MEDIA THEORISTS Flashcards
Levi Strauss - Structuralism
key terms
- binary opposites
- structuralism
- myths
Levi Strauss believes that society is governed by the structure of underlying myths and older values (that are often hidden from view). From that, he has developed the term of binary oppositions - direct opposites that help to produce meaning by evoking conflicts. Newspapers construct conflict to entertain and prompt their readers to take sides.
These binary opposites can also create divides within society - Us vs them narratives
ideologies can also be defined by levi-strauss as media products are often analysed using binary opposition, focusing on ideologies rather than ‘human consciousness’
post-structuralism means that meaning is dictated by the consumer of media (links to Barthes’s theory of semiotics)
Limitations
- his theory overcomplicates opposites and in doing so, it can perpetuate harmful and outdated stereotypes.
- to understand binary opposites, requires prior knowledge and understanding of meanings
Neale - Genre
key terms
- hybridity
- repetition
- difference
Definition
genres aren’t fixed but constantly evolving with each new addition to the generic corpus often playing with the genre codes and conventions or becoming hybrids with others
the difference is essential to the economy of the genre, as mere repetition would not engage enough of an audience. Genre is also becoming more fluid, evolving into hybrids and cross-overs within genres.
Tabloidisation of newspapers
Limitations
- due to audience-to-audience generated content - such as short-form media like TikTok or Instagram - the genre is becoming far less important in our decisions of what media we consume, as there is such variety available.
- his theory is also rather simplistic, and does not consider the other factors that influence genre developments
Baudrillard - Postmodernism
key terms
- hyper-reality
- simulacra
- intertextuality
- media implosion
Definition
According to Baudrillard, postmodernism refers to the state of culture where media is produced on such a large scale that it crosses the boundaries of reality, creating a hyper-reality where we can’t distinguish between reality and simulation.
in a post-modern society, we have been brought up with this mass-produced imagery and therefore simulations are now a part of our reality and are arguably as real as reality is to us. This said reality also informs the concept that nothing is original and therefore everything is a copy of a copy as we draw on other media simulations to inform meaning.
through interactive media such as social media, we are bombarded with simulations of reality and we accept these simulations as the truth
Media implosion - there are so many versions of reality that we have become disenfranchised with the concept of truth
Limitations
- Hall’s representation theory (Absent, Present and Different)
- Hall’s reception theory (Oppositional, Negotiated and Preferred)
- we are a more active audience and can interpret media in our own ways
Shirky - End of audience
Key terms
- prosumer
- audience-generated content
- cognitive surplus
Shirky believes that due to Web 2.0, we have moved away from the previously passive audience and instead become something that he coins as a ‘prosumer’ who consumes and produces media simultaneously.
He also found that the media produced by said ‘prosumers’ creates a closer emotional connection between audiences as they favour audience-to-audience generated content.
This leads to a cognitive surplus as audiences are more invested in the media and likely to spend free time engaging with it.
However, this movement towards consumers means that media is more complex to regulate as new media adopts a publish-then-filter premise compared to the traditional filter-then-publish.
Links to Daily Mail and Guardian websites and audience interactivity
Audiences are no longer a predictable mass
Limitations - we as an audience are still not entirely autonomous as algorithms control the media, so we are not able to entirely choose the media that we consume. Additionally, not all audience members do engage with every piece of media they consume, therefore not all of the modern media’s audiences are autonomous prosumers.
Jenkins - Participatory culture
key terms
- active audience
- spreadable media
- collective intelligence
- culture convergence
audience members - much like Shirky’s prosumers - have become more engaged with the media that they consume.
audiences have become textual poachers, meaning they take parts of the media that they consume to produce their texts and products. This can be seen through fandoms and online communities and results in collective intelligence
this results in ‘spreadable media’ instead of viral media as it accommodates audience interactivity and this convergence is viewed for culturally than technologically
can link to Gauntlett’s theories of identity
Limitations - Jenkins’s theory focuses predominantly on fans, rather than the average casual consumer who may not engage with the media products actively at all. His theory also does not consider the power dynamic between media conglomerates and consumers, as conglomerates are highly influential in how we consume the media (Hall Reception theory)
Bandura - Media effects
key terms
- passive audience
- copycat behaviour
- mimicry
definition
- The media can influence people directly - human values, judgement and conduct can be altered directly by media modelling.
- Media representation of aggressive or violent behaviour can lead to imitation and so-called copy-cat behaviour
- since Bandura depicted audiences as passive, he believed that the general public could be ‘controlled’, or directly implanted with messages, seen by some academics as proving that mass audiences were susceptible to this form of media effects.
limitations
- Shirky’s end of audience theory
- audiences are no longer mass or passive, meaning we are exposed to a wider array of beliefs and perceptions and therefore less likely to imitate bad behaviours
- social media allows for pluralistic and diverse beliefs, however, algorithms can lead to echo chambers of beliefs with others affirming your ideologies.
