All Theories Flashcards
What is Steve Neale’s Genre Theory
1) Audiences enjoy specific texts because of “repetition and difference” of repertories of genre elements used. For example an audience might enjoy a film because it follows conventions of a typical film. They also AVOID usual conventions of genre and does something different.
2) Genre is not something static, it’s always evolving.
What is Stuart Hall’s reception theory?
Believes media texts are encode and decoded, however audience may decode in a different way then intended
- Preferred or dominant reading- how producer wants audience to read a text (passive)
-Oppositional reading- when preferred reading is objected and they create own meaning (active)
-Negotiated reading- compromise between dominant and oppositional, has own views but may accept parts (active)
What is representation theory?
Stuart Hall suggested media representations aren’t reflections of what things mean they are instead influenced by how things are presented, we decode similarly to those with same cultural backgrounds due to “shared conceptual road map”
What is stereotypes theory?
Tessa Perkins suggested all stereotypes contain a “grain of truth”, this is why they tend to be accepted and recognised by audiences, they however are problematic and perpetuate social injustices and inequality.
Who created “male gaze” theory and what did they suggest?
Laura Mulvey, she stated that women are positioned in the media in order to satisfy the male desire, e.g a camera lingering on a women’s body.
What is the feminist theory?
Bell hooks suggested the feminism is a struggle to educate sexist/patriarchal oppression and the idea of domination. Race and class are also determinants of the extent at which individuals are exploited, “white women are seen as desirable in modern western culture”
What is Van Zoonens theory? (++Example)
That meaning of gender can change overtime and vary culturally, tide advert shows domestication of women compared to 21st century adverts which may support Van Zoonens idea of progression
What is identity theory?
Audiences gather ideas from products like magazines on how to behave and adapt their behaviour to be what’s represented, we look to texts to help construct our identity- sense of identity from things we consume.
What is structuralism?
Claude Levi Strauss proposed binary oppositions and suggested the majority of narratives contained opposing main characters, to thicken plot and further narrative introducing contrast
What is gender performativity theory?
Judith Butler- gender is not something we are automatically born with it’s something we continually perform and it isn’t a natural category it’s created through culture and society- boys are taught to be masculine.
What is cultivation theory?
George Gerbner- long term exposure to media shapes how audiences perceive the world and conduct themselves, cultivated the idea of women’s role in tide and similar adverts then became normalised
