Theories Flashcards
Feminist Theory: Who proposed the ‘Male Gaze’ theory?
Laura Mulvey
Feminist Theory: What is the ‘Male Gaze’ theory?
Women are depicted from a masculine, heterosexual perspective and are portrayed as sexual objects for the pleasure of the male viewer.
Feminist Theory: Who proposed the ‘Gender Performativity’ theory?
Judith Butler
Feminist Theory: What is the ‘Gender Performativity’ theory?
- Identity is performative- manufactured through a set of acts
- No gender identity behind gender expressions
- Performativity is not one act, but a repetition and a ritual.
Feminist Theory: What theory did bell hooks propose?
- Feminism=struggle to end sexist/patriarchal oppression, ideology of domination; it’s a political commitment not a lifestyle choice.
- Race, class as well as sex determine how much ppl are exploited, discriminated against or oppressed.
Feminist Theory: What does Liesbet Van Zoonen generally believe?
Media portray stereotypical female behaviour, reinforcing stereotypes; believes it reflects dom social values + male producers are influenced by this: patriarchy.
Feminist Theory: Who proposed the ‘Discourse and Spectacle’ theory and what does it say about how gender is constructed?
Liesbet Van Zoonen
- Gender constructed thru discourse; its meaning varies according to cultural and historical context.
Representation Theory: What theories did Stuart Hall propose (language)?
- Representation=production of meaning through language (broadly defined as a system of signs)
- Relationship between concepts + signs is governed by codes
Representation Theory: What theories did Stuart Hall propose (stereotyping)?
- Stereotyping, as representation type, reduces people to a few simple traits
- It tends to occur w/inequalities of power, as subordinate or excluded groups are constructed as different or ‘other’
Representation Theory: What theories did David Gauntlett propose?
- Media gives us ‘tools’ or resources we use to construct our identities.
- Media of past’d convey simple, singular messages about ♂+♀ identities. 2Day’s media offer a more diverse range of icons from whom we may pick and mix different ideas.
Representation Theory: What theories did Jean Baudrillard propose?
- Hyperreality- Being unable to distinguish from a reality.
- Simulacra
- Simulation
Representation Theory: Hyperreality
- Mix of real world + fiction to create exciting yet relatable experience for the audience.
- Media images have come to seem more ‘real’ than the reality they supposedly represent (hyperreality)
Representation Theory: Examples of Hyperreality
- Connecting physical reality with virtual reality (VR)
- Blending human intelligence with artificial intelligence.
- Commonly seen in advanced, modern societies eg a utopia
Representation Theory: Simulacra- postmodernism
- Boundaries between ‘real’ world and media world have collapsed; can no longer distinguish between reality and simulation
- Postmodern age of simulacra: immersed in world of images which no longer refer to anything ‘real’.
- Perceived (by Jean Baudrillard) as negative- ‘bears no relation to any reality whatsoever’.
Representation Theory: Example of Simulacra
Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, however this is seen as a recreational simulacra.
Representation Theory: Simulation
Imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time.
Representation Theory: Paul Gilroy, Ethnicity and Postcolonialism
- Colonial discourses continue to inform contemporary attitudes to race and ethnicity in the postcolonial era.
- Civilizationism constructs racial hierarchies and sets up binary oppositions based on notions of otherness.
Audience Theory: Blumler and Katz
Uses and Gratifications
Audience Theory: Stuart Hall- Reception Theory
Producers encode messages in media texts which are decoded by audiences in 3 different ways:
- Dominant/preferred reading
- Negotiated reading
- Oppositional reading
Audience Theory: George Gerbner- Cultivation Theory
- Long-term exposure to repeated patterns of representation can shape and influence the way in which people perceive the world around them (i.e. cultivating particular views and opinions)
- Cultivation reinforces mainstream values (dominant ideologies).
Industry Theory: Curran and Seaton
The freedom to publish in a free market ensures the press reflects a wide range of opinions and interests in society. If a viewpoint is missing in the press, this is because it lacks a sufficient following to sustain it in the market place.
Narrative Theory: Todorov
- Equilibrium
- Disruption
- Recognition
- Attempt to repair
- New equilibrium
Narrative Theory: Levi Strauss- Binary Opposition (Structuralism)
- Texts can be best understood through examining their underlying structure.
- Meaning is dependent upon, produced through pairs of binary oppositions. How these are resolved can have particular ideological significance.
Genre Theory: Neale (simplified)
Genres are instances of difference and repetition.
Genre Theory: Neale (advanced)
Texts rely on audiences finding pleasure in recognition of familiar elements + how those elements are linked in an unfamiliar way, or how unfamiliar elements are introduced.
What language theory did Roland Barthes propose?
Theory of 5 codes:
- Hermeneutic code (Enigma) - how a story avoids revealing all facts
- Proairetic code (Action) - Tension built through action
- Semantic code - additional connotations through mise-en-scene (e.g. costume, lighting)
- Symbolic code - Similar to semantic- deeper meaning
- Referential/cultural code - code that only members of certain groups would understand e.g. Americans, Dr. Who fans.
Who proposed the theory of Hegemony and what is it?
- An Italian communist named Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)
- Dominance of a particular social group in society who enforce ideas in the media that allow them to remain dominant.
Who proposed the theory of Myths (semiotics) and what is it?
- Roland Barthes
- Constructed meanings can come to seem self-evident, achieving the status of myth through the process of naturalisation.
Language theory: Semiotics- Roland Barthes
- Texts communicate meanings thru process of signification
- Signs can function at level of denotation as well as connotation
Features of semiotics
- Signifier: Representation of idea or thing
- Signified: The thing being represented
Pierce:
- Icon: Sign that resembles the thing/idea being signified
- Index: Sign w/link to thing being signified
- Symbol: Sign w/no obvious connection to the signified.
Paradigm (Semiotics)
Specific set of signifiers that producers are able to make choices from in order to construct a particular meaning.
Syntagm (Semiotics)
Chain of signs that follow one another in a particular sequence; linear horizontal connection.
Representation: What theory did Richard Dyer propose about stereotyping?
- Argues use of stereotypes in the media reinforces idea of big differences between different types of ppl/creates notions of otherness
- This form of stereotyping, as Richard Dyer would argue is to legitimise inequality.
Representation: What theory did Tessa Perkins propose about stereotyping?
- Stereotypes are not always negative or false
- Not always about minority groups or the less powerful
- Can be held about one’s own group.
- Aren’t rigid or unchanging.
Representation: What is Implicit Personality Theory?
- Refers to a person’s notions about which personality characteristics tend to co-occur in people.
- Halo effect- tendency to conclude person has many positive attributes if they display a few good ones (and the opposite for a few negative attributes)
Representation: What is Reference Group Theory?
- Group an individual relates or aspires to relate to mentally. Becomes frame of reference + source for ordering experiences, perceptions, cognition, ideas of self + comparing, evaluating one’s appearance, performance.
- Important for determining self-identity, attitudes, social ties.
Representation: What is ‘Othering’ as a process?
Casting group, individual or an object into role of the ‘other’ & establishing one’s own identity through opposition to and, frequently, vilification of this Other. Refer to Edward Said’s orientalism too.
What does the Discourse and Spectacle theory say about the display of women’s bodies as a spectacle?
- Display of them as objects to be looked at is a core element of western patriarchal culture.
- Mainstream culture: visual & narrative codes used to construct ♂ body as spectacle differ from those used to objectify♀ body.
What was Saussure’s Theory about semiotics?
- Sign = signifier + signified
- Paradigm
- Syntagm