Gerbner - Cultivation
Key terms
- mean world syndrome
- negativity
- mainstreaming
- long term exposure
definition
- heavy users of television were more likely to develop ‘mean world syndrome’ - a cynical mistrusting attitude towards others - following prolonged exposure to high levels of television violence
- we can also become desensitised to this negativity and violence and it becomes ingrained into our brains that the world is inherently negative.
- if papers repeatedly show negative stories - Galtung and Ruge’s news values - then perhaps people will view the world as more negative.
- The Daily Mails anti-immigration stance
- Gerbner found that heavy TV viewing led to ‘mainstreaming’ - a common outlook on the world based on the images and labels found on TV.
limitations
- Shirky’s end of audience theory
- Jenkins participatory culture theory
- The theory is predominantly about television, therefore it is not wholly applicable to newspapers as there are many newspapers with a variety of ideologies and political affiliations. Social media also offers us more pluralistic representations therefore we are less likely to be cultivated by repeated views.
Van Zoonen - Feminism
key terms
- objectification
- spectacle
- patriarchy
- discourse of communication
definition
- Van Zoonen believes that women in the media are viewed as objects through the male gaze whereas men are perceived as spectacles.
- she believes that the media presents the idea and imagery of stereotypical women and this behaviour reinforces the societal views created by the patriarchy (western patriarchal attitudes)
- we get our ideas of gender from the discourse of communications in the media
- our beliefs of gender need to be considered with historical and cultural context
- online constructions of gender are more varied and more complex
- gender is performative, yet these performances are contextual, changing with context
limitations
- doesn’t consider other types of oppression or minorities in the media
-Modern society and social media, which still offer hegemonic representations of the ‘ideal woman,’ also offer more pluralistic depictions of women through audience-generated content.
- Hooks intersectionality theory
Butler - Gender Performativity
key terms
- gender trouble
- gender performance
- heteronormative
definition
- Butler believes that gendered behaviours are natural and that our learnt gendered behaviours are a type of performance
- Butler believes that gender is constructed by actions and rituals for the genders which are normalised over time.
- our perceptions of gendered behaviours are coercions of the patriarchy as gender is not a factual existence
- Gender is performative and is reinforced by repetitions of gender performances that are learnt within society due to social and cultural context
- these performances of gender can also lead to gender trouble with those who do not fit within the binaries of gender
limitations
- society - as a whole - is becoming more pluralistic and, therefore presented with more diverse representations of feminity and masculinity that differ from the rigid, traditional definitions
- doesn’t consider other cultural and social contexts
Hooks - Intersectionality
key terms
- feminism
- patriarchy
- intersectionality
- oppositional gaze
- white supremacist, patriarchal, capitalist society
definition
Hooks believes that feminism is a movement to combat and replace the oppressive patriarchal system
hooks believes that the more intersectionalities you have, the less likely you are to find positive representations in mainstream media
Intersectionalities - Sexuality, Gender, Disability, Nationality, Race
The oppositional gaze is also a gesture of resistance and allows black people to combat white supremacy through the power of looking
limitations
Since the white supremacist, capitalist society benefits those in power, would these oppressors question the morality of their dominating systems
people have referred to intersectionality as ‘a conspiracy theory of victimisation’ - with white people feeling that due to their intersectionalities, minorities are being represented as superior in society.
will we ever be able to combat these ancestral and outdated concepts of white supremacy
her theory also focuses on the experiences of black women, and less so on other intersectionalities.
Hall - Reception
key terms
- preferred
- negotiated
- oppositional
- encode a preferred meaning
- based on their lived experiences (negotiated)
definition
Hall believes there are three ways that we can consume media messages as he views the audience as active and autonomous in the way we consume media products
encoding and decoding
whilst media companies encode preferred meanings into their products, audiences can still choose how to interpret them
Preferred - the intended interpretation as encouraged by the producer which the consumer accepts
Negotiated - agrees with aspects of the message, and interprets it to fit with their lived experiences
Oppositional - outright rejects the ideologies and representations within the product
There is no one true meaning, yet sometimes, fixed meanings are created which produce stereotypes
limitations
underestimates the power of industires in producing a preferred meaning that feels difficult to combat/ have a noegotiated or oppositional reading to
audiences are autonomous, so they do not have a fixed opinion on all stories, some people may be politically neutral
- Bandura (passive audience)
- Gerbner (cultivation)
Hall - Representation
key terms
- Absent
- Present
- Difference
- stereotypes
- mediation
definition
Mediation is everything that a media product goes through before reaching a audience, there is no one truth , simply a representation of a given reality
representations are made up of what is present, absent and different so meaning can be contested
Hall also believes that these representations can lead to stereotypes, but instead of combatting said stereotypes with anti-stereotypes (countertypes) it is more effective to break down stereotypes
limitations
- does not explain anything specific to newspapers
- some stories can’t have alternative meanings such as the labour front cover where labour won by a ‘landslide’ - the fact of the matter is that labour won and this cannot be contested.
