal level (signifier, denotation) as well as figurative level(signified, connotation)

• Exposure to certain symbolic constructions can become self-evident, as the sign becomes myth through naturalization

saussure

Sign (object/thing)

signifier- the physical experience (sound, word, image) red/leaf/round/apple

Signified- the mental concept. fruit/apple/freshness/healthy/temptation/teacher’s pet/computer

narratology

• Tzvetan Todrov

• all narrative share a basic structure, moving from one equilibrium to another

• these 2 states of the equilibrium are separated by disruption or imbalance. the way that narratives resolve can have ideological significance

tedrov’s theory of equilibrium

1. equilibrium

2. disruption of the equilibrium

3. recognition of the disruption

4. attempt to resolve the disruption

5. return to a new equilibrium

genre theory

• Steve Neale

• genres are dominated by repetition of codes and conventions but must also incorporate difference, variation, and change

• genre changes as they borrow form and overlap with each other (hybridity and subgenres)

• genres exist within specific economic, institutional, and industrial contexts

structuralism

• Claude LeviStrauss

• texts can be understand through an analysis of their underlying structure

• meaning is often produced through oppositional pairs (ex: good vs evil) the resolution of these binary opposites can have ideological significance.

post modernism

• Jean Beaudrillord

• the boundaries between the real ad mediated worlds have collapsed

• signs are a process of signification with no signifier underlying them; they no longer refer to anything real or literal

• mediated images now seem more real than the reality they supposedly represented. (hyperreality)

• views media as a site of power and ideology, and questions traditional narratives and interpretation. post modernist media often emphasizes styles over substance, and challenges the ideas of objective reality.

theory of representation

• representation is the production of meaning through language ( a system of signs)

• stereotyping reduces people and things to a few simple characteristics/traits

• stereotyping tends to occur where there is disport of power, with subordinated/excluded groups being different or other.

• Preferred/dominant reading: The way media producers want to interpret the text. The type of reading will be culturally dependent

Theory of identity

• David Gauntlett

• media help us to construct our identifies

• media provides us with tools and resources that we use to shape our identites