Theories

Question 1

Steve Neale’s Genre Theory

Answer 1

Audiences enjoy repetition and difference in a genre.

Genre is not something static, it is always evolving.

Question 2

Barthes’ Semiotic Theory

Answer 2

Media products are embedded with codes by producers for the audience to decipher.

Semantic codes - connote particular meaning that we know already.

Symbolic codes - elements that have become so ingrained in us that have taken on a very specific meaning

Hermeneutic codes - mysterious, enigmatic element that leaves the audience with unanswered questions

Proairetic codes - elements that tell the audience that something is about to happen

Cultural codes - elements that are only understood by a very specific audience

Question 3

Levi-Strauss’ Structuralism Theory

Answer 3

A good story revolves around conflict between binary oppositions and when these conflicts are resolved it can have particular ideological significance.

Question 4

Todorov’s Narrative structure theory

Answer 4

All narratives follow a very similar structure:
- equilibrium
- disruption
- realisation
- battle for resolution
- new equilibrium

Question 5

Propp’s character types theory

Answer 5

All stories share very similar character types who play specific roles in developing the narrative which make it easy for the audiences to understand the story:
- hero
- villain
- dispatcher
- donor
- helper
- princess

Question 6

Hall’s reception theory

Answer 6

Communication is a process involving encoding your producers and decoding by audiences.

Producers try and pass along particular messages but depending on the audience’s background they may interpret it in different ways. (Preferred, oppositional and negotiated reading)

Question 7

Blumler and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications theory

Answer 7

Active audiences use the media for different reasons:
- personal identity
- entertainment
- information
- social interaction
- escapism

Question 8

Bandura’s media effects theory

Answer 8

Carried out the Bobo Doll experiment and believed that the media can implant ideas into the audience mind and they may imitate violent and aggressive forms of behaviour if they see it in the media.

This was further developed as he believed vide games had a wider effect as the audience is choosing that violence.

Question 9

Jenkins’ fandom theory

Answer 9

Fans are active participants in the construction and circulation of textual meanings (textual poaching)

Fans also construct their social and cultural identities from media texts.

Question 10

Shirky’s end of audience theory

Answer 10

The internet/technology has completely changed the relationship between producers and audiences - the passive audience no longer exists

Question 11

Hall’s representation theory

Answer 11

We can understand representations by looking at the meaning of media language.

Media products contain a ‘shared conceptual roadmap’ which audiences are familiar with which helps them understand the representations.

The media contains stereotypes when there is an inequality of power that reduces groups of people to a few (often negative) characteristics.

Question 12

Baudriallard’s postmodernism theory

Answer 12

In a postmodern world, media products create ‘representations’ of reality (simulacra).

‘Simulacra’ is so realistic that he calls them ‘hyperreal’ that audiences can’t really tell the difference between these and reality. And they often prefer the hyper-real representation.

Question 13

Gauntlett’s identity theory

Answer 13

The media provides us with ‘tools’ or resources that we can use to construct our own identities.

In the past, he media tended to covey singular straightforward messages about ideal types of identities. However, the media today offer us a more diverse range of stars, icons and characters from whom we may pick and mix different ideas.

Question 14

Van Zoonen’s feminist theory

Answer 14

Gender is constructed through discourse - the meaning varies according to cultural and historical context

The display of women’s bodies as objects to be looked at is a core elements of western patriarchal culture.

Mainstream culture construct the male body as a spectacle and the female body as an object.

Question 15

bell hooks’ feminist theory

Answer 15

Feminism is a struggle to end sexist/patriarchal oppression.

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, discriminated against or oppressed.

Question 16

Mulvey’s male gaze theory

Answer 16

Women are represented as sex objects to feed the demand of male audiences.

Women are objectified, particularly in film, because heterosexual men are in control of the camera.

Women are the passive gender while men are the active gender.

Question 17

Alvarado’s racial representation theory

Answer 17

There are 4 themes in racial representations in the media:

Exotic - seen as ‘other’ or strange/unusual
Dangerous - a threat to society
Humorous - removed the threat by making them the butt of the joke
Pitied - deprived groups/victims of natural disasters.

Question 18

Butler’s gender performativity theory

Answer 18

Identity is performatively constructed by the very expressions that are said to be its results - it is manufactured through a set of acts.

Question 19

Gilroy’s ethnicity and postcolonial theory

Answer 19

Colonial discourses continue to inform contemporary attitudes to race and ethnicity in the postcolonial era.

Civilisation constructs racial hierarchies and sets up binary oppositions based on notions of otherness.

Question 20

Curran and Seaton’s;s power and media industries

Answer 20

The media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the logic of profit and power.

Media concentration generally limits variety, creativity and quality.

More socially diverse patterns of ownership would help create the conditions for more varied and adventurous media productions.

Question 21

Livingstone and Lunt’s regulation theory

Answer 21

There is an underlying struggle in recent
UK regulation policy between the need to further the interests of citizens (by offering protection from harmful or offensive material), and the need to further the interests of consumers (by ensuring choice, value for money, and market competition).

Question 22

Hesmondhalgh’s cultural industries theory

Answer 22

the idea that 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 idea that the largest companies or conglomerates now operate across a number of different cultural industries