theorists Flashcards
steve neale genre theory
Genres are dominated by repetition of codes and conventions but must also incorporate difference, variation and change.
Genres change as they borrow from and overlap with each other (hybridity and subgenres).
Genres exist within specific economic, institutional and industrial contexts.
roland barthes semiotics
Texts communicate their meanings through signs, either:
- literal level (signifier, denotation)
- figurative level (signified, connotation).
claude levi strauss binary opposition
structuralism
meaning is often produced through oppositional pairs (eg. good vs evil) and the resolution of these binary opposites can have idealogical significance
tzvetan todorov narrative theory
A theory which suggests that all narratives follow a very similar structure.
* Equilibrium
* Disruption
* search
* Resolution
* New Equilibrium
stuart hall reception theory
the idea that communication is a process involving encoding by producers and
decoding by audiences
although the media TRY and pass along particular messages, depending on the audiences’ background, they might interpret those messages in different ways.
- Preferred reading - where they accept the messages in the product
- Oppositional Reading - where they reject the messages in the product
- Negotiated Reading - where they partially accept and partially reject the messages in the text
blumer and katz uses and gratifications theory
audiences are active and that the media plays a “function” for audiences. They think the main functions of the media are:
* Personal Identity
* Entertainment
* Information
* Social Interaction/Interaction
stuart hall representation theory
Representation is the production of meaning through language (a system of signs).
Stereotyping reduces people and things to a few simple characteristics or traits.
Stereotyping tends to occur where there is disparity of power, with subordinated/excluded groups being different or “other”.
guantlett identity theoy
Media provides us with ‘tools’ and resources that we use to shape our identities.
In the past, these media toolboxes were simple; as the mediated world has become more complicated, we now have a wide range of media
models — a pick-and-mix of different ideas that we can choose from.
liesbet van zoonen
gender roles are learnt - constructed through discourse, changes depending on cultural and historical context.
The objectification of women’s bodies is core to Western patriarchal culture.
The codes used in mainstream media to construct the male body are different from the mediated/objectified female body.
bell hooks
feminism is a struggle to end sexist/patriarchal oppression and the
ideology of domination
the idea that feminism is a political commitment rather than a lifestyle choice
the idea that race and class as well as sex determine the extent to which individuals
are exploited, discriminated against or oppressed.
laura mulvey ‘the male gaze’
suggests that women are objectified, in film particularly, because heterosexual men are in control of the camera.
According to this theory, women are considered the passive gender (to be looked at) and men are considered the active gender (to do the looking)
paul gilroy ethnicity and postcolonial
the idea that colonial discourses continue to inform contemporary attitudes to race
and ethnicity in the postcolonial era
the idea that civilisationism constructs racial hierarchies and sets up binary
oppositions based on notions of otherness.
curren and seaton power and media
the idea that the media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven
by the logic of profit and power
Baudrillard’s theory of Postmodernism
in a post-modern world, media products create ‘representations’ of reality and calls these ‘simulacra’.
He thinks ‘simulacra’ are so realistic that he calls them ‘hyperreal’ and suggests that audiences can’t really the difference between these and reality.
He thinks audiences often prefer the hyper-real representation of reality, to the actual reality.
david guantlett identity
the media provide us with ‘tools’ or resources that we use to construct our own identities.
He suggests that in the past the media tended to convey singular, straightforward messages about ideal types of male and female 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.
