Media Theory Revision This contains all theory we

Media Theory Revision This contains all theory we have gone through over the past year.

Post Modernism Baudrillard (1983) • Baudrillard (1983) “We live in an era of Hyper-Reality. ” “There are no originals, only copies. ” “When the real is no longer

Lyotard (1984) • Post Modernism • “We live in a cultural Disneyland where everything is a parody and nothing is better or worse. ”

Marxism • ‘Social groups are driven by creating and maintaining wealth’; in contemporary society, people following a Marxist world view suggest that the Bourgeoisie includes a middle class who identify and serve the interests of those who own Capital, though they may not own it themselves.

Post Colonialism • Edward Said (1978) • argues that Eastern culture is habitually seen as inferior to Western culture. • Eastern culture is habitually seen as inferior. East is represented by West as exotic, harmless but as a deliberate exploitation to make West appear stronger.

Poole (2002) • Political Islam; representation “allows the West to construct Islam as the new enemy. ”

Alvarado (1987) 4 common types of representation for the black community; Humorous, exotic/sexually promiscuous, pitied, dangerous

Gaze/Queer/Feminism/Race

Laura Mulvey § The Male Gaze § Film represents women as passive objects of male desire. § Audiences are forced to view women from the point of view of a heterosexual male even if they are indeed; heterosexual women or homosexual men.

Naomi Wolf (1991) • argued that women are oppressed by the pressure to fit into a myth or false ideal. Beauty Myth

Andrea Levy (2005) • argues that women are encouraged to see themselves as objects and to see sex as their only source of power. Raunch Culture

Angela Mc. Robbie (1991) • argued that there were some positive aspects to the representation of women in the media; women's magazines could be seen to empower young women in how to enjoy sex or learning about their bodies. • (2008) She also argued that women give consent to the media and allow the negative representations to prevail; girls entering competitions to appear on the front of lads’ mags, or makeover programmes where females willingly give consent to others being critical of their appearance.

Gammon & Marshment (1988) • Female gaze; men are objects for women in film.

John Berger § “Men look, women appear” § Women are there solely for the objectification of women within all platforms of the media. (Think of examples of different magazines, films, TV shows or websites where this is evident, how are women represented in your production? )

Bell hooks § The colour codes: Lighter skinned women are considered more desirable and fit better into the western ideology of beauty. § Black women are objectified and sexualised in hip-hop reflecting the colonialist view of black women (sexually disposable). § Commodified blackness, a mediated view of black culture that is considered the norm.

Queer Theory – Judith Butler • Emerging out of field of Gender studies (the study of males and female roles historically, politically, socially etc). Queer theory challenges the idea that gender – being male or female – is part of the essential self, that it is fixed, immovable – in other words Queer theory suggest that our male or female gender does not control all aspects of our identity or how we perceive other peoples identity. In other words gender, particularly as it is represented in performance – on TV, Film etc, is fluid, flexible depending on the context in which it is seen. For example an audience can see Tom Cruise playing a “straight” pilot in The Right Stuff and interpret his gender, although male, as having very “queer” or “gay” attributes. The theory developed as a way of combating negative representations of gay sexuality in the Media. It combats the idea that people should be divided and categorised, indeed marginalised, due to their sexual orientation or practice and that a persons’ identity should not be limited to their sexual preference. It asks us to consider how the media constructs gay representation. (Apply to representation of gay sexuality in Knocked up. . . any others? What about Graham Norton? Alan Carr? Does Post Modern Irony regarding representation of gay characters relieve the audience of burden of moral responsibility regarding evolving attitudes a more flexible idea of gender? )

Butler (1990) • Nothing within our identity is fixed. Binary divide between M/F is a social construct. Gender is a performance.

Doty (1993) • “The realm of mass culture greatly influences our identity construction. ” Queer; positions, readings, pleasures… making a text queer. • Doty (1995) “Something cannot simply be categorised as gay or straight. ”

• Anthony Giddens – Traditionalist vs Post Traditionalist views of society Media representations of society can be seen as traditional or post traditionalist. Traditional societies are ones in which individual choice was limited by its dominant customs and traditions. Whereas post traditionalist societies are one where the ideas set by previous generations are less important that those of individuals. Post traditional societies no longer feel so dependent and limited to time and place. Giddens says, we are living in a post traditional society where we are much less concerned with precedents set by previous generations and that our options are only limited by what the law and public opinion allows. We have replaced seen/discreet systems with remote ‘expert’ systems, institutions and corporations.

