Theories/Theorists

Question 1

Semiotics - Barthes

Answer 1

• Audiences create their own meanings through how they perceive the media.
• Use of signs/symbols.

Question 2

Narratology - Todorov

Answer 2

• The idea all narratives share a basic structure involving a movement from one state of equilibrium to another.
• Two states of equilibrium are separated by period of disequilibrium.

Question 3

Genre Theory - Neale

Answer 3

• Genres dominated by repitition/convention.
• The idea that genres change, develop, and vary as they borrow from and overlap with others. For example, rom-com, horror comedy pair the conventions of both genres. E.g. ‘Scream’ uses the horror conventions of large knives and a killer, but also comedic conventions of ironic and sarcastic humour to cross over the genres.

Question 4

Structuralism - Strauss

Answer 4

• Meaning is dependent on ‘Binary Oppositions’.
• The way in which these ‘Binary Oppositions’ are resolved can have ideological significance (we are positioned to prefer one side of the opposition).

Question 5

Postmodernism - Baudrillard

Answer 5

• In postmodern culture, the boundaries between the ‘real’ world and media world have collapsed and it is no longer possible to distinguish between reality and simulation. For example, nothing we see on social media is the true version of ‘reality’, but we believe it is and compare our realities to the fake one we see in the media.

Question 6

Representation - Hall

Answer 6

• The idea that stereotyping as a form of representation reduces people to a few simple characteristics or traits.
• Stereotyping tends to occur where there are inequalities of power, as subordinate groups tend to be constructed as ‘different’ or ‘other’

Question 7

Identity - Gauntlett

Answer 7

• The idea that the media used to convey singular, straightforward messages about ‘ideal’ types of male and female identities but now, the media today offer a more diverse range of stars and icons, allowing us to ‘pick and mix’ different ideas.

Question 8

Feminist Theory - Zoonen

Answer 8

• The idea that the display of women’s bodies as objects to be looked at is a core element of western patriarchal culture.
• In mainstream culture, the visual and narrative codes used to construct the male body as a spectacle differ from those used to objectify the female body.

Question 9

Feminist Theory - bell hooks

Answer 9

• The theory that race and class as well as sex determine the extent to which individuals are exploited, discriminated against or oppressed. (There is a hierarchy).

Question 10

Gender Performativity - Butler

Answer 10

• The idea that gender identity is performatively constructed by the ‘expressions’ that are said to be of that gender.
• The idea that there is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender.
• Performativity is not a singular act, but a repetition and a ritual.

Question 11

Ethnicity And Postcolonial Theory - Gilroy

Answer 11

• The idea that civilizationism constructs racial hierarchies and sets up binary oppositions based on notions of otherness.
• Example: Whitewashing a black woman on the cover of a magazine, dehumanising those of another race on a newspaper cover.

Question 12

Media Effects - Bandura

Answer 12

• The idea that the media can implant ideas in the mind of the audience directly.
• Representations of transgressive behaviour, such as violence, can lead audience members to imitate those forms of behaviour.

Question 13

Cultivation Theory - Gerbner

Answer 13

• The idea that exposure to repeated patterns of representations over long periods of time can shape and influence the way people perceive the world around them.
• Cultivation reinforces mainstream values (dominant ideologies) - Pretty girls, strong boys, etc.

Question 14

Reception Theory - Hall

Answer 14

• Every media text has a ‘preferred meaning’ encoded by producers.
• The audience has three hypothetical response positions:
• Dominant position: The preferred reading is fully understood and accepted.
• Negotiated position: The preferred meaning is acknowledged in general terms, but the message is negotiated/ adapted to better fit the individual’s own experiences/ contexts.
• Oppositional position: The preferred meaning is understood, but the audience member disagrees with it

Question 15

Fandom - Jenkins

Answer 15

• The idea that fans are active participants in the construction and circulation of textual meanings.
• Fans appropriate texts and read them in ways that are not fully authorised by the media producers. (Textual Poaching).

Question 16

‘End Of Audience’ - Shirky

Answer 16

• The idea that the concept of audience members as passive consumers of mass media content is no longer tenable in the age of the internet.
• The idea that media consumers have now become producers who ‘speak back’ to the media in various ways, as well as creating and sharing content with one another.

Question 17

Power And Media Industries - Curran And Seaton

Answer 17

• The media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by logic of profit and power.
• The idea that media concentration generally limits or inhibits variety, creativity and quality.

Question 18

Regulation - Livingstone and Lunt

Answer 18

• There is an underlying struggle in recent UK regulation policy between the need to further interest the citizens (by offering protection from harmful content), and the need to further the interests of consumers (ensuring choice, value for money, and market competition).

Question 19

Cultural Industries - Hesmondhalgh

Answer 19

• The idea that cultural industry companies try to minimise risk and maximise profit.
• This is done through horizontal integration, vertical integration, and by formatting their cultural products (through use of stars, genres, and serials).
• Horizontal integration is when a media company owns several businesses of the same value, e.g. a magazine, a radio channel, a television show etc.
• Vertical integration is when a company owns various stages of the production process within the same industry. For example, they own the production AND distribution companies.