Media Language Theory

Question 1

What is Roland Barthes’ theory of Semiotics?

Answer 1

• 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
• the idea that constructed meanings can come to seem self-evident, achieving the status
  of myth through a process of naturalisation.

Question 2

What is Tzvetan Todorov’s theory of Narratology?

Answer 2

• 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

Question 3

What is Levi-Strauss’ theory of structuralism?

Answer 3

• 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

Question 4

What is Steve Neale’s genre theory?

Answer 4

• 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.

Question 5

What is Jean Baudrillard’s theory of Post-modernism?

Answer 5

• 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).