Subculture – Representation of Groups – Dick Hebdidge • In his book, Subculture and The Meaning of Style, Dick Hebdidge said that a subculture is a group of like minded individuals who feel neglected by societal standards and who develop a sense of identity which differs to the dominant on to which they belong. Ken Gelder lists 6 ways in which a subculture can be recognised: 1) Often have negative relationship to work 2) Negative or ambivalent relationship to class 3) Through their associations with territory ( The street, the hood, the club) rather than property 4) Through their stylistic ties to excess 5) Through their movement out of home into non-domestic forms of belonging (social groups as opposed to family) 6) Through their refusal to engage with they might see as the ‘banalities’ of life. Other ways of recognising a subculture might be symbolism attached to clothes, music, visual affectations like tattoos etc. (Examples – Ben and his friends in Knocked up representing a subculture some of the values of which Alison and as such the America she initially represents might benefit from). Subcultural values often associated with being ‘cool’.

Stuart Hall § The media and therefore audiences often blur race and class. Often associating particular races with a particular class. § Audience reception theory; audiences read/understand a particular text according to their cultural upbringing. § Western (white dominated) cultures. Continue to misinterpret ethnic minorities in the media due to underlying racist tendencies. Ethnic minorities are often represented as ‘the other’.

Stuart Hall: Slave Figure Black Characterisations in the Media Hall outlines three base images of the 'grammar of race' employed in 'old movies'. The first is the slave figure which could take the form of either the 'dependable, loving… devoted "Mammy" with the rolling eyes, or the faithful fieldhand… attached and devoted to "his" master' (Hall, 1995: 21). http: //www. theory. org. uk/ctr-rol 6. htm

Stuart Hall: The Native The second of Hall's base images - the native (ibid: 21). Their primitive nature means they are cheating, cunning, savage and barbarian. In movies, we expect them 'to appear at any moment out of the darkness to decapitate the beautiful heroine, kidnap the children … http: //www. theory. org. uk/ctr-rol 6. htm

Stuart Hall: The Clown/Entertainer The last of Hall's variants is that of the clown or entertainer, implying an 'innate' humour in the black man (ibid: 22). Interestingly, the distinction is never made as to whether we are laughing with or at the clown; overt racism is rare in the media rather, says Hall, it is 'inferential' (ibid: 20). http: //www. theory. org. uk/ctr-rol 6. htm

Tricia Rose § Hip Hop gives black female rappers a voice introducing female empowerment. § Hip hop gave audiences an insight into the lives of young black urban Americans and gave them a voice.

Paul Gilroy § Black music articulated diasporic experiences of resistance to white capitalist culture. § Employs the notion of ‘diaspora’ and how ethnic minorities (particularly black people) experience dislocation from their homeland. E. g. feeling as if you do not totally belong in Britain but you also are considered ‘English’ in the Caribbean, Africa or Asia etc

Michael Eric Dyson § Political rap didn’t get the support that it deserved when it was prominent in the 80 s and early 90 s. § Therefore it reverted to the flashy, sexualised, criminal rap which we know today, as through displaying this it became more prominent and more mainstream.

Kobena Mercer § Black gay film opens up audiences to the understanding of the dual exclusion (being gay and black). § But through directors such as Isaac Julian they introduce a varied representation not just pigeon holing into the ‘black’ or ‘gay’ stereotype. § Audiences are exposed to diverse representation displaying verisimilitude rather than ‘stereotype’.

Jacques Lacan § The Mirror Stage: Where infants see their reflections in the mirror and see it as a superior reflection of themselves that they must aspire to. § The ideal-I § Seeing iconic rappers who are successful ‘young black males’ may see them as a superior reflection of themselves they could aspire to. Particularly those iconic figures whom have struggled through a deprived childhood e. g. 50 Cent and Biggie Smalls (Notorious BIG).

Michel Foucault § 'Archaeology' is the term Foucault used during the 1960 s to describe his approach to writing history. § Archaeology is about examining the discursive traces and orders left by the past in order to write a 'history of the present'. § Archaeology is about looking at history as a way of understanding the processes that have led to what we are today. § Therefore when analyzing your contemporary case studies you need to take into account those past representations and how they have contributed to what we have today e. g. Birth of a Nation 1913, Blaxploitation films (70 s), The slave trade (colonialism) etc.

Genre Theory

Genre Theory • Conventional definitions of genres tend to be based on the notion that they constitute particular conventions of content (such as themes or settings) and/or form (including structure and style) which are shared and belong to them. The attempt to define particular genres in terms of sufficient textual properties is sometimes seen as attractive but it poses many difficulties. For instance, in the case of films, some seem to be aligned with one genre in content and another genre in form. The film theorist Robert Stam argues that 'subject matter is the weakest criterion for generic grouping because it fails to take into account how the subject is treated (Stam 2000, 14). • Film theorist, Robert Stam, refers to common ways of categorizing films: • While some genres are based on story content (the war film), other are borrowed from literature (comedy, melodrama) or from other media (the musical). Some are budget-based (blockbusters), while others are based on artistic status (the art film), racial identity (Black cinema), location (the Western) or sexual orientation (Queer cinema). (Stam 2000, 14). • Films can help to remind us of the social nature of the production and interpretation of texts. In relation to film, many modern commentators refer to the commercial and industrial significance of genres. Mc. Quail argues that: The genre may be considered as a practical device for helping any mass medium to produce consistently and efficiently relating its production to the expectations of its customers. Since it is also a practical device for enabling individual media users to plan their choices, it can be considered to order the relations between the parties to mass communication. (Mc. Quail 1987, 200) • Steve Neale observes that 'genres. . . exist within the context of a set of economic relations and practices', though he adds that 'genres are not the product of economic factors as such. The conditions provided by the capitalist economy account neither for the existence of the particular genres that have hitherto been produced, nor for the existence of the conventions that constitute them' (Neale 1980, 512). Economic factors may therefore account for the perpetuation of a profitable genre.

