Theorists Flashcards
Stuart Hall - reception theory
3 types of audience views:
-preferred
-negotiated
-oppositional
Stuart Hall - representation theory
Representation is the production of meaning through language.
Concepts and signs are governed by codes.
Stereotyping reduces people down to a few simple characteristics. It occurs when there are inequalities of power
Gerbner- cultivation theory
media exposure cultivates audience’s perception of reality over time, and an audience’s world view will start to reflect what they repeatedly see
Uses and gratification theory
Reasons to consume media:
Entertainment
Social interaction
Escapism
Personal identity
Information and education
Barthes semitotic codes
The media constructs meaning through denotation and connotation:
Enigma
Semantic
Symbolic
Action
Referential
Gauntlett- identity theory
The media provide us with tools to construct our identity based on representations in the media
Audiences pick and choose the media they use to build their identity’Pick and mix’
Van Zoonen- feminist theory
Male dominance is reinforced by using representations of masculinity
The dominant western view positions women as an ‘erotic spectacle’
Levi-Strauss- structuralism
- texts are understood through their underlying meaning
- meaning is dependent upon pairs of oppositions
- the way these binary oppositions are understood can create meaning
Bell hooks- femenist theory
Feminism is the struggle to end patriarchal views.
white, upperclass men dominate the media so their values are the ones we see
Curren and seaton- powerful industry theory
Media is controlled by a small number of powerful companies driven by profit and power
They limit creativity
If it there were more diverse ownership, media would be more creative
Livingstone and Lunt- regulation theory
There is a struggle to regulate the media because of technological advances.
The balance between choice and protection is difficult
Henry Jenkins- Fandom theory
Fran are active participants in the construction and circulation of meanings.
Fans interpret media texts in their own ways (textual poaching)
They create their own identity by using media texts
Clay Shirky- end of audience
No such thing as a passive audience as they can now speak back (active audience)
David Hesmonhalgh- cultural industries
Industries try to minimise risk and maximise audiences
There isn’t much creativity because companies stick to trialled and tested formulas
Steve Neale- genre theory
Genres create pleasure through repetition and difference
It’s important as it helps market the product
Judith Butler- Gender performativity
Gender is a performance and a social construct.
What we see as masculine and feminine have been created as a social construct, it could be changed if we want.
Heteronormativity is entrenched in society non-heteronormative identities are marginalised
Craig
Gay people are stereotyped as having amusing or negative traits (camp, macho, deviant)
Albert Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment
The media can implant ideas into the audience.
Children’s behaviour was more agressive after watching an adult act aggressively towards the doll
They replicated the behaviour
Charlton - study of aggression
Observed children on an island who had no tv.
Found they’re not violent because they learnt their behaviour off of parents
After two years of implementing aggressive tv there was no change in behaviour
Jean Baudrillard - post modernism
We live in a postmodern age marked by a massive increase in media content which makes it difficult to distinguish between what is real and what is fake
Todorov - Narratology
Narratives follow expected patterns-
Equilibrium
Disequilibrium
New equilibrium
Gilroy- post colonial theory
Black communities are constructed as ‘other’ to white culture and are associated with criminal activity.
Media products construct fear with the idea that Europeans and Muslims are incompatible
Young and Rubicans 4C
Reformers
Explorers
Aspires
Succeeders
Resigned
Strugglers
Mainstreamers
Gerbner LGBT
Argues LGBTQ+ are still underrepresented in the mainstream media, but things are slowly changing for the better
