Theory definitions Flashcards
David Gauntlett’s theory of traditional and post-traditional media consumption
Audiences escape the prescriptive identities that are constructed for them through localised social norms and traditional viewpoints.
David Gauntlett’s theory of reflexive identity construction
Media provides a variety of role models and lifestyle templates that audiences use to guide their own outlooks. Audiences are engaged in a continuous revision of their own identities.
Curran and Seaton’s theory that media is controlled by a small number of companies who are driven by profit and power
Globalisation has concentrated media ownership into the hands of a few companies (Conglomerates)
Curran and Seaton’s theory that diverse ownership creates diverse products
Public service broadcasting provides impartial news, serves minority audiences by offering inclusive rather than exclusive audiences
Curran and Seaton’s theory that media concentration aversively affects media content
Profit-driven media is softened to create mass audience appeal
Stuart Hall’s theory of media representation processes
Media does not mirror real world events but produces edited copied of them
Stuart Hall’s theory of Stereotypes and power
Stereotypes are used by media to produce instant characterisation
Roland Barthes semiotics theory of denotations and connotations
Denotations: what you can see, Connotations: what it means
Tzvetan Todorov’s theory of Narratology
The idea that all narratives share the same structure (equilibrium - a disruption - recognition of disruption - resolution - new equilibrium)
Steve Neale’s Genre theory
The idea that genres can be dominated by repetition, but can also be marked by difference, variation and change.
Roland Barthes semiotics theory of referential codes
Referential code: consumer is able to make links to something outside the text
Roland Barthes semiotics theory of action codes
Builds anticipation with obvious action to follow
Roland Barthes semiotics theory of enigma codes
A narrative device that isn’t fully explained and presents a mystery for the reader
Levi Strauss’s structuralism theory of binary opposition
Two opposite ideas presented together, creating conflict, drama or entertainment
Jean Baudrillard’s theory of postmodernism
The idea that increasingly, the boundaries between the real world and the world that the media creates is harder to distinguish between.
Vladimir Propp’s theory of character types
The idea that in media texts there are recognisable characters (hero, Villain, Damsel in distress, side kick, dispatcher, donor, false hero)
Stuart Hall’s theory of representation
Media products are encoded for the audience to decode
Stuart Hall’s theory of stereotypes and power
Stereotypes are used to construct meaning and reinforce recognised ideologies
David Gauntlett’s theory of identity
We get a sense of our own identity from the media products we consume
Liesbet Van Zoonen’s feminist theory
our ideas about gender come from out consumption of the media, women are often shown to be objectified in the media due to the western, patriarchal society
Bell Hook’s feminist theory
Feminism is a struggle to end sexist/patriarchal oppression
Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity
Our ideas about gender come from our consumption of the media
Paul Gilroy’s ethnicity and postcolonial theory
Ethnic minorities are often constructs of racial hierarchies and set up in binary opposition based on ideas of ‘otherness’
Livingstone and Lunt’s theory of regulation
The idea that the regulation of media products is becoming increasingly difficult with the increase in technology
George Gerbner’s cultivation theory
The idea that the exposure to repeated patterns of representations can influence how we see the world
Stuart Hall’s reception theory
communication through media texts is a process involving encoding by producers and decoding by audiences
Hesmondhalgh’s theory of cultural industrial
The idea that media industry companies minimise risk to maximise profit
