media theories

• uses and gratification

  • suggests an audience is active and derives pleasure from media products
  • PIES - personal identity, information, entertainment / escapism, social interaction
• hypodermic syringe

  • assumes audiences are passive and act collectively
  • suggests media can 'inject' values and beliefs into an audience
• two step flow

  1. opinion leaders get info from a source
  2. they pass down their interpretation to others ( the influenced )

  • opinion leaders pay close attention to media and their messages, usually more informed
• star theory by richard dryer

  • people are more likely to watch a piece of media if it has a recognizable star / name
• pic n mix theory - david gauntlett

  • audiences dont entirely engage with media products
  • instead they only look at individual elements they like / appeals to them
• reception theory - stuart hall

  theres 3 possible responses an audience may have to each media product

  1. preferred reading - accept message
  2. negotiated reading - partially reject/accept message
  3. oppositional reading - reject message
• cultivation theory - george gerbner

  • the more an audience sees a particular representation of a group the more the audience will believe its true
  • our beliefs are cultivated over time
• PROPPs - vladmir

  8 basic character types

  1. hero
  2. villain
  3. princess
  4. king
  5. donor
  6. dispatcher
  7. helper
  8. false hero
• narrative structure theory - torodov

  all narratives follow

  1. equilibrium
  2. disruption
  3. recognition of disruption
  4. resolution
  5. new equilibrium
• male gaze theory - mulvey

  • women are passive, men are active
  • media is mainly made from the viewpoint of heterosexual men
• theory of MVs - andrew goodwins

  argues theres 6 different elements to MVs

  1. rs between lyrics + visuals
  2. rs between music + visuals
  3. notion of looking
  4. displays genre characteristics
  5. close up shots of artists
  6. intertextual references
• intertextuality - different texts from media are related / influenced by eachother