Gilroy - Postcolonialism
key terms
- postcolonial melancholia
- airbrushed
- rose-tinted
- diaspora
definition
Gilroy believes that Britain has never accepted the loss of its world-spanning empire which has led to a rose-tinted view of the past with many people viewing the days when the nation held more global influence as positive.
Views of the past see the empire as creating a hierarchy with white Britons being the most powerful and superior which leads to an airbrushed version of colonial history, forgetting the racism and negative hierarchical views that govern this period of history
postcolonial melancholia - an attachment to the ‘airbrushed’ version of Britain’s colonial history
this divide creates an us vs them narrative
diaspora - the scattering of population from their country of origin
Windrush generation - people arriving from Caribbean islands to help with post-war worker shortages
limitations
it could be argued that modern society is far more aware of stereotypical representations, and since social media permits more diverse, pluralistic representations, diverse cultures and African diasporas are more celebrated. Yet to say that modern society is free from racism and race hierarchies is untrue.
Todorov - Narratology
Key terms
- equilibrium
- disequilibrium
Narratology is the study of narratives and how they are structured.
Narratives move from one equilibrium to another with the help of a disruption or disequilibrium to intrude the narrative and engage audiences.
Audiences are attracted to ‘negative news’ - Galtung and Ruge’s news values, and therefore newspaper covers often feature a disequilibrium, with readers hoping that the papers contents will return to an equilibrium.
Limitations
- doesn’t consider more complex narratives with multiple disruptions and disequilibrium
- non-linear or ambiguous endings of stories
Gauntlett - Identity
key terms
- pick and mix
- complexities of forging an individual identity
- self-expression
definition
Gauntlett’s theory of identity is rather forward-thinking and views representation through a more modern lens, reflecting the complexities of forging an identity within modern society.
In modern society, individuals make individual choices about their identity and lifestyle. Even in traditional media there are lots of diverse and contradictory media messages that can be used by individuals to forge their own identity (pick and mix).
Online media offers people a route to self-expression, and therefore a stronger sense of self. People still use the media to forge their identities but through a more creative lens, such as producing their media (Shirky)
identity is complicated
the internet is a fantastically messy set of networks filled with millions of sparks
limitations
- assumes the audience is active and gives less power to conglomorates
- Young people’s identities are less likely to be forged by newspapers
Curran and Seaton - Power and industries
key terms
- fewer and fewer hands
- conglomorates
- increased concentration of ownership
- hegemonic representations
- prioritisation of profit over quality
definition
power without responsibility
Media industries follow the normal capitalist pattern of increasing concentration of ownership in fewer and fewer hands, this leads to a narrowing of the range of opinions represented and a pursuit of profit at the expense of quality or creativity
pluralism offers more variety
despite the internet and popularity of social media, we are still not offered a level playing field as conglomorates have managed to defend their oligarchy and continue to prioritise profit
many British papers are owned by the same conglomorates, where companies prioritise profit over the diversity of representations.
limitations
Doesn’t consider the ways in which media productions are shaped by audience demand and underestimates the impact of online media
online media and audience interactivity
Hesmondhalgh - Cultural industries
key terms
- minimise risk, maximise profit
- normal capitalist pattern of increasing concentration of ownership
- repetition to guarantee success
definition
cultural industries follow the normal capitalist pattern of increasing concentration and integration
vertically integrated to reduce risks, this can also be done through the repetition of previous successes (stars, genre, franchises and repeatable narratives)
the internet is powerful, but not inherently positive, and has not transformed cultural productions in a positive way (commercialisation of leisure, increase of digital technologies)
discussion of pleasing, low-risk soft news stories
daily mail - anti-immigration
limitations
- doesn’t consider audience choice and audience generated content
- audience interactivity on the Daily Mail and guardian websites
Barthes - Semiotics
key terms
- connotations
- denotations
- myths
- universal truths
- polysemic
- anchorage
definition
Semiology is the study of signs . Signs consist of a signifier (a word , image or sound) and it has a signified meaning
The denotation of a sign is its literal meaning
Denotations signify connotations which are the associations of the denotations
Denotations and connotations are organised into myths which is the more ideological meaning and this makes the ideologies feel natural
Others are more complicated, as our society has conditioned us to understand the meaning behind certain objects through societal context.
these signifiers become myths - their ideological meaning
The media is full of representations that depend upon our social understanding of the sign or concept. Institutions can change the way we see signs and symbols.
polysemic - multiple meanings
limitations
some signs may not be understood by all and may lose their meaning as they require previous social and contextual knowledge.
meanings of signs may also differ from culture, so therefore they are not universally understood
