Media Studies Terminology Flashcards
(20 cards)
Genre as ‘convenience’ for producers
Fiske (genre)
Producers: generic games are seen as less financially risky.
Genre is a formula that is successful and is repeated again and again.
Inclusion of recognisable conventions.
Industry used genre commercially
Jason Mittel (genre) There are strong commercial reasons why a major studio would invest in a film that draws on popular established genres that will appeal to abroad audience.
Genre as ‘convenience’ for audiences
John Fiske (genre) Familiarity through repetition is one of the key elements in the way that audiences understand and relate to texts. Reassuring and promising patterns of repetition and variation.
Structuralism
(Genre)
The genre owes to the pre existing structures in which media producers operate.
Eg. Repertoire of elements define a fantasy film.
Genre functions as a means of directing an audience to respond in certain ways to a particular text based in the expectations they bring to it.
Genres are usually defined in terms of certain media language or certain ideologies and narratives
Rick Altman (genre)
eg. Social realism
Semantics- location shooting, unknown actors, hand held camera.
Syntactics- the main character wants to escape from his or her background- ideological messages intended to stoke political debate or social change.
Two should be kept separate so the genre can progress over time and as a way to explore its hybridity.
Hybridisation offers audiences a ‘set of pleasures’.
Genre Revisionism
(Genre)
Eg. Sin Nombre plays with the western genre to comment on contemporary concerns.
Art house approach- expanding the possibilities for the future of western yet again.
Genre is in a constant process of negotiation and change
David Buckingham (genre) Eg. Sin Nombre have evolved the western genre to respond to socio- economic and cultural change.
Genres constantly ‘break rules’
Henry Jenkins (genre) Hybrids are not truly one genre as they have features if many genres. Hybridisation maximises audience appeal and enables producers to offer a unique selling point, as seen in critical reviews and its marketing materials.
Cultural competency is very important in understanding genre
Andrew Tudor (genre) Particularly true for hybrids as their success will very ugh depend on the audiences cultural competency. Eg. Understanding the depth of Sin Nombre relies on an audiences' understanding of each specific genre and therefore the film's ability to satisfy their own expectation of each.
Genre as repetition and difference
Steve Neal (genre) Genres are familiar to audiences through the repetition of conventions, but are often challenged by some changes. Reflects the industries need to evolve to attract new audiences The ability of genres to hybridise limits the value of genre as an organising principle of the construction and construction of texts. However vat majority of film content does conform to relativity established conventions.
Genre is too restricting
Daniel Chandler (genre)
A genre ‘straight jacket’.
Eg. Revolver’s repeating of the ‘urban thriller’ genre in Kidulthood, Shank, Sket etc. was criticised as being unadventurous and limited.
Genre is
Informed by narrative.
Post feminist icon theory
Angles McRobbie (representation) Eg. Lara Croft exhibits stereotypes of both males and females- strong, courage and control but also sexualised for the male gaze.
Male gaze/female gaze
Laura Mulvey (representation) Males and females are sexualised and objectified for the other genders view.
Dominant, oppositional and negotiated reading.
Stuart Hall (representation/ audience) Three ways audiences respond to representations of a text. Also useful in understanding how some representations reflect dominant culture.
Stereotypes legitimise inequality
Richard Dyer (representation) Eg. GTAV is misogynistic and is entirely make point of view. This arguably serves to maintain make dominant culture
Binary oppositions and subordinate groups
Levi-Strauss (representation)
Representations at deliberately placed in binary opposition to ensure the dominant culture is maintained and the minority representation is seen as subordinate and marginalised.
Hyper reality
Baudrillard (representation)
Some texts are difficult to distinguish in terms of the representation of reality from a simulation of reality.
Boundaries are blurred as codes and conventions create a set of signifiers which we understand but in fact the representation is a copy of a copy.
Stereotyping is short hand for identification
Andy Medhurst (representation) Some texts allow for audience identification by stereotyping and giving characters an extreme representation.
Critics and industry see genre differently as a concept
Steve Neal (genre) Revolver dis not set out to create an 'urban thriller' genre with Kidulthood Critics classify it as such to help the audience find films they like.
