Yr12 Mock

Question 1

Clay Shirky

Answer 1

End of audience theory

Audience members are ‘prosumers’ (every consumer is also a producer)

Media is more active

Question 2

Roland Barthes
(semiotics and narrative codes)

Answer 2

Semiotics (the study of signs) have different levels in which texts communicate meanings:
Denotation
Connotation
Myth

Paradigm - collection of signs sharing common features
Syntagm - collection of paradigmatic choices

Question 3

Levi - Strauss

Answer 3

Structuralism
Meaning dependent upon Binary opposites

Question 4

Roland Barthes
(semiotics and narrative codes)

Answer 4

Enigma code (mystery… audience wants to know more)
Action code (actions and unexpected consequences)
Semantic code (connotations in text)
Symbolic code (symbolic features that signify oppositions)
Cultural/ referential code (relies on knowledge and understanding of the world to enable and understand the narrative)

Question 5

Stuart Hall
(representation theory and reception theory)

Answer 5

Representation theory
Production of meaning through language
Stereotyping reduces people to few simple characteristics or traits, and occurs when there are power inequalities… groups constructed as different or other

Question 6

David Gauntlett

Answer 6

Theories of identity
- Identity is more fluid and transferable than ever
- Media provides us with ‘tools’ or resources that we use to construct our identities
- Media offers a diverse range of stars/ icons/ characters from whom we pick and mix different ideas
- We should see media as not channels for communicating messages but as triggers for experiences and for making things happen

Question 7

Lies bet van Zoonen

Answer 7

Feminist theory
- Gender constructed through discourse
- Gender isn’t purely stable
- Women as objects is a core element of western patriarchal culture, and the same applies to men but the narrative and visual code often differ

Question 8

bell hooks

Answer 8

Feminist theory
Feminism is a struggle to end sexist/ patriarchy oppression
Misogynistic representation could be read as a backlash, a move to try and subdue women (eg. Post WW2)

Question 9

Curran and Seaton

Answer 9

Power and media industries
- Media controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the logic of profit and power (eg. Murdoch)
- Media concentration limits/ inhibits variety, creativity, and quality.

Question 10

Livingstone and Lunt

Answer 10

Regulation
There’s a struggle between UK regulation policy and the need to further the interest of citizens

Question 11

Hesmondhalgh

Answer 11

Cultural industries
High costs and fickle audience is a big risk

Question 12

George Gerbner

Answer 12

Cultivation theory
- Repeated exposure to representation patterns over long periods of time can shape and influence the way we perceive the world around them
- cultivation reinforces mainstream values and dominant ideologies

Question 13

Stuart Hall
(representation theory and reception theory)

Answer 13

Dominant position (intended meaning fully understood and accepted)
Negotiated position (message adapted to fit context or personal experience)
Oppositional position (understood, but disagrees with it and reads it in an oppositional way)