key theorists

Question 1

ROLAND BARTHES - media language

Answer 1

SEMIOTICS
the idea that texts communicate their meanings through a process of signification.
the idea that signs can function at the level of denotation, which involves the ‘literal’ or common-sense meaning of the sign, and at the level of connotation, which involves the meanings associated with or suggested by the sign.
in a nutshell - all elements of a media text are codes that need to be read. these can all be understood as the thing they are (denotative level) and the responses they create (connotative level).

Question 2

TZVETAN TODOROV - media language

Answer 2

NARRATOLOGY
the idea that all narratives share a basic structure that involves a movement from one state of equilibrium to another.
the idea that these two states of equilibrium are separated by a period of imbalance or disequilibrium.
the idea that the way in which narratives are resolved can have particular ideological significance.
in a nutshell - narratives follow a pattern of equilibrium > disruption > new equilibrium.

Question 3

STEVE NEALE - media language

Answer 3

GENRE THEORY
the idea that genres may be dominated by repetition, but are also marked by difference, variation, and change.
the idea that genres change, develop, and vary, as they borrow from and overlap with one another.
the idea that genres exist within specific economic, institutional and industrial contexts.
in a nutshell - genre is recognisable but does change over time or borrow from other genres. genre is important to institutions because it helps them to market texts.

Question 4

CLAUDE LEVI STAUSS - media language

Answer 4

BINARY OPPOSITION
the idea that texts can best be understood through an examination of their underlying structure.
the idea that meaning is dependent upon (and produced through) pairs of oppositions.
the idea that the way in which these binary oppositions are resolved can have particular ideological significance.
in a nutshell - the conflict between binary opposites drives forward the narrative.

Question 5

JEAN BAUDRILLARD - media language

Answer 5

SEMIOTICS
the idea that in postmodern culture the boundaries between the ‘real’ world and the world of the media have collapsed and that it is no longer possible to distinguish between reality and simulation.
the idea that in a postmodern age of simulacra we are immersed in a world of images which no longer refer to anything ‘real’.
the idea that media images have come to seem more ‘real’ than the reality they supposedly represent (hyperreality).
in a nutshell - the lines between created texts and reality are becoming blurred. for example, perfect instagram images seem ‘real’.

Question 6

CURRAN AND SEATON - media institutions

Answer 6

POWER AND MEDIA INDUSTRIES
the idea that the media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the logic of profit and power.
the idea that media concentration generally limits or inhibits variety, creativity and quality.
the idea that more socially diverse patterns of ownership help to create the conditions for more varied and adventurous media productions.
in a nutshell - if we had more of a variety of media companies, we’d have more of a variety of texts.

Question 7

LIVINGSTONE AND LUNT - media institutions

Answer 7

REGULATION
the idea that there is an underlying struggle in recent UK regulation policy between the need to further the interests of citizens (by offering protection from harmful or offensive material), and the need to further the interests of consumers (by ensuring choice, value for money, and market competition).
the idea that the increasing power of global media corporations, together with the rise of convergent media technologies and transformations in the production, distribution and marketing of digital media, have placed traditional approaches to media regulation at risk.
in a nutshell - who is regulation FOR ? can regulation keep up with new technologies ?.

Question 8

DAVID HESMONDHAUGH - media institutions

Answer 8

CULTURAL INDUSTRIES
the idea that cultural industry companies try to minimize risk and maximize audiences through vertical and horizontal integration, and by formatting their cultural products (e.g. through the use of stars, genres, and serials).
the idea that the largest companies or conglomerates now operate across a number of different cultural industries.
the idea that the radical potential of the internet has been contained to some extent by its partial incorporation into a large, profit-orientated set of cultural industries.
in a nutshell - industry uses tried and tested strategies to appeal to us, but we should be concerned that only a few companies hold a lot of power.

Question 9

STUART HALL - representation

Answer 9

REPRESENTATION THEORIES
the idea that representation is the production of meaning through language, with language defined in its broadest sense as a system of signs.
the idea that the relationship between the concepts and signs is governed by codes.
the idea that stereotyping, as a form of representation, reduces people to a few simple characteristics or traits.
the idea that stereotyping tends to occur where there are inequalities of power, as subordinate or excluded groups are constructed as different or ‘other’ (e.g. through ethnocentrism).
in a nutshell - media language is used to create representations. stereotyping is often used to assert power.

