media language

Question 1

Semiotics - Roland Bathes - the study of signs

Answer 1

-texts communicate their ideas through signification.
-exposure to certain symbolic constructions can be self evident.
-the signs becomes a myth through naturalisation.

Question 2

Narratology - Tzvetan Todorov - the study of narrative

Answer 2

-all narratives share a basic structure, it moves from one equilibrium to another.
-separated by disruption and imbalance.
-narratives can have ideological significance.

Question 3

Genre theory - Steve Neale - classification of media products

Answer 3

-genres are dominated by repetition of codes and conventions (may incorporate difference, variation and change).
-genres change as they borrow from and overlap with each (hybridity and sub-genre).

Question 4

Structuralism - Claude Levi-Strauss - underlying structures through which meanings are made.

Answer 4

-texts can be misunderstood through analysis of their underlying structure.
-meaning can be produced through oppositional pairs.
-resolution of these binary oppositions can have ideological significance.

Question 5

Postmodernism - Jean Beaudrillard - making of meanings in a post-structuralist world.

Answer 5

-boundaries between the “real” and “mediated” worlds have collapsed.
-signs = a process of signification with no signifier underlying them. no longer refer to anything ‘real’ or ‘literal’.
-mediated images now seem more real (hyperreality).