Media Theory Level Up! Flashcards
This deck is for levelling up your knowledge and understanding of Media Theories and effectively evaluating it alongside our Comp2 Media texts (88 cards)
1
Q
What is the first concept of Gerbner’s Cultivation theory?
A
Fear Cultivation.
2
Q
What does Gerbner argue about communication through media?
A
It has replaced a pre-existing system that had dominated society and culture until the early 20th century.
How can this replacement be seen within Vogue?
3
Q
Why does Gerbner suggest society use religious and cultural products?
A
These products guide the attitudes and behaviours of people in society.
Can you give and explain an example of this in the Vogue set text?
4
Q
How did society consume religious and cultural products before the Television?
A
The church and the education system.
5
Q
What does Gerbner argue about the switch from the church to television?
A
Mass media has replaced the church and has become the dominant socialising form of our age.
To what extent can we apply a similar idea to the way that Vogue constructs its products?
6
Q
Why does Gerbner argue that mass media has such a big influence on society?
A
Media products are able to target people of all ages and walks of life, meaning that ideas and attitudes are being transmitted on a huge scale.
Name two Vogue extracts that target different audiences.
7
Q
What factors allow television to effect widescale social change according to Gerbner?
A
-Television is easily decodable
-Television is largely cost free
-Television consumption is intensified
-Television products are encoded using realism
-Television is a centralised and homogenous producer of cultural symbols (small number of producers have majority of control)
8
Q
What is the second concept of Cultivation theory?
A
Media consumption leads audiences to accept mainstream ideologies.
9
Q
What does violence on television represent?
A
Symbolic power.
10
Q
How does television organise social groups?
A
Hierarchally. Television tells us who is more likely to be the victim rather than the aggressor.
11
Q
What does Gerbner suggest is created as a result of on-screen violence/media violence?
A
-It defines powerless characters
-Defines powerful characters
-Narrative conventions reinforce authority
-News reporting stigmatises key groups
-Audience protest is subjugated. Due to viewers interpreting the world as mean, they come to overly rely on established authority for protection
12
Q
What are the elements of postmodernism?
A
Reflectivity, Briccolard, Parody, Homage, Pastiche etc
13
Q
What political ideology is associated with Curran’s 2010 book Media And Power?
A
Marxism
14
Q
In what way does postmodernism reflect a “crisis of originality”?
A
By taking from an “Imaginary Museum” of past references through parody, some argue that producers have run out of ideas and everything has been said or done before.
15
Q
Which set texts use parody and pastiche (elements of post modernism) most heavily?
A
Black Mirror: San Junipero, Formation Beyoncé
16
Q
What does reflexivity mean in theories of Postmodernism?
A
Instead of trying to maintain the illusion that what they are trying to show is “real” (consider genre and verisimilitude) , postmodern television often draws attention to its construction, reminding us of its postmodern elements.
17
Q
What does Braudrillard suggest about the connection between the “real” world and media.
A
Absolute truth has collapsed and it is no longer possible to distinguish between reality and simulation
18
Q
What is hyperreality in theories of postmodernism?
A
The idea that media images have come to seem more ‘real’ than the reality they supposedly represent. Eg. the news.
19
Q
What does ‘implosion’ refer to in theories of postmodernism?
A
It is a term commonly used to describe the way in which boundaries separating the ‘real’ world from the world of media have collapsed into each other
20
Q
What is generic verisimilitude? (Postmodernism)
A
When a media product conforms to its established genre, fitting with the audiences expectation to the product. An example being a stock character that is linked to a specific genre being used - like Victor in The Returned fitting the stock character The Creepy Child which is typically linked to Horror
21
Q
What is cultural verisimilitude? (Postmodernism)
A
When a media text conforms to the audience view of reality.
22
Q
What does Judith Butler suggest about gender identity in their theory of gender performativity?
A
It doesn’t exist ! 👻👻
23
Q
What is the passive audience. (End of Audience)
A
The audience is unable to speak back to the producers and will just consume the media given to them.
24
Q
What is gender performativity in every day life? What does it mean to perform a gender?
A
Ritual and repetition of societal standards to construct and convey an expression of a gender. Eg. the way a “woman” looks or dresses or the way a “man” talks. We are not born wearing certain costumes or having a certain favourite colour, society teaches us what that means based on gender.
