Theories

Question 1

What are Barthes 5 codes?

Answer 1

• Semantic/symbolic code,
• Iconic code
• Hermeneutic/ enigma code
• proairetic/action code
• cultural code

Question 2

What is the semantic/symbolic code?

Answer 2

Connotation within the story that gives it deeper meaning

Question 3

What is the iconic code?

Answer 3

Similar to semantic but acts on a wider level, offering broader and deeper meanings and iconic images

Question 4

What is the hermeneutic/enigma code?

Answer 4

Refers to any part of a story that is not explained fully

Question 5

What is the proairetic/action code?

Answer 5

Refers to an action that indicates something is going to happen

Question 6

What is the cultural code?

Answer 6

Something that can not be challenged and is assumed to be truth, context related.

Question 7

What is Totorov’s theory of a narrative?

Answer 7

Stage of equilibrium, then disequilibrium, then return to equilibrium

Question 8

What is the theory of representation by Hall?

Answer 8

• Stereotyping as a form of representation, reduces people to a few simple characteristics
• Stereotyping occurs where there are inequalities of power, or excluded groups are constructed as different or “other”

Question 9

What is the theory of identity by Gauntlett?

Answer 9

• The media provides us with “tools” or resources to construct our identity
• In the past the media has conveyed a singular ideal type of man and woman
• Media today offers a more diverse range of stars

Question 10

What is the theory of identity by Gauntlett?

Answer 10

• Gender is constructed through discourse which varies on context
• The display of women’s bodies as objects to be looked at is because of western patriarchy
• The narrative codes are used to construct the man’s body as a spectacle, and objectify the woman’s body

Question 11

What is the cultivation theory by Gerbner?

Answer 11

• Exposure to patterns of representation over long periods of time can shape and influence the way in which people see the world
• Cultivation reinforces mainstream values

Question 12

What is the reception theory by Hall?

Answer 12

• Communication is a process involving encoding by producers and decoding by audiences
• 3 hypothetical ways a message can be decoded

Question 13

What are the 3 positions for a message to be decoded according to Hall?

Answer 13

• Dominant-hegemonic position (encoders intended meaning is fully understood and accepted)
• Negotiated position (the legitimacy of the message is acknowledged but is adapted to best fit the decoders experiences
• Oppositional position (the message is understood but the decoder disagrees with it)

Question 14

What is the End of Audience theory by Shirky?

Answer 14

• The internet and digital technology had a profound effect on the relationship between media and individuals
• Conceptualisation of the audience as passive consumers is no longer tenable in the internet age

Question 15

What is the Genre Theory by Neale?

Answer 15

• The idea that genres may be dominated by repetition, but are also marked by difference, variation, and change
• The idea that genres can change, develop, and vary as they borrow from and overlap with one another
• The idea that genres exist within specific economic, institutional and industrial contexts.

Question 16

What is Postmodernism by Baudrillard?

Answer 16

• The idea that in a postmodern culture the boundaries between the ‘real’ world and the world of the media have collapsed and that it is no longer possible to distinguish between reality and simulation
• The idea that in a postmodern age of simulacra we are immersed in a world of images which no longer refer to anything ‘real’
• The idea that media images have come to seem more ‘real’ than the reality they supposedly represent (hyperreality)

Question 16

What is the theory of gender performativity by Butler?

Answer 16

• The idea that identity is performatively constructed by the very ‘expressions’ that are said to be its results (it is manufactured through a set of acts)
• The idea that there is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender
• The idea that performativity is not a singular act, but a repetition and a ritual

Question 16

What is structuralism by Levi-Strauss?

Answer 16

• The idea that texts can best be understood through an examination of their underlying structure
• The idea that meaning is dependent upon (and produced through) pairs of oppositions
• The idea that the way in which these binary oppositions are resolved can have particular ideological significance

Question 16

What is the power and media industries theory by Curran and Seaton?

Answer 16

• The idea that the media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the logic of profit and power
• The idea that media concentration generally limits or inhibits variety, creativity and quality
• The idea that more socially diverse patterns of ownership help to create the conditions for more varied and adventurous media productions

Question 17

What is the postcolonial theory by Gilroy?

Answer 17

• The idea that colonial discourses continue to inform contemporary attitudes to race and ethnicity in the post colonial era
• The idea that civilisationism constructs racial hierarchies and sets up binary oppositions based on notions of otherness

Question 18

What is the cultural industries theory by Hesmondhalgh?

Answer 18

• The idea that cultural industry companies try to minimise risk and maximise audiences through vertical and horizontal integration, and by formatting their cultural products. (e.g through the use of stars, genres, and serials)
• The idea that the largest companies or conglomerates now operate across a number of different cultural industries
• The idea that the radical potential of the internet has been contained to some extent by its partial incorporation into a large, profit-orientated set of cultural industries

Question 19

What is the regulation theory by Livingstone and Lunt?

Answer 19

• The idea that there is an underlying struggle in recent UK regulation policy between the need to further the interests of the citizens (by offering protection from the harmful or offensive material), and the need to further interests of consumers (by ensuring choice, value for money, and market competition)
• The idea that the increasing power of global media corporations, together with the rise of convergent media technologies and transformations in the production, distribution and marketing of digital media, have placed traditional approaches to media regulation at risk

Question 20

What is the media effects theory by Bandura?

Answer 20

• The idea that the media can implant ideas in the mind of the audience directly
• The idea that audiences acquire attitudes, emotional responses and new styles of conduct through modelling
• The idea that media representations of transgressive behaviour, such as violence or physical aggression, can lead audience members to imitate those forms of behaviour

Question 21

What is the fandom theory by Jenkins?

Answer 21

• The idea that fans are active participants in the construction and circulation of textual meanings
• The idea that fans appropriate texts and read them in ways that are not fully authorised by the media producers (“Textual poaching”)
• The idea that fans construct their social and cultural identities through borrowing and inflecting mass culture images, and are part of a participatory culture that has a vital social dimension

Question 22

What is the feminist theory by bell hooks?

Answer 22

• The idea that feminism is a struggle to end sexist/patriarchal oppression and the ideology of domination
• The idea that feminism is a political commitment rather than a lifestyle choice
• The idea that race and class as well as sex determine the extent to which individuals are exploited, discriminated against or oppressed