Midterm 3 Flashcards
What are the 3 traditional views of audiences
Effects Research
Cultivation Analysis
Uses & Gratification
What is effects research? Provide an example
Media directly affects thought and behaviors of “mindless” audiences
Ex) Cultural Doops passively accept the messages that media give us
What is cultivation analysis? Provide an example
media “cultivates” a negative perception of society, particularly for heavy viewers
(mean world syndrome)
Ex) social media makes people believe that society is more violent than it actually is
What is the uses and gratifications of traditional view audiences
audiences actively consume media for their own ends
Ex) escapism - using media to gratify needs
What is polsemy
the openness of a text to multiple interpretations
What is semiotic excess? Provide an example
within polsemy: the extra signifiers that can take on a variety of meaning to the audience
Ex) Uniqua from Backyardigans
What is polyvalence?
Provide an example
audience members share denotative understanding of a text, but disagree on connotation of a text.
Denotative would be a chicken and connotative would be the value of it a pet
What are interpretive communities
groups of people with shared viewpoint or experience who interpret a text the same
What does Stanley Fish about meaning in text
the text itself does not come with meaning, the meaning resides in the audience
What is the benefit of interpretive communities in media
Audiences and producers both belong to interpretive communities, therefore the texts can be interpreted in similar ways by multiple people
What was the premise of Radway’s romance study
interviewed a community of female romance novel readers to understand the meaning they attributed to the novels
What did Radway disocer about female romance novel readers?
Used the novels to consciously meet their needs and escape to a world where their needs are met by a “nurturing man”
What is the feminist perspective of Radways study
if woman are reading them it is worth understanding and looking at
What is impression management
How we perform our desired impression of ourselves through our behavior
What are the 4 elements of impression management
SSPT
stage
setting
part
team
Within impression management what is the stage performance and its 2 aspects
our public (front stage) and private (back stage) performances differ
What is the setting of our performance
the situation/context that alters our behavior
what is our element of “part” in performance
use of appearance and manner to convey a particular image
What is the “team” element of impression management
we collaborate with others in our performances
Who is the theorist behind impression management
Erving Goffman and the concept of Dramaturgy
What are media frames
How information is presented in a way that shapes our knowledge
What is the “selection” of media frames
what is included (and therefore excluded in the presented information
What is the emphasis in media frames
what is give more or less attention
What are the three aspects of media frames?
SEP
selection
emphasis
presentation
What is the presentation of media frames
what attitudes are suggested (through visual or auditory symbols)
Who coined the theory equipment for living
Kenneth Burke
What do the equipment for living in media provide
media messages provide people with
- help to address the challenges in their everyday life
- solve our guilt
What are the two equipment’s of living to resolve guilt
TC
Tragedy
Comedy
What is the aspect of tragedy regarding resolving guilt
feeling relief when seeing a character punished
What is the aspect of comedy regarding resolving guilt
helps us see that error is part of the human condition and leads us to forgiveness
Why do we experience guilt in society according to Kenneth Burke
society is governed by hierarchy, so when we fall short of expectations, we experience guilt
What is erotics
Provide an example
simultaneously disruptive (taboo) and productive (of something new) - shame and enjoyment conflicting responses Ex) picture of a baby beside a doll passed out thinking was I that drunk
Define pleasure. Provide an example
buying into the dominant/hegemonic message within a text
Ex) Mulveys male gaze
What is intertextuality
how texts refer to other texts
How does intertextuality relate to pleasure
pleasure arises in part from recognition of intertextuality
What is Parodic Allusion. Provide an example
a text that parodies another
Ex) South Park
What is Creative Appropriation. Provide an example
a text borrows style or symbols from another text
Ex) Nomage
What is a Self-Reflexive Reference?
Provide an example
acknowledges external events/issues through inside jokes
Ex) Fuller house making a comment about why Mary-Kate and Ashley are not in the show
What embodies a grotesque body
unruly or dis figuration often in horror or reality tv
What is abjection. Provide an example
crossing cultural boundaries with the representation of “disgusting” body function
Ex) Body fluid humor
What is uncrowning? Provide an example
ridiculing those in power
Ex) Bill Cosby
What is ambivalence in Carnivalesque Texts? Provide an example
presence of contradictory feeling, often spurs social change
Ex) Simultaneously being attracted and repelled by a text such as mean facebook posts
What is user participation in Transgressive Practices
audience directly engages with the text
What are the 3 aspects of user participation that users gain pleasure through
Control
Immersion
Performance
What is control regarding user participation
something challenging but not impossible
what is immersion regarding user participation
escape or losing track of time
what is performance regarding user participation
experimentation with other identities
What aspects of user participation is Netflix
immersion and escape
What is user created content regarding transgressive practices? Provide an example?
when the audience becomes the producer
Ex) YouTube
Define Fandom
communities organized around a particular text
Define semiotic productivity
- personalizing texts
- providing parasocial relationship with celebrities
Define enunciative productivity? Provide an example
public and communal sharing of interest in text
Ex) Spoilers, insider information on Big Brother
Define textual productivity? Provide an example
fans produce and circulate their own versions of the text
Ex) Fanfiction
What are the 3 central premises of medium theory?
1) each medium of communication has a relatively unique, fixed set of characteristics
2) characteristics produce a particular type of communication environment
3) the communication environment has consequences for human consciousness and social organization
What are the 2 basic ideas of medium theory
Ecology
Media Ecology
What is the focus of ecology according to the medium theory
focuses on interactions between individuals and their environment
What is media ecology according to the medium theory
the study of media as a fundamental aspect of our social environment which changes over time
What are the 5 characteristics of Third Wave Media
VIVCD
variability interactivity virtuality connectivity digitality
What are the 4 logics/effect of Third Wave Media?
PACA
**Think of the class activity regarding radio
Prosumptive
Affective
Contingent
Associational
What is the prosumptive logic of Third Wave Media?
Provide an example
audience participation
ex) radio contests
What is the contingent logic of Third Wave Media?
Provide an example
- multiple perspectives
- rejection
ex) radio in red deer does not possess multiple perspectives as opposed to satellite radio
What is the associational logic of Third wave media?
Provide an example
nonlinear thinking, “surfing”
Ex) surfing quickly through radio stations
What is the affective logic of Third wave media?
Provide an example
appeal to multiple senses
Ex) television (visual and auditory)
What is media literacy
understanding how media works in our own lives and sharing the knowledge with others
What is Culture Jamming
the use of familiar media symbols and channels to reveal and overturn the consumerist or capitalist society they embody (activism)
What is media reform
individual citizens and interest groups working to effective change in the structure and operation of mass media industries