25
What is the active audience? (End of Audience)
When the audience speaks back to the media producer and they can create and share their own media products.
26
What 15th century event does Shirky liken the economic and social impacts of digital revolution to?
the invention of the printing press (Glutenberg)
27
What 20th century development does Shirky argue nutured our audience passivity?
The introduction of broadcasting technology such as cinema, radio and TV into our leisure times.
28
Which 3 factors of 20th century technology does Shirky argue left media power in the hands of the few over the hands of the many?
- The private nature of 1 - 1 communication
- The expense of media creation at the time
- Large scale public consumption
29
Shirky's first concept is called...
"Everybody makes the media"
30
Finish the quote 'at work we are office drones , at home we're _____ _______
Couch potatoes
31
What does Shirky conclude regarding the merging of public and private technology and communication?
Contemporary digital media exists as a spectrum of private and broadcast media effects.
32
Why does Shirky claim that audiences are more able to publish more risky content?
Stretch: What does Shirky label this mentality?
Because amateur producers do not operate with any costs, therefore the impact of financial failure is far lesser.
Stretch answer: "Publish first, think later"
33
Define Mass Amateurisation under Shirky's theory?
The process of media production becoming more centred and saturated with the previously non-experienced & non professional media producers operating from home settings.
33
Why doe Shirky claim it is nearly impossible to filter online media?
The sheer volume of media uploaded online each day
34
According to Roland Barthes, what is the difference between denotation and connotation?
Denotation is the literal meaning of a sign. Connotation refers to the suggested meanings or associations attached to a sign. (Example: Denotation - a red rose is a flower. Connotation - a red rose can signify love or passion).
35
What are the five stages of narrative proposed by Tzvetan Todorov?
1. Equilibrium; 2. Disruption; 3. Recognition of disruption; 4. Attempt to repair disruption; 5. New equilibrium.
36
According to Steve Neale's genre theory, how are genres best understood?
Genres are instances of repetition and difference. Difference is essential to the economy of the genre and to sustain a genre.
37
What is Claude Lévi-Strauss's theory of structuralism primarily concerned with in media texts?
The idea that texts can best be understood through an examination of their underlying structure, often involving binary oppositions (e.g., good vs. evil).
38
Jean Baudrillard's theory of postmodernism includes the concept of 'simulacra'. What does this refer to?
In a postmodern age, we are immersed in a world of images that no longer refer to anything 'real'; these are simulacra, where the signs appear more real than reality itself.
39
What is Stuart Hall's theory of representation?
Representation is the production of meaning through language, with meaning constructed through a system of signs. It involves the way meanings are produced and exchanged between members of a culture, involving the use of language, signs, and images which stand for or represent things. Stereotyping, as a form of representation, reduces people to a few simple characteristics or traits.
40
What is David Gauntlett's theory of identity?
The media provide us with 'tools' or resources that we use to construct our identities. In the past, media tended to convey singular, straightforward messages about ideal types of identity, but contemporary media offer a more diverse range of stars, icons, and characters from whom we may pick and mix different ideas.
41
According to Liesbet van Zoonen's feminist theory, how is gender constructed in the media?
Gender is constructed through discourse, and its meaning varies according to cultural and historical context. The display of women's bodies as objects to be looked at is a core element of Western patriarchal culture.
42
What is bell hooks' main argument regarding feminism and media?
Feminism is a struggle to end sexist/patriarchal oppression and the ideology of domination. Feminism is a political commitment rather than a lifestyle choice. Race and class, as well as sex, determine the extent to which individuals are exploited and oppressed.
43
What does Judith Butler's theory of gender performativity suggest?
Identity is performatively constructed by the very 'expressions' that are said to be its results (it is manufactured through a set of acts). Gender, therefore, is a performance; it's what you do at particular times, rather than a universal who you are.
44
What is Paul Gilroy's theory around ethnicity and postcolonial theory?
Colonial discourses continue to inform contemporary attitudes to race and ethnicity in the postcolonial era. Civilizationism constructs racial hierarchies and sets up binary oppositions based on notions of otherness.
45
What is the core idea behind Curran and Seaton's "Power and Media Industries" theory?
