Theorists

Question 1

What is the main idea of Structuralism according to Claude Lévi-Strauss?

Answer 1

Texts can best be understood through an examination of their underlying structure

Structuralism focuses on understanding meaning through binary oppositions.

Question 2

What role do binary oppositions play in Structuralism?

Answer 2

Meaning is dependent upon (and produced through) pairs of oppositions

Binary oppositions help in analyzing texts and their meanings.

Question 3

How can the resolution of binary oppositions in Structuralism be significant?

Answer 3

It can have particular ideological significance

The way oppositions are resolved may reflect cultural or political ideologies.

Question 4

In Postmodernism, what has happened to the boundaries between the ‘real’ world and the world of media?

Answer 4

They have collapsed

This concept suggests a blending of reality and media representation.

Question 5

What does Jean Baudrillard mean by ‘hyperreality’?

Answer 5

Media images have come to seem more ‘real’ than the reality they supposedly represent

Hyperreality indicates a state where the distinction between reality and simulation is blurred.

Question 6

What is the focus of Feminist theory according to Liesbet van Zoonen?

Answer 6

Gender is constructed through discourse, varying according to cultural and historical context

This theory emphasizes the social construction of gender roles.

Question 7

What is a core element of western patriarchal culture according to Feminist theory?

Answer 7

The display of women’s bodies as objects to be looked at

This objectification is critiqued in feminist media studies.

Question 8

How do the visual and narrative codes differ for male and female bodies in mainstream culture?

Answer 8

The codes used to construct the male body as spectacle differ from those used to objectify the female body

This difference reflects gender biases in media representation.

Question 9

Fill in the blank: The idea that in a postmodern age of simulacra we are immersed in a world of images which no longer refer to anything ‘real’ is known as _______.

Answer 9

[simulacra]

Simulacra refers to copies or representations that do not have an original.

Question 10

What components are involved in the study of media language?

Answer 10

• Advertising and marketing
• Music video
• Newspapers
• Television
• Magazines
• Online

These components illustrate various forms of media through which language and representation are analyzed.

Question 11

What is the core idea of feminist theory according to bell hooks?

Answer 11

Feminism is a struggle to end sexist/patriarchal oppression and the ideology of domination.

Question 12

How does bell hooks define feminism in terms of political commitment?

Answer 12

Feminism is a political commitment rather than a lifestyle.

Question 13

What are some components related to representation in advertising and marketing?

Answer 13

Advertising and marketing, music videos.

Question 14

What is Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity?

Answer 14

Identity is performatively constructed by the expressions that are said to be its results.

Question 15

How is identity manufactured according to Judith Butler?

Answer 15

Identity is manufactured through a set of acts.

Question 16

What are some components related to gender performativity in media?

Answer 16

Television (The Bridge, Humans, The Jinx), online (PointlessBlog, Zoella).

Question 17

What is Paul Gilroy’s theory regarding ethnicity and postcolonial theory?

Answer 17

Colonial discourses continue to inform contemporary attitudes to race and ethnicity in the postcolonial era.

Question 18

What concept does Paul Gilroy associate with civilizationism?

Answer 18

Civilisationism constructs racial hierarchies and sets up binary oppositions based on notions of otherness.

Question 19

What are some components related to ethnicity in representation?

Answer 19

Advertising and marketing, music videos.

Question 20

What is the underlying struggle in recent UK regulation policy?

Answer 20

The struggle is between the need to protect citizens from harmful material and the need to further consumer interests by ensuring choice, value for money, and market competition.

Question 21

What risks do global media corporations pose to traditional media regulation?

Answer 21

The increasing power of global media corporations and the rise of convergent media technologies have placed traditional approaches to media regulation at risk.

Question 22

How do cultural industry companies minimize risk and maximize audiences?

Answer 22

They do this through vertical and horizontal integration and by formatting their cultural products using stars, genres, and serials.

Question 23

What is the operational scope of the largest cultural industry companies?

Answer 23

The largest companies or conglomerates operate across a number of different cultural industries.

Question 24

How has the radical potential of the internet been contained?

Answer 24

It has been contained by its partial incorporation into a large, profit-oriented set of cultural industries.

Question 25

What role do fans play in textual meanings?

Answer 25

Fans are active participants in the construction and circulation of textual meanings.

Question 26

What is textual poaching?

Answer 26

Textual poaching is when fans appropriate texts and read them in ways that are not fully authorized by media producers.

Question 27

How do fans construct their identities?

Answer 27

Fans construct their social and cultural identities by borrowing and inflecting mass culture images and are part of a participatory culture with a vital social dimension.

Question 28

What are specific examples of media components?

Answer 28

Component 1: Film, Newspapers, Video games. Component 2: Television, Online.

Question 29

What are additional examples of media components?

Answer 29

Component 1: Radio, Video games. Component 2: Television (Life On Mars or Humans or The Jinx), Online (PointlessBlog or Zoella).

Question 30

What effect have the Internet and digital technologies had on media relations?

Answer 30

They have had a profound effect on the relations between media and individuals.

Question 31

How has the conceptualization of audience members changed?

Answer 31

Audience members are no longer seen as passive consumers of mass media content.

Question 32

What role do media consumers play in the age of the Internet?

Answer 32

Media consumers have become producers who ‘speak back’ to the media.

Question 33

What do media consumers create and share?

Answer 33

They create and share content in various ways.