ALL THEORIES Flashcards
Steve Neals genre theory
Suggests two things about genre:
1) Audiences enjoy texts due to repetition and differences. These are repeated conventions which are familiar to audiences and therefore enjoyed. But also differences in conventions are new and refreshing to audience, therefore also enjoyed.
2) Genre is not static, it is always evolving
Barthes semiotics theory
Producers encode messages which are decoded by audiences
Semantic code - connotations that audiences easily understand. Eg red=love
Symbolic code - semantic elements with a specific meaning. Eg a cross=religion
Enigma code - mysterious elements of a media text, leaving the audience with unanswered questions
Action code - tell audiences what is about to happen. Eg pulling a gun out=about to shoot
Cultural code - Elements which are only able to be decoded by specific audiences due to their backgrounds
Levi Strauss structuralism theory
Narratives within media products often include conflict between binary opposites.
These binary opposites generate meaning
Vladimir Propp’s character types theory
All stories feature similar character types who play specific character roles which are easily understandable for audiences.
Include:
- hero
- villain
- dispatcher
- donor
- helper
- damsel in distress
Stuart Halls reception theory
Although text producers try to communicate particular messages they are still interpreted in different ways by audiences.
Preferred reading - accepting messages in the product
Oppositional reading - rejecting messages in a product
Negotiated reading - partially accepting messages but partially rejecting messages in a product
Blumler and Klatz uses and gratifications theory
Audiences consume media for a variety of reasons:
Personal identity
Information
Entertainment/escapism
Social interaction
Stuart Halls representation theory
Media products contain a “shared conceptual road map” which helps audiences to understand the representations displayed.
Stereotypes are often used in media products due to an inequality of power in society, however these are easily understandable for audiences to decode.
Gauntletts identity theory
The media provides us with tools to construct our own identities.
Van Zoonens feminist theory
Representations of females in the media are dependent on historical and cultural contexts.
Women’s bodies are seen as objects to look at however means bodies are seen as spectacles.
bell hooks feminist theory
Feminism is a struggle to end the patriarchy
Feminism is a political commitment
Poorer/black women are seen as less attractive according to western beauty standards.
Laura Mulvey’s male gaze theory
Women in the media are objectified. Women are seen as the passive gender, who are to be looked at and men are seen as the active gender, who do the looking
Gilroy’s post-colonial theory
The media often represents the world from a racist point of view, even though we live in a multicultural society. Representations based on binary opposition create divisions and boundaries between groups of people.
