CMST110-07 Midterm

Anna May Wong (1905-1961)

chinese movie star, first chinese american movie star

victim of ORIENTALISM -- stereotypical representation of Asians through a colonialist attitude

she was simultaneously both typecasted and passed over in favor of non-asian actresses

fragmentation of a mass audience

"mass" audiences don't typically turn up anymore

shift from "broadcasting" to "narrowcasting"

how was the mass audience fragmented

began in radio -- stations

spread to cable -- channels

overtakes network TV -- streaming

social media

Raymond Williams (1921-88)

coined the “structure of feeling” and “ways of being in the world”

culture is composed of patterns of artifacts & behaviors, selected generation by generation, which produce shared ways of being in the world & structures of feeling

Raymond Williams definition of culture

Culture is "a whole way of life".

Culture is "ordinary".

Raymond Williams on the perceived types of culture

High culture

Pop culture

Material Culture

Lived Culture

Dominant culture people want to be apart of the dominant culture which may be high culture

3 key terms from cultural analysis

physical/material

social/ritualistic

attitudinal

physical/material

physical objects are artifacts

social/ritualistic

family, friends, nation

attitudinal

a way of being in the world

high culture

the cultural patterns of a society's elite

low (pop) culture

the cultural patterns of the "masses"

the difference between high culture and low culture

THERE IS NONE. HIGH CULTURE DOESN'T EXIST. all culture is valuable and the idea of high vs. low is a problematic concept

pre-print europe

literature/records were produced by hand -- manuscripts

access was exclusive to the elite -- knowledge was limited

manuscripts

hand-written copies of old documents

problems with manuscripts

takes weeks or months to produce one

production is limited almost entirely to monasteries

monks drink wine

one accident with a candle can send them up in flames

errors in copying are everywhere

viewed with skepticism

starting nature of printing press

increased production of content

decreased production time

developed economy of scale based on rapid production + low unit price

print replaced hand-produced books in only 50 years

defused thru-out europe between 1450-1500

facilitated the european rennaissance, ushered in modern age

impact of print tech on power

undercut the power of elites and offered knowledge to masses

set the stage for Enlightenment + Scientific Revolution

set the stage for Capitalism

set the stage for European colonialism

set the stage for Protestant Reformation

Changed relationship between STUDENTS + TEACHERS

impact of print tech on stylistics

competition among printers forced innovation

brought us chapters, indexes, illustrations

print shops

intellectual collaboration among experts

merchants and scholars figure out ways to finance the production and distribution of big projects: theology, law, and medicine

Scholars determine the most reliable copies of ancient manuscripts to print

functions like a combination sweat shop, boarding house, saloon, and research institution

printers are among the first capitalists

investment syndicates develop -- financing labor & supplies

printers form international distribution networks thru europe

sales reps ("travelers") market books

print tech reorganized the nature of knowledge

editors become gatekeepers who pass judgment on content

scholars are able to integrate and unify entire bodies of knowledge for the first time in human experience

increased output encouraged new combinations of old knowledge and entirely new systems of thought

the most significant breakthrough of the printing press

it was made possible to preserve intelligence

allowed systematic intellectual inquiry into material existence

human existence becomes less magical+mysterious,

a new kind of shared consciousness emerges

structure of feeling (raymond williams)

"the culture of a period" in history

"general culture patterns" produce structure -- when carriers die, reliance is put on documents (artifacts remain)

4 phases social drama theory

* breach of norms

* crisis

* redressive phase

* reintegrative phase

breach of norms

rupture of normative social relationships

brings into question fundamental myths and sense of shared social reality

crisis

breach leads to ever-widening conflict

social structure broken into opposing factions

unifying myths are now brought into question

(ex. revolution, civil war)

redressive phase

healing

efforts are made to control crisis, restore unifying myths

(ex. police/military action, redressive rituals thru media)

reintegrative phase

re-establishment of unifying myths, although they can be altered

(ex. Gettysburg Address, "I Have a Dream")

KEY TERMS RELATED TO STRUCTURE OF FEELING

Myth

Doxa

Hegemony

Codes of representation

myth

sacred story that is profoundly meaningful, generation unto generation

doxa

knowledge beyond question

hegemony

achieved by dominant belief system, always evolving

codes of representation

race, class, gender, sexual orientation, age, etc

always evolving

media content

cultural artifact

images

memories of former or current structures of feeling

3 ways to perceive culture

ideal and everlasting values

documentary record of cultural production -- evidence of previous cultures

social description of a way of life

Big 3

production (creation of content)

distribution (distribution of content)

exhibition (showing of content)

mythic dimension

myths take on the form of sacred stories that are passed on from one generation to the next; may or may not be taken literally but convey religious truths

media literacy

the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media in a variety of forms

CRITICAL THINKING

parasocial relationships

individuals' relationships with people in the media: celebrities, television characters, and athletes

objectivity

treating facts without influence from personal feelings or prejudices

creative impulse

the need for self-expression

need to experience "flow"

James Gordon Bennett (1847-1916)

FOUNDER OF THE PENNY PRESS

He initiated features found in modern newspapers, including a financial page, editorial commentary, and public-affairs reporting

had a thing for owls

James Gordon Bennett News Model

1835 - post ww2

quotes, facts, details

no analysis, no context

"Lightning News"

beats and sections

deadline driven

William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951)

fascist and owned much of the distribution of media: newspapers, magazines, radio licenses, TV licenses, film production

created yellow journalism

sucked so much he inspired Citizen Kane

yellow journalism

journalism that is based upon sensationalism and crude exaggeration.

