week 6

Question 1

critical cultural studies approach

Answer 1

focuses on how people interpret and make meaning out of the media content they see

Question 2

polysemy

Answer 2

multiple meanings can coexist in media content

Question 3

encoding

decoding

Answer 3

turning thoughts into communication

converting a coded message into a language

Question 4

third-person effect

Answer 4

the perception that others will be more affected by media content than oneself

Question 5

second screen

Answer 5

using multiple different screens to discuss the same content

Question 6

ways of being active

Answer 6

1. interpretation
2. social context of interpretation
3. collective action
4. audience as media producers

Question 7

interpretive community

Answer 7

social structural forces and the forces of human agency at work

Question 8

uses and gratification approach

Answer 8

approach to the mass media focus on people’s motivation and needs

Question 9

cultural codes

Answer 9

knowledge about how the world works

Question 10

culture jamming

Answer 10

range of tactics used to critique, jam the working of consumer culture; used by anti-consumer society

Question 11

matrix media

Answer 11

media landscape enabled by the internet

Question 12

media fans

Answer 12

1. actively interpret media
2. fandom is a social activity
3. some become activists
4. producers of original media (fanfictions)

Question 13

types of readings

Answer 13

1. dominant/preferred - producer-intended meaning of a piece of content
2. negotiated - partly shares its code, but accepts the preferred reading
3. oppositional - rejects the preferred reading and creates their own text

Question 14

discursive resources

Answer 14

cultural tools for decoding, like language, assumptions associated with a particular subculture or political perspective

Question 15

active audience theory

Answer 15

1. respects intellect and ability of media consumers (subjective)
2. acknowledges range of meanings (cannot address presence or absence of effects)
3. seeks an in-depth understanding on how people interpret media content (qualitative research methods preclude causal explanations)
4. provides analysis of how media are used in everyday social context