Media Language Theories

• BARTHES SEMIOTICS THEORY:

  Media products are embedded with codes by producers for the audience to decipher.

  Semantic codes - connote particular meaning that we know already.

  Symbolic codes - elements that have become so ingrained in us that have taken on a very specific meaning

  Hermeneutic codes - mysterious, enigmatic element that leaves the audience with unanswered questions

  Proairetic codes - elements that tell the audience that something is about to happen

  Cultural codes - elements that are only understood by a very specific audience
• TODOROV'S NARRATIVE THEORY:

  All narratives follow a very similar structure:

  • equilibrium
  • disruption
  • realisation
  • battle for resolution
  • new equilibrium
• NEALE'S GENRE THEORY:

  Audiences enjoy repetition and difference in a genre. Genre is not something static, it is always evolving.
• LEVI-STRAUSS' STRUCTURALISM THEORY:

  A good story revolves around conflict between binary oppositions and when these conflicts are resolved it can have particular ideological significance.
• BAUDRILLARD'S POSTMODERNISM THEORY:

  In a postmodern world, media products create ‘representations’ of reality (simulacra).

  ‘Simulacra’ is so realistic that he calls them ‘hyperreal’ that audiences can’t really tell the difference between these and reality. And they often prefer the hyper-real representation.
• PROPPS' CHARACTER THEORY:

  All stories share very similar character types who play specific roles in developing the narrative which make it easy for the audiences to understand the story:

  • hero
  • villain
  • dispatcher
  • donor
  • helper
  • princess