Question 10

DAVID GAUNTLETT - representation

Answer 10

THEORIES OF IDENTITY
the idea that the media provide us with ‘tools’ or resources that we use to construct our identities.
the idea that whilst in the past the media tended to convey singular, straightforward messages about ideal types of male and female identities, the media today offer us a more diverse range of stars, icons and characters from whom we may pick and mix different ideas.
in a nutshell - we use the internet and other media texts to help us to create our identity. we now have more of a variety of representations to identify with.

Question 11

LIESBET VAN ZOONEN - representation

Answer 11

the idea that gender is constructed through discourse, and that it’s meaning varies according to cultural and historical context.
the idea that the display of women’s bodies as objects to be looked as is a core element of western patriarchal culture.
the idea that in mainstream culture the visual and narrative codes that are used to construct the male body as spectacle differ from those used to objectify the female.
in a nutshell - men and women are represented differently in the media. women are objectified as a result of western culture.

Question 12

BELL HOOKS - representation

Answer 12

FEMINIST THEORY
the idea that feminism is a struggle to end sexist/patriarchal oppression and the ideology of domination.
the idea that feminism is a political commitment rather than a lifestyle choice.
the idea that race and class as well as sex determine the extent to which individuals are exploited, discriminated against or oppressed.
in a nutshell - feminism is a political struggle to end patriarchal domination and other factors affect this domination, including race and class.

Question 13

JUDITH BUTLER - representation

Answer 13

GENDER PERFORMATIVITY
the idea that identity is performatively constructed by the very ‘expressions’ that are said to be its results (it is manufactured through a set of acts).
the idea that there is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender.
the idea that performativity is not a singular act, but a repetition and a ritual.
in a nutshell - gender is a social construct, ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ are created through repetition.

Question 14

PAUL GILROY - representation

Answer 14

ETHNICITY AND POSTCOLONIALISM
the idea that colonial discourse continue to inform contemplate attitudes to race and ethnicity in the postcolonial era.
the idea that civilisationism constructs racial hierarchies and sets up binary oppositions based on notions of otherness.
in a nutshell - even though we no longer have colonies, the representation of these groups is still affected by that time.

Question 15

ALBERT BANDURA - audience

Answer 15

EFFECTS DEBATE
the idea that the media can implant ideas in the mind of the audience directly.
the idea that audiences acquire attitudes, emotional responses and new styles of conduct through modelling.
the idea that media representations of transgressive behaviour, such as violence or physical aggression, can lead audience members to imitate those forms of behaviour.
in a nutshell - if an audience sees aggressive behaviour, they are likely to mimic it. this theory is contested.

Question 16

GEORGE GERBNER - audience

Answer 16

CULTIVATION THEORY
the idea that exposure to repeated patterns of representation over long periods of time can shape and influence the way in which people perceive the world around them (i.e. cultivating particular views and opinions).
the idea that cultivation reinforces mainstream values (dominant ideologies).
in a nutshell - the more we see the same representations and messages, the more we believe they are true.

Question 17

STUART HALL - audience

Answer 17

RECEPTION THEORY
the idea that communication is a process involving encoding by producers and decoding by audiences.
the idea that there are three hypothetical positions from which messages and meanings may be decoded : the preferred reading, the negotiated reading or the oppositional reading.
the preferred reading is the producers intended message, the negotiated is when the audience understand the message but adapt it to suit their own values and the oppositional is where the audience disagrees with the preferred meaning.
in a nutshell - producers want audiences to respond in a particular way to a text. some audiences do (preferred reading), some audiences don’t (oppositional reading) and some are in the middle (negotiated reading). text + reader = meaning.

Question 18

HENRY JENKINS - audience

Answer 18

PARTICIPATORY CULTURE
the idea that fans are active participants in the construction and circulation of textual meanings.
the idea that fans are appropriate texts and read them in ways that are not fully authorised by the media producers (‘textual poaching’).
the idea that fans construct their social and cultural identities through borrowing and inflecting mass culture images, and are part of a participatory culture that has a vital social dimension.
in a nutshell - the internet has allowed fans to gather and create their own texts and easily share their work. instead of just consuming the texts, audiences are creating them.

Question 19

CLAY SHIRKY - audience

Answer 19

END OF AUDIENCE
the idea that the internet and digital technologies have had a profound effect on the relations between media and individuals.
the idea that the conceptualisation of audience members as passive consumers of mass media content is no longer tenable in the age of the internet, as media consumers have a now become producers who ‘speak back to’ the media in various ways, as well as creating and sharing content with one another.
in a nutshell - we are now more likely to use the internet and other technologies to respond to texts, including creating our own.