Nellie Bly (1864-1922)

female journalist & first investigative reporter

posed as a mental patient to write an expose of the terrible conditions then prevalent in asylums

penny press

established mass communication in the USA

newspapers were able to drop their price to one cent, becoming affordable to all and a genuine mass medium

James Gordon Bennett's formula for Massive Profit Making

steam power used for massive industrial printing presses

industrial production of unlimited daily press runs -- utilized "newsboys" who sold papers on the street all day

industrial pattern

technology applied to production, distribution, exhibition

(ex. telegraph/radio/internet originally for military use)

organizational structures are regulated

construction of marketable audiences (with intensely researched demographics)

content targeting marketable audiences

financing thru investment/advertising/subscriptions

orson welles

created Citizen Kane (1941) to criticize of William Randolph Hearst

exposé

a report designed to reveal a scandalous truth to the public

(ex. pentagon papers, watergate)

thomas edison

invented sound recording in 1877 in menlo park, NJ

audiotape recording technology

taken repurposed for entertainment from german military in WW2

analog vs digital media

analog habituates consumers to buy products

digital habituates consumers to buy ACCESS to products

tradebook

intended for mass circulation in the book industry, made for general audiences

Stage 1: Description

Examples of Description

Stage 2: Analysis

Examples of Analysis

Stage 3: Interpretation

Examples of Interpretation

Stage 4: Evaluation

Examples of Evaluation

Stage 5: Engagement

Examples of Engagement

mass media

the cultural industries — channels of communications — that produce songs, novels, news, movies, online services, and other cultural products and distribute them to a large number of people

mass communication

the process of designing and delivering cultural messages and stories to diverse audiences through media channels as old as the book and as new as the internet

digital turn

the shift in media use and consumption resulting from the emergence of the internet as a mass medium

media convergence (in technology)

the merging of content across different channels (ex. magazines available in print or online)

media convergence (in business)

when companies consolidate various media holdings under one umbrella

FOMO

fear of missing out

the cultural model

recognizes individuals bring diverse meanings to messages, given factors such as gender/age/education/ethnicity/occupation. in this more complex model of mass communication, audiences affirm, interpret, refashion, or reject messages/stories which flow through various media channels

skyscraper model

culture as a hierarchy -- high culture, low culture

map model

culture as a process -- all is connected yet diverse

modern era

period from the Industrial Revolution to the 20th Century. characterized by efficiency, individualism, rational order, and rejection of tradition

progressive era

period from 1890s-1920s that inspired Americans and mass media to break tradition and embrace change

postmodern era

period from the 60s to present. characterized by populism, questioning authority, embracing technology

populism

a political idea which appeals to the ordinary people by setting up a conflict between "the people" and "the elite"

5 stage critical process of media literacy

employs the techniques of description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and engagement

description

developing a working knowledge of the medium

analysis

looking for patterns and making connections

interpretation

ascribing cultural meaning to those patterns

evaluation

making a critically informed judgment

engagement

sharing our conclusions to benefit the larger world

phallic “man card”

symbolic licensure of masculine identity (ex. owning a gun)

illuminated manuscripts

books from the middle ages which featured decorative, colorful designs and illustrations on each page

paperback books

books made with less expensive paper covers, introduced in USA in mid-1800s

dime novels (pulp fiction)

cheaply produced, low price novels popular in USA from 1860s

publishing houses

companies that identified and produced the works of respected writers

synergy

the promotion and sale of a product throughout the various subsidiaries of a media conglomerate

trade books

the most visible book industry segment, ft. hardbound and paperback books aimed at general readers

importance of TX & CA in the textbook business

texas & california have statewide adoption policies governing which texts can be used

professional books

technical books which target various occupational groups, and are not intended for the general consumer market

e-book

digital book read on electronic device

the handmaid’s tale

top selling e-book of 2017

self publishing

once considered a vain enterprise, equated with amateurism and work unworthy of expenses and resources of big publishing houses

audio books

voice recordings of books, read by actors or authors. assists the disabled, also used on commutes or exercising

university press

segment of book industry which publishes scholarly books in specialized areas

acquisitions editors

editors who seek out and sign authors to contracts

how TV&Film assists books

when a book is adopted as a movie or show, book sales soar

conglomerates

concentration of ownership of many media companies, often on a global scale

partisan press

early dominant style of american journalism — distinguished by opinion newspapers which argued the agenda or plan of a particular party

associated press wire service

first newspaper to relay news stories around country & world, originally via telegraph