media theorists

Question 1

Todorov (L)

Answer 1

Narratology
The idea that all narratives share a basic structure that involves a movement from one state of equilibrium to another,
This equilibrium is separated by a disequilibrium.
The way narratives are resolved has significance

Equilibrium> disruption > new equilibrium

Question 2

Levi-Strauss (L)

Answer 2

Binary opposition
Texts can be best understood through an examination of their underlying structure

Meaning is dependent on and produced through pairs of oppositions

The way binary oppositions are resolved holds significance

conflict drives forward the narrative

Question 3

Steve Neal (L)

Answer 3

Genre Theory
Genres may be dominated by repetition
But genres change develop and vary as they borrow and overlap from another
Genre exists within specific economic,institutional contexts as it helps them market texts

Question 4

Roland Barthes (L)

Answer 4

Semiotics
Texts communicate their meanings through a process of signification
The idea that signs can function at the level of denotation - There is a literal meaning (denotative level) and the response they create (connotative level), constructed meaning, achieving a status of myth

Question 5

Jean Baudrillard (L)

Answer 5

semiotics
In post modern culture the boundaries of the real world and the world of the media have collapsed and it is no longer possible to distinguish the difference between reality and simulation
Media images have become more real that they’re supposed to represent leading to HYPERREALITY
Post modern age of simulacra immersed in images where nothing is real

Question 6

Hesmonhalgh (I)

Answer 6

Cultural industries
Try to minimize risk and maximize audiences through horizontal and vertical integration and by formatting their cultural products
Large companies operate across a number of cultural industries
Use safe genres and safe representations
Industry uses tried and tested strategies to appeal to us but we should be concerned that only a few companies hold a lot of power

Question 7

Curran and Seaton (I)

Answer 7

Power and media industries
Media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by logic profit and power
If we had a larger variety of media companies we’d have more of a variety of set texts

Question 8

Livington and Lunt (I)

Answer 8

regulation
There is a struggle in UK regulation between needing to further interests of citizens and the need to further interests of consumers
The power of global media corporations together with the rise of convergent media have placed traditional regulation at risk

Question 9

Albert Bandura (A)

Answer 9

effects debate
The idea that the media can implant ideas in the audiences mind directly and audiences acquire their attitudes through modelling
If they see aggressive behavior they are likely to mimic it

Question 10

George Gerbner (A)

Answer 10

Cultivation theory
Exposure to patterns of representation overtime can shape and influence the way people perceive the world around them
cultivation reinforces mainstream views
more we see more we believe

Question 11

Clay Shirkey (A)

Answer 11

End of audience theory
Internet and digital technologies have a profound effect on the relations between media and individuals

Audiences are no longer passive as consumers and have now become producers that speak back using the internet to respond to texts as well as making our own

Question 12

Henry Jenkins (A)

Answer 12

Participatory culture
Fans are active participants in the construction and circulation of textual meaning
Fans appropriate texts in a way not fully authorized by producers (textual poaching)
instead of just consuming they are creating

Question 13

Judith Butler R

Answer 13

Gender performativity

Gender is a social construct masculine and feminine are created through repetition
Gender is performatively constructed and is a manufactured set of acts
There is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender

Question 14

David Gauntlet R

Answer 14

Representation
The media provides us with tools we use to construct our identities
In the past messages about male and female identities were singular but now we are offered a more diverse range to pick and mix from

Question 15

Van Zoonen R

Answer 15

feminist theory
Gender is constructed through discourse women’s bodies are displayed to be looked at and are objectified where as men are offered as a spectacle this the core element of western patriarchal culture

Question 16

Bells Hooks R

Answer 16

The idea that feminism is a political commitment rather than a life style choice
feminism is the political struggle to end patriarchal domination and other factors such as race and class effect this

Question 17

Paul Gilroy R

Answer 17

postcolonialism
colonial discourse continues to inform contemporary attitudes towards race and ethnicity
civilisation constructs racial hierarchies based on the notion of otherness

Question 18

stuart hall r

Answer 18

representation theories