theories

• what theories can be linked to media language questions

  Barthes - semiotics

  Neale - genre

  Levi Strauss - structuralism

  Todorov - narratology

  Bauldrillard - postmodernism
• Roland Barthes - semiotics


  texts communicate meaning through a process of signification

  constructed meanings can be self evident, achieving myth status through a process of naturalism
• denotation


  the literal meaning
• connotation


  personal associations
• semantic code


  parts within a text that suggest additional meaning
• proairtic code


  action that implies a further narrative action
• hermeneutic code


  an element that is not explained
• myth


  a message that's conveyed with an object/image becomes associated with concept/value
• Steve Neale - Genre Theory


  genres may be dominated byrepetition, but are also marked bydifference, variation, and change

  
  

  genres change, develop, and vary, as they borrow from and overlap with one another
• hybrid


  when a text falls into two genres

  eg. romcom
• subgenre


  a subcategory within a particular genre
• repetition


  repeated features
• Levi strauss - structuralism


  texts can be understood through examining underlying structures and pairs of oppositions
• binary opposites


  the way opposites are used to create interest in media texts, such as good/bad
• ideological positioning


  how stories reflect values and beliefs in society
• todorov - narratology


  the majority if narratives have a 5 act structure with variables of goals
• equilibrium


  A state of balance
• disruption


  equilibrium is disrupted by an event
• recognition


  characters become aware of the disruption
• repair


  characters begin to prepare to overcome the problem
• new equilibrium


  the final part of the story presents characters with a new normality
• Baudrillard - Postmodernism


  blurred boundary between the real and imagined

  reality mediated through simulated images & representations
• simulacra


  something that replaces reality with its representation
• what theories can be linked to representation questions

  Stuart hall - representation

  David gauntlett - identity

  Judith butler - gender peformativity

  Van Zoonen - feminist theory

  bell hooks - feminist theory

  Paul Gilroy - post -colonialism
• Stuart Hall- Representation


  representation is the product of meaning through language and is governed by codes

  stereotyping reduces people to a few traits
• stereotype


  pre convinced idea on what a person is like based on a range of factors
• hierarchy


  the way the media represents different groups creates an internal hierarchy
• David Gauntlett - Identity


  the media provides us with tools we use to construct our identity

  a more diverse range of stars/characters who we may 'pick and mix' different ideas and personalities to define ourselves and others
• Judith Butler- gender performativity

  Gender is a social construct - 'masculine' and 'feminine' are created through repetition
• Van Zoonen - feminist theory

  Men and women are represented differently in the media. Women are objectified as a result of western culture.

  
  

  gender is constructed through discourse, it depends on context
• stereotypical representations of women

  this behaviour reinforces stereotypical views

  reflects dominant social views
• objectification


  the display of women bodies as objects to be looked at
• patriarchy


  a social construct where men predominantly wield power
• bell hooks - feminist theory

  - the idea that 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
• intersectionality


  the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.
• subjugate


  to bring under control
• Paul Gilroy - Post Colonialism

  The idea that colonial discourses continue to inform contemporary attitudes to race and ethnicity in the postcolonial era.
• racial hierarchies


  the belief that some racial groups are superior to others
• otherness


  being different

  'us' VS 'them
• imperialism


  extending a countries power through colonisation