Theorists Flashcards
What is the main idea of Structuralism according to Claude Lévi-Strauss?
Texts can best be understood through an examination of their underlying structure
Structuralism focuses on understanding meaning through binary oppositions.
What role do binary oppositions play in Structuralism?
Meaning is dependent upon (and produced through) pairs of oppositions
Binary oppositions help in analyzing texts and their meanings.
How can the resolution of binary oppositions in Structuralism be significant?
It can have particular ideological significance
The way oppositions are resolved may reflect cultural or political ideologies.
In Postmodernism, what has happened to the boundaries between the ‘real’ world and the world of media?
They have collapsed
This concept suggests a blending of reality and media representation.
What does Jean Baudrillard mean by ‘hyperreality’?
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.
What is the focus of Feminist theory according to Liesbet van Zoonen?
Gender is constructed through discourse, varying according to cultural and historical context
This theory emphasizes the social construction of gender roles.
What is a core element of western patriarchal culture according to Feminist theory?
The display of women’s bodies as objects to be looked at
This objectification is critiqued in feminist media studies.
How do the visual and narrative codes differ for male and female bodies in mainstream culture?
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.
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 _______.
[simulacra]
Simulacra refers to copies or representations that do not have an original.
What components are involved in the study of media language?
- Advertising and marketing
- Music video
- Newspapers
- Television
- Magazines
- Online
These components illustrate various forms of media through which language and representation are analyzed.
What is the core idea of feminist theory according to bell hooks?
Feminism is a struggle to end sexist/patriarchal oppression and the ideology of domination.
How does bell hooks define feminism in terms of political commitment?
Feminism is a political commitment rather than a lifestyle.
What are some components related to representation in advertising and marketing?
Advertising and marketing, music videos.
What is Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity?
Identity is performatively constructed by the expressions that are said to be its results.
How is identity manufactured according to Judith Butler?
Identity is manufactured through a set of acts.
What are some components related to gender performativity in media?
Television (The Bridge, Humans, The Jinx), online (PointlessBlog, Zoella).
What is Paul Gilroy’s theory regarding ethnicity and postcolonial theory?
Colonial discourses continue to inform contemporary attitudes to race and ethnicity in the postcolonial era.
What concept does Paul Gilroy associate with civilizationism?
Civilisationism constructs racial hierarchies and sets up binary oppositions based on notions of otherness.
What are some components related to ethnicity in representation?
Advertising and marketing, music videos.
What is the underlying struggle in recent UK regulation policy?
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.
What risks do global media corporations pose to traditional media regulation?
The increasing power of global media corporations and the rise of convergent media technologies have placed traditional approaches to media regulation at risk.
How do cultural industry companies minimize risk and maximize audiences?
They do this through vertical and horizontal integration and by formatting their cultural products using stars, genres, and serials.
What is the operational scope of the largest cultural industry companies?
The largest companies or conglomerates operate across a number of different cultural industries.
How has the radical potential of the internet been contained?
It has been contained by its partial incorporation into a large, profit-oriented set of cultural industries.
What role do fans play in textual meanings?
Fans are active participants in the construction and circulation of textual meanings.
What is textual poaching?
Textual poaching is when fans appropriate texts and read them in ways that are not fully authorized by media producers.
How do fans construct their identities?
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.
What are specific examples of media components?
Component 1: Film, Newspapers, Video games. Component 2: Television, Online.
What are additional examples of media components?
Component 1: Radio, Video games. Component 2: Television (Life On Mars or Humans or The Jinx), Online (PointlessBlog or Zoella).
What effect have the Internet and digital technologies had on media relations?
They have had a profound effect on the relations between media and individuals.
How has the conceptualization of audience members changed?
Audience members are no longer seen as passive consumers of mass media content.
What role do media consumers play in the age of the Internet?
Media consumers have become producers who ‘speak back’ to the media.
What do media consumers create and share?
They create and share content in various ways.
Henry Jenkins fandom Theory
The idea that fans are active participants in the construction and circulation of textual meanings
What is Goodwins theory?
useful for analyzing Music Videos: Thought Beats, Narrative and Performance, The Star Image, Relation of Visuals to the Song and the Technical aspects (composition) of a Music Video.
What is Propp theory?
8 character roles: only applies to mainstream texts e.g. blockbuster films or Disney films where characters often pertain to stereotype.
Taijfel and turner theory
inter group discrimination, useful for studying Identities and the Media and the idea of a collective group.
