Key Theorists

Question 1

Barthes- semiotics

Answer 1

We make sense of the world through a series of signs that hold meaning (shot type, type of colouring, camera angle, mise en scene)

Question 2

Barthes - Hermeneutic codes

Answer 2

Anything which has a meaning, which poses a question (enigma codes) Example- Copse in a crime drama, asking the question of who killed them.

Question 3

Barthes- Proairetic codes

Answer 3

Action codes, suggests something is going to happen. Example- someone cracking their knuckles suggests someone is going to be punched.

Question 4

Barthes- Symbolic codes

Answer 4

Anything with a deeper meaning. Example- Red rose, symbolic of romance.

Question 5

Barthes- Referential/intertextual codes

Answer 5

One media product makes reference to another media product. Example- Riptide referencing the Wicker man through the use of costumes and shots used.

Question 6

Barthes- Myths

Answer 6

A story that we use to help make sense of the world around us, a way of looking at the world and understanding it.

Question 7

Todorov- Narratology

Answer 7

All narratives share a basic structure that involves a movement from one state of equilibrium to another.

Question 8

Steve Neale- Genre theory

Answer 8

Genre is based around a system of repetition and difference. Formation music video can be seen as an R n’ B genre, has elements of rap and hip hop and bounce music that relates to New Orleans.

Question 9

Levi Strauss- Structuralism

Answer 9

We make sense of the world around us through a system of binary oppositions.

Question 10

Baudrillard- Postmodernism

Answer 10

Hyperreality is a representation that is more real than the ‘thing’ that it is representing. We live in a world that is bombarded with images, and therefore it is impossible to differentiate between what is real and what is not.

Question 11

Stuart Hall- representation theories

Answer 11

Representation is a re-presentation
Representations are a reconstruction of reality
Representations can inform reality
Representations are constructed through media language.

Question 12

Gauntlet- theories of identity

Answer 12

Audiences construct their own identities through media products.
AC franchise, fans can purchase merchandise and participate on fan forums in order to demonstrate their own identity.

Question 13

Van Zoonen- Feminist theory

Answer 13

Men’s bodies and women’s bodies are encoded in completely different ways in media products, and are constructed through media language. Women’s bodies are used a spectacle to sell media products.

Question 14

Bell Hooks- Feminist theory

Answer 14

Feminism is for everyone, not just for those that identify as women. Feminism is a struggle to end patriarchal hegemony and the domination of women. Race, class, ethnicity and gender all affect how an individual is represented.

Question 15

Judith Butler- Gender Performativity

Answer 15

Gender is a performance, and we act it out everyday, THis performance is shaped through hegemonic expectations. Example- putting on high heel shoes, wear makeup, putting on a nice track suit, behaving in a certain way.

Question 16

Judith Butler- Gender performativity

Answer 16

Sex and gender are two separate concepts.
Gender performativity refers to how our gender performance influences and shapes the world around us.

Question 17

Gilroy- Ethnicity and post-colonial theory

Answer 17

After the death of colonialism, the UK is in a state of anxiety. - We still have many subtle and not so subtle racial prejudices in our society, which are deeply rooted in our colonial past. - In media products, white and non-white people are often depicted as a binary, the same and the other

Question 18

Gilroy- ethnicity and post-colonial theory

Answer 18

Some examples can be seen in the music video for Formation as the idea that Black and White people as being a binary opposition is reinforced.

Question 19

Curran and Seaton- Power and media industries

Answer 19

The media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by profit and power. Example- Disney
This leads to an inferior and repetitive product.

Question 20

Livingstone & Lunt- Regulation

Answer 20

Due to digitally convergent technologies made possible by the internet, it is now impossible to effectively regulate and media industry. Large Media conglomerates in particular will actively avoid forms of regulation.

Question 21

Hesmondhalgh’s- cultural industries

Answer 21

Every media industry is a specialised industry, and every media industry is structures to minimise risk and maximise profit. (Companies will use well known people in products).

Question 22

Hesmondhalgh- cultural industries

Answer 22

Media conglomerates are based around the structures vertical, horizontal and multimedia integration. Media producers use well known stars, franchising and genre in order to maximise audience reach and appeal.

Question 23

Bandura- Media effects

Answer 23

We are directly influenced by what we see in media products. (Most people believe that if we see something violent we will become violent).

Question 24

Gerbner- cultivation theory

Answer 24

Through prolonged exposure, media products gradually cultivate and reinforce dominant hegemonic ideologies.

Question 25

Stuart Hall- reception theory

Answer 25

Preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings.
Every media product reflects the dominant ideology of the producer, but the audience are able to negotiate or mediate it according to their own lives and experiences. (What is the product saying, why has it been created)

Question 26

Jenkins- Fandom

Answer 26

Fans are different from audiences, as they are heavily invested in and motivated by media products. Fans are able to use media products in a variety of ways (Example- fan fiction), in a process Jenkins refers to as ‘textual poaching’

Question 27

Clay Shirley- ‘end of audience’

Answer 27

Audiences are no longer passive: they interact with media products in a variety of ways. Since audiences can use digitally convergent technology to create media, the lines between ‘audience’ and ‘producer’ are now increasingly irrelevant.