media Flashcards
Roland bathes
semiotics theory
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).
Todorov
narrative theory
the idea that narratives share a basic pattern consisting of
Equilibrium>Disruption>New Equilibrium
Steve Neal
genre theory
genre is recognisable and changes over time by borrowing from other genres. genre also helps to market text.
Claude Lévi-Stauss
binary opposition
The conflict between binary
opposites drives forward the narrative.
Jean Baudrillard
semiotics
The lines between created texts and
reality are becoming blurred. For example, perfect
Instagram images seem ‘real’.
Curren and Seaton
power and media industries
media is controlled by a small
number of companies primarily driven by the logic of profit and power
Livingstone and lunt
regulations
the idea that there are underlying struggles in regulation policies
David Hesmondhalgh
Cultural Industries
The idea that cultural industry companies try to minimise
risk and maximise audiences through vertical and
horizontal integration
largest companies or conglomerates now
operate across a number of different cultural industries
Stuart Hall
Representation theories
Media language is used to
create representations. Stereotyping is often used to assert power
David Gauntlett
Theories of Identity
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.
Liesbet van Zoonen
Feminist Theory
men and women are
represented differently in the media.
Women are objectified as a result of
Western culture.
bell hooks
Feminist Theory
feminism is a political
struggle to end patriarchal domination and other factors affect this domination, including race and class
Judith Butler
Gender Performativity
Gender is a social construct -
‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ are created through repetition.
Paul Gilroy
Ethnicity & Postcolonialism
The idea that civilisationism constructs racial hierarchies
and sets up binary oppositions based on notions of otherness.
George Gerbner
cultivation theory
The more we see the same representations and messages, the more we believe they are true.
Stuart Hall
Reception Theory
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).
Henry Jenkins
Participatory Culture
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.
