media theories Flashcards
Feminist Theory: Who proposed the ‘Male Gaze’ theory?
Laura Mulvey
Feminist Theory: What is the ‘Male Gaze’ theory?
Women are depicted from a masculine, heterosexual perspective and are portrayed as sexual objects for the pleasure of the male viewer.
Feminist Theory: Who proposed the ‘Gender Performativity’ theory?
Judith Butler
Feminist Theory: What is the ‘Gender Performativity’ theory?
- Identity is performative- manufactured through a set of acts
- No gender identity behind gender expressions
- Performativity is not one act, but a repetition and a ritual.
Feminist Theory: What theory did bell hooks propose?
- Feminism=struggle to end sexist/patriarchal oppression, ideology of domination; it’s a political commitment not a lifestyle choice.
- Race, class as well as sex determine how much ppl are exploited, discriminated against or oppressed.
Feminist Theory: What does Liesbet Van Zoonen generally believe?
Media portray stereotypical female behaviour, reinforcing stereotypes; believes it reflects dom social values + male producers are influenced by this: patriarchy.
Feminist Theory: Who proposed the ‘Discourse and Spectacle’ theory and what does it say about how gender is constructed?
Liesbet Van Zoonen
- Gender constructed thru discourse; its meaning varies according to cultural and historical context.
Representation Theory: What theories did Stuart Hall propose (language)?
- Representation=production of meaning through language (broadly defined as a system of signs)
- Relationship between concepts + signs is governed by codes
Representation Theory: What theories did Stuart Hall propose (stereotyping)?
- Stereotyping, as representation type, reduces people to a few simple traits
- It tends to occur w/inequalities of power, as subordinate or excluded groups are constructed as different or ‘other’
Representation Theory: What theories did David Gauntlett propose?
- Media gives us ‘tools’ or resources we use to construct our identities.
- Media of past’d convey simple, singular messages about ♂+♀ identities. 2Day’s media offer a more diverse range of icons from whom we may pick and mix different ideas.
Representation Theory: What theories did Jean Baudrillard propose?
- Hyperreality- Being unable to distinguish from a reality.
- Simulacra
- Simulation
Representation Theory: Hyperreality
- Mix of real world + fiction to create exciting yet relatable experience for the audience.
- Media images have come to seem more ‘real’ than the reality they supposedly represent (hyperreality)
Representation Theory: Examples of Hyperreality
- Connecting physical reality with virtual reality (VR)
- Blending human intelligence with artificial intelligence.
- Commonly seen in advanced, modern societies eg a utopia
Representation Theory: Simulacra- postmodernism
- Boundaries between ‘real’ world and media world have collapsed; can no longer distinguish between reality and simulation
- Postmodern age of simulacra: immersed in world of images which no longer refer to anything ‘real’.
- Perceived (by Jean Baudrillard) as negative- ‘bears no relation to any reality whatsoever’.
Representation Theory: Example of Simulacra
Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, however this is seen as a recreational simulacra.
Representation Theory: Simulation
Imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time.
Representation Theory: Paul Gilroy, Ethnicity and Postcolonialism
- Colonial discourses continue to inform contemporary attitudes to race and ethnicity in the postcolonial era.
- Civilizationism constructs racial hierarchies and sets up binary oppositions based on notions of otherness.- Colonial discourses continue to inform contemporary attitudes to race and ethnicity in the postcolonial era.
- Civilizationism constructs racial hierarchies and sets up binary oppositions based on notions of otherness.
Audience Theory: Blumler and Katz
Uses and Gratifications
Audience Theory: Stuart Hall- Reception Theory
Producers encode messages in media texts which are decoded by audiences in 3 different ways:
- Dominant/preferred reading
- Negotiated reading
- Oppositional reading
Audience Theory: George Gerbner- Cultivation Theory
- Long-term exposure to repeated patterns of representation can shape and influence the way in which people perceive the world around them (i.e. cultivating particular views and opinions)
- Cultivation reinforces mainstream values (dominant ideologies).
Industry Theory: Curran and Seaton
there is a concentration of ownership within the media towards the top which has led to a more saturated market
Narrative Theory: Todorov
- Equilibrium
- Disruption
- Recognition
- Attempt to repair
- New equilibrium
Narrative Theory: Levi Strauss- Binary Opposition (Structuralism)
- Texts can be best understood through examining their underlying structure.
- Meaning is dependent upon, produced through pairs of binary oppositions. How these are resolved can have particular ideological significance.
Genre Theory: Neale (simplified)
Genres are instances of difference and repetition.
Genre Theory: Neale (advanced)
Texts rely on audiences finding pleasure in recognition of familiar elements + how those elements are linked in an unfamiliar way, or how unfamiliar elements are introduced.
What language theory did Roland Barthes propose?
Theory of 5 codes:
- Hermeneutic code (Enigma) - how a story avoids revealing all facts
- Proairetic code (Action) - Tension built through action
- Semantic code - additional connotations through mise-en-scene (e.g. costume, lighting)
- Symbolic code - Similar to semantic- deeper meaning
- Referential/cultural code - code that only members of certain groups would understand e.g. Americans, Dr. Who fans.
Who proposed the theory of Hegemony and what is it?
- An Italian communist named Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)
- Dominance of a particular social group in society who enforce ideas in the media that allow them to remain dominant.
Who proposed the theory of Myths (semiotics) and what is it?
- Roland Barthes
- Constructed meanings can come to seem self-evident, achieving the status of myth through the process of naturalisation.
Language theory: Semiotics- Roland Barthes
- Texts communicate meanings thru process of signification
- Signs can function at level of denotation as well as connotation
Features of semiotics
- Signifier: Representation of idea or thing
- Signified: The thing being represented
Pierce:
- Icon: Sign that resembles the thing/idea being signified
- Index: Sign w/link to thing being signified
- Symbol: Sign w/no obvious connection to the signified.
Paradigm (Semiotics)
Specific set of signifiers that producers are able to make choices from in order to construct a particular meaning.
Syntagm (Semiotics)
Chain of signs that follow one another in a particular sequence; linear horizontal connection.