The media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the logic of profit and power. Media concentration generally limits or inhibits variety, creativity, and quality. More socially diverse patterns of ownership help to create conditions for more varied and adventurous media productions.
46
What are the key aspects of David Hesmondhalgh's "Cultural Industries" theory?
Cultural industry companies try to minimise risk and maximise audiences through vertical and horizontal integration, and by formatting their cultural products (e.g., through the use of stars, genres, and serials). The largest companies or conglomerates now operate across a number of different cultural industries. The internet has created new challenges for media producers in containing and controlling content circulation.
47
According to George Gerbner's cultivation theory, what is the effect of long-term exposure to television?
Exposure to repeated patterns of representation over long periods of time can shape and influence the way people perceive the world around them (i.e., cultivating particular views and opinions). Cultivation reinforces mainstream values (dominant ideologies).
48
What are the three reading positions Stuart Hall proposes in his reception theory?
1. Dominant-hegemonic position (preferred reading); 2. Negotiated position; 3. Oppositional position.
49
What are Henry Jenkins' key ideas about fandom?
Fans are active participants in the construction and circulation of textual meanings. They appropriate texts and read them in ways not fully authorised by producers ('textual poaching'). Fans are part of a participatory culture.
50
According to Clay Shirky, how have the internet and digital technologies changed the audience?
The internet and digital technologies have had a profound effect on the relations between media and individuals. Audience members as passive consumers of mass media content is no longer tenable; consumers have become producers who 'speak back to' the media and create/share content.
51
Define "Horizontal Integration" in media industries.
When a media company acquires or merges with other companies at the same stage of production in different markets or sectors (e.g., a company owning multiple different magazine titles, or a film studio also owning a TV production company).
52
What is "Synergy" in the context of media industries?
The interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects. E.g., a film release being promoted across various media platforms owned by the same conglomerate (soundtrack, merchandise, TV shows).
53
How does Barthes suggest text supports image in producing meaning?
Barthes argues that text is essential to supporting image in producing meaning through anchorage, size, and layout. Without anchorage, media imagery can lead to 'polysemic connotations' or multiple meanings.
54
Name two of Barthes' five code symphony codes.
Enigma codes (Hermeneutic), Action codes (Proairetic), Semantic codes (connotative elements), Symbolic codes, Cultural codes (referential).
55
How do narratives construct symbolic meaning according to Todorov?
Narratives are significations (symbolic realities reflecting producer viewpoints), articulate and invoke desire (characters' desire to return to equilibrium or change), and use disequilibrium and transgressions (characters breaking rules must be punished or transform, outlining social ideals).
56
Explain Baudrillard's concept of 'precession of simulacra'.
Baudrillard argues that society has experienced three stages of cultural evolution where 'simulacra' (versions of reality produced by culture like mass media, religion) have changed. These cultural products are 'simulations,' and the 'precession of the simulacra' refers to how these simulations have evolved since the Renaissance (e.g., cinema providing new simulations in modernity).
57
What does Baudrillard mean by the 'ecstasy of communication' in postmodernity?
Baudrillard states that mass media technologies have created an 'ecstasy of communication' where media is everywhere (public and private spaces), authenticity is hard to find due to saturation, and content is endlessly replicated and duplicated.
58
List three features of a postmodern text according to Baudrillard.
Intertextuality, Bricolage, Irony, Parody, Homage, Fragmented narrative, Self-Reflexivity, 'what if...?' Narratives.
59
What impact does postmodern hyperreality have on audiences, according to Baudrillard?
In a hyperreal world, it's impossible to escape media. Smartphone ownership and digital revolution expand hyperreality. Many media messages have limited deeper meaning or connection to authentic experiences, and contemporary media duplicates and replicates the same stories.
60
How might Barthes challenge Baudrillard's theory of Postmodernism?
Barthes' focus on decoding specific meanings within texts (denotation/connotation) could challenge Baudrillard's idea that meanings are temporary and inauthentic in a hyperreal world. Barthes suggests that even in complex media, underlying meanings can be uncovered, perhaps implying less meaninglessness than Baudrillard suggests.
61
How might Jenkins challenge Baudrillard's theory of Postmodernism?
