Media: Theorists

• Van Zoonen's Feminist theory in Representation:

  • the idea that gender is constructed through discourse , and that its meaning varies according to cultural and historical context
  • the idea that the display of women's bodies as objects to be looked at is a core element of western patriarchal culture
  • the idea that in mainstream culture the visual and narrative codes that are used to construct the male body as spectacle differ from those used to objectify the female
• Van Zoonen's theory in a nutshell:

  men and women are represented differently in the media. Women are objectified as a result of Western culture.
• Roland Barthes Semiotics in Media Language:

  • the idea that texts communicate their meanings through a process of signification
  • the idea that signs can function at the level of denotation, which involves the "literal" or common-sense meaning of the sign, and at the level of connotation, which involves the meanings associated with or suggested by the sign
  • the idea that constructed meanings can come to self-evident, achieving the status of myth through a process of naturalisation
• Roland Barthes theory in a nutshell:

  all elements of a media text are codes that need to be read. These can all be understood as the thing they are (denotative level) and the responses they create (connotative level)
• Strauss theory Binary Opposites in Media Language:

  • the idea that texts can best be understood through an examination of their underlying structure
  • the idea that meaning is dependent upon (and produced through) pairs of oppositions
  • the idea that the way in which these binary oppositions are resolved can have particular ideological significance
• Strauss theory in a nutshell:

  the conflict between binary opposites drives forward the narrative
• David Gauntlett's Theory of Identity in Representation:

  • the idea that the media provide us with 'tools' or resources that we use to construct our identities
  • the idea that whilst in the past the media tended to convey singular, straightforward messages about ideal types of male and female identities , the media today offer us a more diverse range of stars, icons and characters from whom we may pick and mix different ideas
• David Gauntlett's theory in a nutshell:

  we use the internet and other media texts to help us create our identity. We now have more of a variety of representations to identify with.
• George Gerbner's Cultivation Theory in Audience:

  • the idea that exposure to repeated patterns of representation over long periods of time can shape, and influence the way in which people perceive the world around them (i.e cultivating particular views and opinions)
  • the idea that cultivation reinforces mainstream values (dominant ideologies)
• George Gerbner's Theory in a nutshell:

  the more we see the same representations and messages, the more we believe they are true
• Paul Gilroy's theory of Ethnicity and Post-colonialism in Representation:

  • 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
• Paul Gilroy's theory in a nutshell:

  even though we no longer have colonies, the representations of these groups is still affected by that time
• Stuart Hall's Reception Theory in Audience:

  • the idea that communication is a process involving encoding by producers and decoding by audiences
  • this idea that there are three hypothetical positions from which messages and meanings may be decoded: the preferred reading, the negotiated reading or the oppositional reading
  • the preferred reading is the producer's intended message, the negotiated is when the audience understand the message but adapt it to suit their own values and the oppositional is where the audience disagrees with the preferred meaning
• Stuart Hall's Reception Theory in a nutshell:

  producers want audiences to respond in a particular way to a text. Some audiences do (preferred reading), some audiences don't (oppositional reading) and some are in the middle (negotiated reading)
• Stuart Hall's Representation theories in Representation:

  • the idea that representation is the production of meaning through language, with language defined in its broadest sense as a system of signs
  • the idea that the relationship between concepts and signs is governed by codes
  • the idea that stereotyping, as a form of representation, reduces people to a few simple characteristics or traits
  • the idea that stereotyping tends to occur where there are inequalities of power, as subordinate or excluded groups are constructed as different or 'other' (e.g through ethnocentrism)
• Stuart Hall's Representation theories in a nutshell:

  media language is used to create representations. Stereotyping is often used to assert power
• bell hooks Feminist Theory in Representation:

  • the idea that feminism is a struggle to end sexual/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
• bell hooks theory in a nutshell:

  feminism is a political struggle to end patriarchal domination and other factors affect this domination, including race and class
• Steve Neale's Genre Theory in Media Language:

  • the idea that genres may be dominated by repetition, but are also marked by difference, variation, and change
  • the idea that genres change, develop, and vary, as they borrow from and overlap with one another
  • the idea that that genres exist within specific economic, institutional and industrial contexts
• Steve Neale's theory in a nutshell:

  genre is recognisable but does change over time or borrow from other genres. Genre is important to institutions because it helps them to market texts.
• Todorov Narratology in Media Language:

  • the idea that all narratives share a basic structure that involves a movement from one state of equilibrium to another
  • the idea that these two states of equilibrium are separated by a period of imbalance or disequilibrium
  • the idea that the way in which narratives are resolved can have a particular ideological significance
• Todorov's theory in a nutshell:

  narratives follow a pattern of equilibrium>disruption>new equilibrium
• Baudrillard Semiotics in Media Language:

  • the idea that in postmodern culture the boundaries between the 'real' world and world of the media have collapsed and that it is no longer possible to distinguish between reality and simulation
  • the idea that in postmodern age of simulacra we are immersed in a world of images which no longer refer to anything 'real'
  • the idea that media images have come to seem more 'real' then the reality they supposedly represent (hyperreality)
• Baudrillard's theory in a nutshell:

  the lines between created texts and reality are becoming blurred. For example, perfect Instagram images seem 'real'