Definitions

Question 1

Archetype

Answer 1

A term given to a type of character that can be noticed throughout a variety of different texts.
(Eg. Hero, Anti-Hero, Loyal Friend etc.)

Question 2

Audience

Answer 2

Anyone who views, listens to or reads a media text.

Question 3

Binary Opposites

Answer 3

A way in which opposites are used to bring about interest in the media.
(Eg. Good/Bad, Young/Old, Black/White etc.)

Question 4

Catharsis

Answer 4

The idea that the use of violence and sexual content throughout the media can relieve anger and tension in the audience.

Question 5

Censorship

Answer 5

The control over what is in and not in a media text.

Question 6

Technical Codes

Answer 6

The way in which, for example, camera angles, framing, lighting etc. bring about certain meanings within a text.

Question 7

Conventions

Answer 7

The way a certain thing is done in a particular genre.

Question 8

Convergence

Answer 8

The bringing of two or more things together to create something new.
(iPad have ‘converged’ books, TV, maps and the internet.)

Question 9

Demographics

Answer 9

Factual characteristics of an audience.

Age, gender, race etc.

Question 10

Denotation

Answer 10

The ‘explicit’ meaning of a word or image in the media.

Question 11

Connotation

Answer 11

A secondary meaning that a word or image carries in addition to its ‘explicit’ meaning.

Question 12

Enigma

Answer 12

A question within a text that is not immediately answered that causes interest in the audience.

Question 13

Hegemony

Answer 13

Where general views of everything in society is influenced by those of a higher power.

Question 14

Hypodermic Needle Theory

Answer 14

The idea that the media can ‘inject’ ideas and messages into a passive audience.

Question 15

Ideology

Answer 15

The ideas and beliefs that are thought to be right and acceptable by the creators of a media text.

Question 16

Indexical Sign

Answer 16

A sign which relates directly to something it signifies.

Smoke signifies fire

Question 17

Intertextuality

Answer 17

Where the creators of media texts use other texts to create interest in the audience.

Question 18

Mode of Address

Answer 18

The way in which a text communicates to its intended audience. For this to be done, the creators generally have to make assumptions on what the intended audience would be to base these communications.

Question 19

Moral Panic

Answer 19

The way in which emotions are stirred due to events or issues that appear in the media. Generally negatively.
(Muslims after 9/11)

Question 20

Narrative Code

Answer 20

A way in which a text is generally put together. This general way is ‘Equilibrium, Disequilibrium, New Equilibrium’.
Some texts can be ‘fractured’ or ‘non-linear’, meaning that they do not follow the general pattern.

Question 21

News Values

Answer 21

Factors which influence whether a certain news story will gain coverage over the news.

Question 22

Patriarchy

Answer 22

A society where everything is controlled/dominated by women.

Question 23

Post Modernism

Answer 23

Anything that challenges the traditional way of doing something.

Question 24

Preferred Reading

Answer 24

The interpretation of a media product that was intended by the maker.

Question 25

Oppositional Reading

Answer 25

An interpretation of a media text by a reader that conflicts with their interpretations and assumptions.

Question 26

Negotiated Reading

Answer 26

The ‘compromise’ that is reached between the preferred reading that a media text offers and the assumptions and interpretations of the reader.

Question 27

Propaganda

Answer 27

The way a ruling class uses the media to control or alter the attitudes of others.

Question 28

Regulation

Answer 28

Those with the job of making sure certain media texts are not seen by the wrong audience.
(BBFC)

Question 29

Signifier

Answer 29

Something that conveys a meaning, and the meaning conveyed.

Question 30

Two Step Flow Model

Answer 30

The idea that ideas flow from mass media to opinion leaders, and from them to a wider population.

Question 31

Uses and Gratifications Theory

Answer 31

The assumption that the audience is not just passive and that they interpret and interrogate the media into their own lives.