Revision P1, Theories Flashcards
Blumer and Katz Use and Gratification Theory (PIES)
Personal Identity - That people engage texts to reinforce a persons interest.
Information - That people will actively seek out information on topics that interest them.
Escapism - That people engage with texts to help distract them from everyday problems.
Social Interaction - Engaging with a media text enables us to form and develop friendships with people who have engaged with the same texts.
Hypodermic Syringe Theory
This theory goes on the assumption that audiences are unable to think and act independently, and that the audiences are passive. This is opposite to Blumer and Katz. The theory implies that we blindly follow whatever the media tells us to do, feel or think about a topic in a certain way.
David Gauntlett Pick ‘N’ Mix Theory
Gauntlett’s view is that audiences are active and they make specific choices about what aspects of each media product want to engage with.
Stuart Hall’s Reception Theory
Hall argues that there are three different responses when an audience engages with any media product.
Preferred
Negotiated
Oppositional
Richard Dyer’s Star Theory
Dyer argues that some audience members are motivated primarily for engagement with an individual star.
Propp’s Character Theories
Hero - Protagonist, around whom the events develop.
Villain - Antagonist, creates conflict.
King - Approves hero’s actions.
Princess - Needs saving and commonly the love interest.
Donor - Provides hero with a gift.
Dispatcher - Makes the hero realise what they have to do.
Helper - Sidekick.
False Hero - A deliberate red herring to deepen the story.
Todorov’s Development Theory
Equilibrium - The audience accepts things at the beginning of the story are ‘as they are’.
Disruption - Something then happens to disturb the equilibrium.
Equilibrium - As a result of the disruption, a new equilibrium is created.
Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze Theory
She highlighted media products were made by males for males. Most screenwriters, directors, editors and so on, tend to be males therefore write and produce films that their gender like. She then argues that in order for enjoy a film, one must put themselves in the shoes or a male in order to fully interact with the product.
Judith Buttler’s Gender Theory
Butler suggest that no one has a gender and it instead is socially constructed. She argues that two genders is merely a repetition of behaviours. Thus, gender is a performance of how we act.
Barthes’ Enigma Code
Enigma means ‘mystery’ or puzzle.
5 Codes:
The Hermeneutics Code - Refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the viewer.
The Proairetic Code - Builds tension, referring to any other action or event that indicates something else is going to happen.
The Semantic Code - Refers to the connotation within the story that gives additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning of the word.
The Symbolic Code - Similar to The Semantic Code, but acts at a wider level, organising semantic meanings into broader and deeper sets of meaning.
The Cultural Code - This code refers to anything that is founded on some kind of canonical works that cannot be challenged and is assumed to be the foundation or truth.