Jenkins' theory of Fandom and participatory culture could challenge Baudrillard's idea of passive audiences overwhelmed by media saturation. Jenkins emphasizes audience agency and active engagement with media, suggesting that audiences create deeper meanings and connections through their fandom, which contradicts the notion of limited significance due to high saturation.
62
What is Representation Theory, as proposed by Stuart Hall?
Hall argues that media products do not offer objective reflections of the world but produce versions of reality shaped by creators' viewpoints through the selection and ordering of visual, auditory, and linguistic elements. Media both uses and shapes our shared understanding of the world.
63
How do stereotypes function in media according to Stuart Hall?
Hall theorizes that representations in media (shaped by producers) profoundly influence audience thinking by encoding ideological inferences. Stereotypes reflect social attitudes, contribute to their construction, and can be reshaped or repurposed. They are a form of symbolic violence that positions some groups as "social outcasts" or "other."
64
Why does Hall argue that stereotypes are an effective means of social control?
Stereotypes increase the visibility of key groups by highlighting negative features, efficiently communicating their "otherness." They also infer that negative traits are natural qualities, reinforcing them through repetition (e.g., black males as lawless, dumb blondes lacking intelligence).
65
What is 'transcoding' in Hall's Representation Theory?
Transcoding is the process where media producers challenge pre-existing negative stereotypes by grafting new meanings onto existing representations. This can involve appropriated representations (empowering use of stereotypes), counter-typical representations (reversing stereotypes), or deconstructed representations (displaying the effects of stereotypes with contextual information).
66
What is Identity Theory, as per David Gauntlett?
Gauntlett suggests that the media provides us with a diverse range of representations from which we can "pick and mix" to construct our own identities, moving beyond traditional, fixed roles. However, he also acknowledges that media still creates narrow versions of roles, limiting limitless identity construction.
67
According to bell hooks, what historical factors contribute to the interconnected oppression of black women?
The legacy of slavery (leading to stereotypes like 'Mammy' and the oversexed black female), contemporary overly sexualized stereotypes, the existing plantation-based social structure (white males > white women > black men > black women), and white feminism being covertly/overtly racist by neglecting black women's experiences.
68
Name two negative black female stereotypes identified by bell hooks in contemporary media.
Jezebels (over-sexualized representations from slavery, common in hip-hop videos), Aunt Jemimas (overweight, asexual domestic servants), and Sapphires (comedic, angry mothers who cannot control emotions, belittling powerful black women).
69
What is Feminist Theory, according to Liesbet van Zoonen?
Van Zoonen argues that culture, including media, plays a crucial role in informing audiences about gender-based roles they should assume. She aims to isolate processes in contemporary culture that allow patriarchal ideals to dominate and shape gender experiences.
70
How does Van Zoonen explain the female body as ornamental in Western patriarchal culture?
Van Zoonen, using Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze, argues that femininity in Western media is often objectified and sexualized. This dehumanizes females and gives male viewers exploitative power. This is seen through male gaze invites (direct appeal with submissive gestures), restricting females to secondary/passive roles, different framing (cinematic tilt-downs, low eyeline), and reinforcing narrow beauty ideals.
71
How do female spectators engage with media representations according to Van Zoonen?
While acknowledging potential female objectification, Van Zoonen suggests female audiences do not just adopt a masculine way of thinking. They may identify with stereotypes (aspiring to beauty myths), read against the grain (not internalizing the male gaze), or engage with "female genres" (soap operas, romances) that provoke alternative representations challenging patriarchy.
72
What does Van Zoonen say about masculinity in media?
Van Zoonen notes that patriarchal ideologies historically banished the male form from central culture, making male nudity exceptional. Masculinity is constructed as the socially dominant and active gender in media. While male objectification exists, it often retains authority over the spectator. Male bodies are celebrated through sports imagery (strength/power) and eroticization is romanticized, emphasizing strength over weakness.
73
What is Postcolonialism, as theorized by Paul Gilroy?
Gilroy explores the construction of racial 'otherness' in media. He argues that media contributes to "postcolonial melancholia" in the UK, a response to its declining global position after the loss of the Empire, often softened by nostalgic stories that are underscored by racial misrepresentations.
