COMS 371 Midterm Review Flashcards
What does critical media studies look at?
Media text, media production, and media consumption in relation to particular sociopolitical moments
What issues does critical media studies focus on?
The relationship between media, society and power, interested in the unequal power relations and how power is produced, maintained and distributed via media
Define the meaning behind the words “critical” and “theory”
Theory: is a process that deals with “big thinking” questions
Critical: theory deals with problematizing (being critical of) power
Define Ideology
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
How did marx describe ideology
Emphasized ideology as the ideas of the ruling class (capitalism being a ideology)
What are some of the ideologies in the worlds biggest loser
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
Define Hegemony
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
Give an example of hegemony in society
the over the top expensive weddings to signify and legitimize their new identity as a “married women”
How does hegemony relate to ideology
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
Define Political Economy and what does this approach analyze
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
Define Media Consolidation
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)
Define media synergy
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)
How is authentic and mass culture characterized
Authentic: European, real, individual creation, challanges existing power hierarchies
Mass: amarican, false, mass production, and legitimazing exisitng power hierarchies
Who coined the term of cultural industry and why was it problematic?
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
Define cultural industry
a system of mass production and distribution driven by the commercial interests and produces mass culture, marked by homogeneity and predictability
Define commodification of authentic culture
The Process of turning cultural texts into sellable commodities
How are media consumers described in the culture industry
Passive dupes, and powerless under the control of an all encompassing capitalist media system
Define cultural studies as a radical
Diverged from existing ideas about culture particularly working class culture and mass media and introduces methodologies and ways of studying media cultures
What is the encoding and decoding method
media producers encode a particular meaning while creating text and the audience then decodes or makes sense of media texts
What are the three decoding methods
Dominant hegemonic code (preferred reading) : confirms social order
Negotiated code: mix of adaptive and oppositional elements
Oppositional code: adopts an alternative frame of reference
define signifier and signified
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
Define Langue (structure)
The system of language, the rules and conventions that organize it, language as a social institution
Define parole (performance)
individual use of language
Define denotation?
A simple, basic, descriptive level of meaning in which most people would agree
Define connotation
Refers to a secondary level of meaning that is wider, not based upon description, and more open to interpretation
Who created the denotation and connotation model
Barthes
What is the secondary level sign mean
its connotative if you were looking at a ring the secondary level would be marriage or love
Define myth
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
Define historical materialism
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
Define mode of production
The way in which a society is organized
Who created the hegemony theory
Antonio Gramsci
What is the Birmingham School key figures and the main ideals for the school
Stuart Hall he was interested in the ways that communication relates to power
What was Stuart Hall main theoretical contribution
His main contribution to media reception/audience studies is his theory to encoding and decoding
How is the birmingham school different from the Frankfurt school
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
Who made and what is structuralism
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
How did Barthes build on Saussure model
He said that the model only provided a primary signification and suggested the need for secondary signification
What is the main point and concepts of Unraveling the Knot
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
What are examples of the hegemonic representations in the unraveling the knot
- 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
What are the two features of the culture industry
Homogeneity (film, radio, and magazines make up a system which is uniform as a whole)
Predictability
What did the frankfurt school argue in favor of popular culture
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
What is the difference between myth and connotation
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
What are the main theme behind the Ross (frankfurt school knew trump was coming)
Mass culture, one dimensional, social authority, passive audience which stated that the frankfurt school predictions were true
What are the main themes for the K-pop article
Revolved around cultural studies with active audiences and cultural practices, they are able to influence other group of society to agree/disagree on topics
