Theory

Question 1

Steve Neal

Answer 1

Genre Theory.

Audiences enjoy specific texts because of repetition and difference in a genre.

Genre is not something static, it is always evolving

Question 2

Roland Barthes

Answer 2

Semiotic Theory - structuralism

Semantic, Enigma, Symbolic, Action, Cultural

Question 3

Levi Strauss

Answer 3

Binary opposition

A good story revolves around conflicts between opposites
Good vs Evil, Young vs Old

Meaning is dependant upon opposition

Question 4

Todorov

Answer 4

Narratives Theory

Equilibrium, Disruption, Realisation, Resolution, New Equilibrium

Way in which narratives are resolved can have aparticular ideological significance

Question 5

Propp

Answer 5

Character types

Hero, Villain, Dispatcher Donor, Helper, Princess

All stories feature specific roles that help audiences understand the story

Question 6

Stuart Hall C

Answer 6

Reception Theory

Producers encoding and audiences decoding

Prefferred reading - accept the products messages
Oppositional reading - reject the products messages
Negotiated reading - where they partially accept and reject the messages

Question 7

Blumler and Katz

Answer 7

Users and Gratification

Active audiences use the media for different reasons

Media plays a function for audiences:
Personal identity, entertainment, information, social interaction

Question 8

Young and Rubicam

Answer 8

The Four C’s - Cross Cultural Consumer Characteristics

Explorer, Aspirer, Succeeder, Reformer, Mainstream, Struggler, Resigned

Question 9

Banduro

Answer 9

Media Effects theory

Bobo Doll experiment
- media can implant ideas in the mind of audience
- audience acquire attitudes, emotional responses
- media representations of violence can lead audience to imitate this behaviour

Question 10

Henry Jenkins

Answer 10

Fandom theory

Fans are active participants in constructiom of textual meanings
Fans take media text and interpret them in ways not meant - textual poaching
Fans construct social and cultural identies by borrowing and adapting media texts

Question 11

Clay Shirkey

Answer 11

End of Audience

Internet and tech has changed relationship between producers and audiences

Passive audience consuming media no longer exists because tech has turned them prosumers

Question 12

Stuart Hall P

Answer 12

Theory of Representations

Media products have a shared conceptual roadmap that helps us understand whats being portrayed.

Media often contains stereotypes that reduce groups to negative characteristics.

Question 13

Baudrillard

Answer 13

Postmodernism

Media products create representations of reality - ’simulacra’

These are ’hyperreal’ and suggest audiences cant tell different between this and reality.

In COD, gamers are immersed in a world of war that many eblieve is a realistic representation of a war zone country.

Question 14

Two step flow model

Answer 14

Information from the media moves in two stages

First, the media will influence an opinion leader who will influence the masses

Opinion leaders affect the way in which others interpret the media. They can influence the audeince to think a certain way

Question 15

Gauntlett

Answer 15

Identity / pick and mix theory

Media provides us with tools to construct our own identities

Suggests that the media conveys straightforward messages about ideal types of identities, however modern media offers a more diverse range of characters and ideas we can pick and mix from

Question 16

Van Zoonen

Answer 16

Feminist theory

Gender is constructed through discourse, and its meaning differs depending on context

Display of womens bodies as objects is a core part of western culture

Question 17

bell hooks

Answer 17

Intersectional feminism

Feminism is the struggle to end sexist and patriarchal oppression and domination

Feminsim is a politcal commitment rather than a lifestyle choice

Race and class as well as sex determine the extent of which individuals are exploited or oppressed

Question 18

Mulvey

Answer 18

Male Gaze theory

Critical of the way women are represented as sex objects to feed the demands of male audiences

Male Gaze theory siggests women are objectified in film where men are in charge of the camera

Women are hereby considered the passive gender to be looked at

Question 19

Butler

Answer 19

Gender performtivity

Identity is performatively constructed by exlressions that are manufactured through a set of acts

No gender indentity through the expression of gender

Performativity is not a singular act but a ritual

Question 20

Gilroy

Answer 20

Postcolonial theory

Colonial discoursed continue to inform contemporary attitudes to race and ethnicity

Civiliasationism constructs racial hierachies and connotes feelings of otherness

Question 21

Curran and Seaton

Answer 21

Power and media industries

Media is controlled by small number of companies that are driven by profit and power

Media concentration limits variety, creativity and quality.

Socially diverse patterns of ownership create varied media productions.

Question 22

Livingstone and Lunt

Answer 22

Regulation theory

An underlying struggle in UK regulation policy to further the interests of citizens and the need to further interest consumers

Increasing power of global media corporations place traditional approaches to media regulation at risk

Question 23

Hesmondhalgh

Answer 23

Cultural industries

Cultural industries minimise risk and maximise profits and audiences through vertical and horizontal integration

Large companies now operate a number of different cultural industries