74
Explain Gilroy's concept of 'racial otherness' and 'civilizationism'.
Gilroy's study traces how post-war immigration led to stereotypical representations of people of color (e.g., black males associated with crime, hypersexualized black women), constructing them as a racial 'other' in predominantly white society. 'Civilizationism' refers to post-9/11 media representations that construct a binary worldview (East vs. West) with a racist subtext, positioning Muslim subjects as inferior, nurturing cultural incompatibility, and fostering fear to justify repressive measures.
75
What is 'postcolonial melancholia' according to Gilroy?
Gilroy argues that the UK experiences a "morbid culture" and a crisis of national identity due to the loss of the British Empire and internal separations. Immigrants become a symbol of this lost power. Media compensates for this collective depression by invoking mythic World War victories and a preoccupation with "Albionic Englishness" (an imagined, idealized, racially absent England).
76
What is 'Albionic Englishness' in Gilroy's theory, and what does it disguise?
'Albionic Englishness' is a media-manufactured, nostalgic, and idealized image of England, often depicted through obsession with the Royal family, rural landscapes, or texts like Bridget Jones. Gilroy warns that this is a distracting fantasy that disguises the reality of Britain, which is crippled by regional poverty and economic social divides, and strangely absent of racial diversity.
77
How might Gauntlett challenge hooks' theory of Intersectionality?
While hooks emphasizes systemic oppression and fixed stereotypes due to intersecting identities, Gauntlett's "pick and mix" identity theory suggests a more fluid and active role for audiences in constructing identity through media. He might argue that contemporary media offers more diverse representations that allow individuals to challenge some aspects of oppression, though he still acknowledges limitations.
78
How might Jenkins challenge hooks' theory of Intersectionality?
Jenkins, focusing on fandom and participatory culture, might argue that fan communities provide spaces for marginalized groups to create and celebrate their own representations, potentially offering a counter-narrative to the oppressive stereotypes highlighted by hooks. This active engagement could be seen as a way to subvert or resist the "absent representations" or negative stereotypes that hooks describes.
79
Explain Gerbner's 'mainstreaming effect'.
The 'mainstreaming effect' suggests that heavy television viewers, regardless of their demographic, develop a more common, shared outlook on the world based on the consistent messages and narratives presented by mainstream media. This leads to a convergence of attitudes and beliefs among diverse groups.
80
What is "Bricolage" in media studies?
The process of creating new cultural forms or meanings by adapting and combining existing objects or signs in new ways, often associated with subcultures (e.g., punk fashion).
81
Explain "Ideological State Apparatuses"
Social institutions (like media, education, religion) that transmit and reproduce the dominant ideology of a society through consent rather than force.
82
What is meant by a "Unique Selling Proposition (USP)" in marketing?
A factor that differentiates a product from its competitors, such as the lowest cost, the highest quality, or the first-ever product of its kind.
83
What is "Post-feminism" as a media concept?
A contested term that suggests equality has largely been achieved, so feminism is no longer necessary. In media, it can manifest as an emphasis on female choice and empowerment, sometimes while still upholding conventional beauty standards or individualistic success narratives, potentially depoliticizing feminist goals.
84
Explain "Media Convergence." How is THIIIRD magazine an example of this?
The merging of previously distinct media technologies and platforms. THIIIRD exists as a print magazine, an online magazine/website, a podcast, and hosts events, all accessible via various digital devices, demonstrating convergence.
85
How does Livingstone and Lunt's theory broadly relate to the challenges of regulating online media like KSI's content?
Their theory often highlights the tension between protecting citizens (especially vulnerable audiences) and promoting choice/innovation in media. Regulating diverse, rapidly evolving online content from global creators is complex, involving balancing freedom of expression with harm reduction.
86
How does "Participatory Culture" (Jenkins) differ from older models of media consumption?
Older models often saw audiences as passive consumers. Participatory culture emphasizes active audience engagement, where fans create, share, and interact with media content and each other, blurring the lines between producer and consumer (e.g., fan fiction, online communities, memes).
87
What did Judith Butler argue in the 1990s regarding non-heteronormative identity?
To assume a non-heteronormative identity is incredibly difficult because heteronormative ideals are deeply embedded in our culture.
