COMS 371 Midterm Review

Question 1

What does critical media studies look at?

Answer 1

Media text, media production, and media consumption in relation to particular sociopolitical moments

Question 2

What issues does critical media studies focus on?

Answer 2

The relationship between media, society and power, interested in the unequal power relations and how power is produced, maintained and distributed via media

Question 3

Define the meaning behind the words “critical” and “theory”

Answer 3

Theory: is a process that deals with “big thinking” questions
Critical: theory deals with problematizing (being critical of) power

Question 4

Define Ideology

Answer 4

the mental frameworks- the language, the concepts, categories, imagery of thought and systems of representation in order to make sense of, define, figure out, and render intelligible the way society works

Question 5

How did marx describe ideology

Answer 5

Emphasized ideology as the ideas of the ruling class (capitalism being a ideology)

Question 6

What are some of the ideologies in the worlds biggest loser

Answer 6

Individualism: ones hard work will pay off if you have the power to change you life through dedication and avoiding temptation
Thinness: Being skinny = healthy, successful, in control, the “real” you

Question 7

Define Hegemony

Answer 7

Ruling through consensus and negotiation, meaning that hegemony is interest and ideas of the dominate group are viewed as natural and common sense, it is a indirect power

Question 8

Give an example of hegemony in society

Answer 8

the over the top expensive weddings to signify and legitimize their new identity as a “married women”

Question 9

How does hegemony relate to ideology

Answer 9

Both are rooted in Marxism concerned with issues of power
Ideology can be said to be hegemonic when they serve the interest of those in power and become widely accepted as “ common sense” E.G.: capitalism, individualism, patriarchy

Question 10

Define Political Economy and what does this approach analyze

Answer 10

situating media texts within their system of production and distribution and is concerned with issues of power ( asks how those in power shape, promote or limit ideologies in media

Question 11

Define Media Consolidation

Answer 11

the changing structure of media ownership and power
The main critique here is that we are only given the illusion of choice ( only a couple of companies own a majority of media)

Question 12

Define media synergy

Answer 12

Cross-media approach to reach and engage audiences
Refers to the practice of using a range of media platforms to cross-promote a media product ( example: Hannah Montana being on tshirts and dvd and a games)

Question 13

How is authentic and mass culture characterized

Answer 13

Authentic: European, real, individual creation, challanges existing power hierarchies
Mass: amarican, false, mass production, and legitimazing exisitng power hierarchies

Question 14

Who coined the term of cultural industry and why was it problematic?

Answer 14

Theodor Aborno and Horkheimer were very critical of mass culture as maintaining social authority including hegemonic ideologies such as capitalism which stunts the political imagination

Question 15

Define cultural industry

Answer 15

a system of mass production and distribution driven by the commercial interests and produces mass culture, marked by homogeneity and predictability

Question 16

Define commodification of authentic culture

Answer 16

The Process of turning cultural texts into sellable commodities

Question 17

How are media consumers described in the culture industry

Answer 17

Passive dupes, and powerless under the control of an all encompassing capitalist media system

Question 18

Define cultural studies as a radical

Answer 18

Diverged from existing ideas about culture particularly working class culture and mass media and introduces methodologies and ways of studying media cultures

Question 19

What is the encoding and decoding method

Answer 19

media producers encode a particular meaning while creating text and the audience then decodes or makes sense of media texts

Question 20

What are the three decoding methods

Answer 20

Dominant hegemonic code (preferred reading) : confirms social order
Negotiated code: mix of adaptive and oppositional elements
Oppositional code: adopts an alternative frame of reference

Question 21

define signifier and signified

Answer 21

Signifier: form of the sign (the word “cat”)
Signified: meaning ( four legged feline creature, the picture of a tree)
Together they make up the sign

Question 22

Define Langue (structure)

Answer 22

The system of language, the rules and conventions that organize it, language as a social institution

Question 23

Define parole (performance)

Answer 23

individual use of language

Question 24

Define denotation?

Answer 24

A simple, basic, descriptive level of meaning in which most people would agree

Question 25

Define connotation

Answer 25

Refers to a secondary level of meaning that is wider, not based upon description, and more open to interpretation

Question 26

Who created the denotation and connotation model

Answer 26

Barthes

Question 27

What is the secondary level sign mean

Answer 27

its connotative if you were looking at a ring the secondary level would be marriage or love

Question 28

Define myth

Answer 28

Ideology is understood as a body of ideas and practices, by which, by actively promoting the values and interest of dominant groups in society defend the prevailing structure of power

Question 29

Define historical materialism

Answer 29

The material conditions of a society’s “mode of production” (the way in which a society is organized) shape its politics, social relations and culture, base/superstructure

Question 30

Define mode of production

Answer 30

The way in which a society is organized

Question 31

Who created the hegemony theory

Answer 31

Antonio Gramsci

Question 32

What is the Birmingham School key figures and the main ideals for the school

Answer 32

Stuart Hall he was interested in the ways that communication relates to power

Question 33

What was Stuart Hall main theoretical contribution

Answer 33

His main contribution to media reception/audience studies is his theory to encoding and decoding

Question 34

How is the birmingham school different from the Frankfurt school

Answer 34

The Frankfurt school has a Sender-> message-> receiver layout which i limiting for the agency for the media audience, they dont recognized the complex relationship production and consumption

while halls model proposed a model that highlights the complex relationship between production and consumption

Question 35

Who made and what is structuralism

Answer 35

Ferdinand de Saussure and it suggest that there is an underlining structure to culture and that we need to identify this structure as a means to engage in cultural analysis structure makes meaning possible
Signifier: form of the sign ( word “cat)
Signified: meaning (picture of the cat)
which make up the sign

Question 36

How did Barthes build on Saussure model

Answer 36

He said that the model only provided a primary signification and suggested the need for secondary signification

Question 37

What is the main point and concepts of Unraveling the Knot

Answer 37

Utilizes the concepts of hegemony to consider wedding media
Her analysis within a political-economical framework, acknowledging how media synergy works to circulate hegemonic ideas

Question 38

What are examples of the hegemonic representations in the unraveling the knot

Answer 38

• the over the top expensive weddings to signify and legitimize their new identity as a married women
• the cosmetic and fashion to reinforce beauty standards
• the portrayal of femininity rather then feminism heterosexuality

Question 39

What are the two features of the culture industry

Answer 39

Homogeneity (film, radio, and magazines make up a system which is uniform as a whole)
Predictability

Question 40

What did the frankfurt school argue in favor of popular culture

Answer 40

Some thought that popular culture would be a threat to culture but the frankfurt school though the opposite and that it would maintain culture and social authority

Question 41

What is the difference between myth and connotation

Answer 41

Myth is more based around society for example a picture being related to the domestication of wild animals for the benifit of companionship for people while a connotation would be looking at a picture of a cat and see them as a friend or a cute animal provoking positive emotion

Question 42

What are the main theme behind the Ross (frankfurt school knew trump was coming)

Answer 42

Mass culture, one dimensional, social authority, passive audience which stated that the frankfurt school predictions were true

Question 43

What are the main themes for the K-pop article

Answer 43

Revolved around cultural studies with active audiences and cultural practices, they are able to influence other group of society to agree/disagree on topics