Media Theories Flashcards
Neale’s Genre Theory
1) Genre is always evolving
2) Audience enjoy films that are typical and x typical of a genre
Levi Strauss’s theory of Binary Opposites
- A good plot = conflict between binary opposites
-Meaning is produced by it - There is a always a medium
- The way in which the conflict is resolved is significant
Todorov’s Narrative Structure theory
- Equilibrium
- Disruption
- Realisation
- Battle for Resolution
- New Equilibrium
Propp’s character types theory
These characters make it easy for an audience to understand the story.
- Hero
* Villain
* Dispatcher
* Donor
* Helper
* Princess / Prize
Stuart Hall’s Reception theory
Producers encode —- Audience decode
- Preferred reading - accept the messages in the product
- Oppositional Reading - reject the messages in the product
- Negotiated Reading - partially accept/reject the messages in the text
Blumler & Katz’s Uses & Gratifications Theory
- Escapism/Diversion
- Personal Identity
- Entertainment
- Information/Education
- Social Interaction
Henry Jenkins Fandom theory
Fan - active in constructing/circulating textual meanings
Textual Poaching - Fans use/interpret media in x intended ways
Fans construct their identities in society by borrowing/adapting media texts
Mulvey’s Male Gaze Theory
Women - passive gender Men - active
Viewpoint of heterosexual man
Wolf’s Beauty Myth/Standards
Imagery - x attainable
Women’s bodies presented as ‘in constant need of improvement’
‘Iron Maiden’, a standard that is unobtainable but aspirational
Butler’s Gender Performativity
Genders are expected to act in certain ways by society
We are all ‘performing’ by following it
Gender is not linked to the biology
(Female doesn’t biologically have to like makeup)
News Values by Galtung and Ruge
Factors which determine the possibility of a story to be covered.
Threshold - size
Meaningfulness - Relevance
Unambiguity - Simple, complex is too hard to explain
Unexpectedness - element of surprise
Continuity - Updates as a story develops
Elite persons/nations - major news
Personalisation - directly affecting/involving people (human angle of events)
Negativity - more likely than good news.
Dyer’s Star Theory
The star is a construction, commodity and ideology (represents a set of values and attitudes that reflect the audience’s own values)
Maslow
Hierarchy of Needs
Physiological, Security, Social, Self-Actualization
Desensitisation
Repeated exposure to certain messages can influence audiences to accept them
Two step Flow
In society there are opinion leaders who are influential
Hypodermic Syringe
Media messages can be ‘injected’ into the ‘system’ to influence behaviour
David Buckingham
Events are not presented but re-presented to the audience
John Berger
men act and women appear
cultivation theory
a perspective on media use that emphasizes the impact media exposure of the same products/representations has on individuals
