theory

Question 1

barthes - semiology

Answer 1

• the study of signs and symbols and how they are used to create meanings.
• the repetition of these signs and symbols to consistently denote the same meanings makes myths and ideologies

Question 2

neale - genre theory

Answer 2

• looks at how identifying genre is a process
• there are many parts that come together to make a genre and when these are combined in new ways, they create genre hybrids
• repetition is a key part in identifying genre

Question 3

todorov - narratology

Answer 3

• there is an easy way of identifying how a narrative is structured and progresses
• the traditional route of narrative tends to follow an ‘equilibrium, disruption to the equilibrium, disequilibrium, point of no return, climax, resolution to disequilibrium, new equilibrium’ structure

Question 4

strauss - structuralism

Answer 4

• the study of the way binary opposites function in society
• he explores the idea that one concept cannot truly function without its polar opposite counterpart
• it works in media by looking at how these conflicts help to drive narratives, show ideological differences, identify genre, and more.

Question 5

baudrillard - postmodernism

Answer 5

• the concept that we, as a society, have moved past ‘the real’ and entered a reality that goes beyond what we are actually experiencing
• he explores how nothing is truly ‘new’ but instead an accumulation of everything that has come before it. things tend to be self-reflexive and full of pastiche/bricolage

Question 6

van zoonen - feminist theory

Answer 6

• feminist theory about the way the patriarchy constructs representations of women
• women are seen as objectified, their body is a visual spectacle. this is often shown through the way camera angles will often focus on their body or their submissiveness.

Question 7

bell hooks - intersectionality theory

Answer 7

• the idea that we live in a society that is dominated by white supremacist, capitalist men who sit at the top of the patriarchy
• the theory also covers the idea that anyone who does not fall into all of those categories faces oppression; the more you are not a part of, the worse the oppression is (intersectionality)
• theorizes that people such as black women should develop an oppositional gaze to the media in which they don’t see themselves represented in

Question 8

judith butler - gender as a performance

Answer 8

• explores the idea that gender is a ritual that we carry out every day. it has become ingrained in us from the way we create a performative nature around gender
• anyone who strays from this binary of gender that society places on us may experience ‘gender trouble’

Question 9

gerbner - cultivation theory

Answer 9

• this theory explores the idea that the influx of media cultivates certain, often untrue, ideas about the world
• ‘mean world syndrome’ makes audiences feel that the world is a lot harsher and more violent than it really is because of how common and acceptable the media makes it out to seem
• the idea of ‘mainstreaming’ political beliefs and ideologies is also explored as he talks about how the sheer saturation of media has made it so nearly everyone feels represented and ‘normal’ no matter what they believe in