Audience Theory

Audience Reception Theory § A preferred reading (or dominant system of response) is a way of understanding the text that is consistent with the ideas and intentions of the producer or creator of the product. This may lead to an acceptance of the dominant values within the text. § With a negotiated reading (or subordinate response) the individual has a choice as to whether or not they accept the preferred reading as their own. Audience members may read the text though the filter of their own personal agenda. Although there may be an acceptance of the dominant values and existing social structure, the individual may be prepared to argue that a particular social group may be unfairly represented. § In an oppositional reading (or radical response) individual members of an audience may completely reject the preferred reading of the dominant code and the social values that produced it. § An aberrant reading is where an entirely different meaning from that intended by the maker will be taken form the text. This could be when individual members of the audience do not share, in any way, the values of the maker of the text.

Cultivation Theory • This theory also treats the audience as passive. It suggests that repeated exposure to the same message – such as an advertisement – will have an effect on the audience’s attitudes and values. A similar idea is known as densensitisation which suggests that long term exposure to violent media makes the audience less likely to be shocked by violence. Being less shocked by violence the audience may then be more likely to behave violently. The criticism of this theory is that screen violence is not the same as real violence. Many people have been exposed to screen murder and violence, but there is no evidence at all that this has lead audiences to be less shocked by real killings and violence. Also this theory treats the audience as passive which is an outdated concept.

Uses and Gratifications Model This model stems from the idea that audiences are a complex mixture of individuals who select media texts that best suits their needs – this goes back to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The users and gratifications model suggests that media audiences are active and make active decisions about what they consume in relation to their social and cultural setting and their needs. This was summed up by theorists Blumier and Katz in 1974; 
‘Media usage can be explained in that it provides gratifications (meaning it satisfies needs) related to the satisfaction of social and psychological needs’. Put simply this means that audiences choose to watch programmes that make them feel good (gratifications) e. g. soaps and sitcoms, or that give them information that they can use (uses) e. g. news or information about new products or the world about them. Blumier and Katz (1975) went into greater detail and identified four main uses: Surveillance – our need to know what is going on in the world. This relates to Maslow’s need for security. By keeping up to date with news about local and international events we feel we have the knowledge to avoid or deal with dangers. Personal relationships – our need for to interact with other people. This is provided by forming virtual relationships with characters in soaps, films and all kinds of drama, and other programmes and other media texts. Personal identity – our need to define our identity and sense of self. Part of our sense of self is informed by making judgments about all sorts of people and things. This is also true of judgments we make about TV and film characters, and celebrities. Our choice of music, the shows we watch, the stars we like can be an expression of our identities. One aspect of this type of gratification is known as value reinforcement. This is where we choose television programmes or newspapers that have similar beliefs to those we hold. Diversion – the need for escape, entertainment and relaxation. All types of television programmes can be ‘used’ to wind down and offer diversion, as well as satisfying some of the other needs at the same time.

Hypodermic Theory § The theory suggests that the mass media could influence a very large group of people directly and uniformly by ‘shooting’ or ‘injecting’ them with messages designed to trigger a response.

Moral Panic § A moral panic is the intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order.

Narrative Theory § Todorov: Equilibrium, disequilibrium, new equilibrium § Levi Strauss: Binary Oppositions § Roland Barthes: Enigma Codes § Propp: Characters/roles often found in narrative

Todorov’s Narrative Theory 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Equilibrium Disruption of equilibrium Recognition of this disruption An attempt to repair the equilibrium is made Equilibrium is restored OR a new equilibrium is established

Propp’s Narrative Theory § Hero: Individual(s) who's quest is to restore the equilibrium. § Villain: Individual(s) who's task is to disrupt the equilibrium. § Donor: Individual(s) who gives the hero(s) something, advice, information or an object. § Helper: Individual(s) who aids the hero(s) with their set task. § Princess (Prince): Individual(s) which need help, protecting and saving. § The King: Who rewards the hero. § Dispatcher: Individual(s) who send the hero(s) on their quest. § False Hero: Individual(s) who set out to undermine the hero's quest by pretending to aid them. Often unmasked at the end of the film.

Levi-Strauss: Binary Oppositions Argued that meaning in narrative is based upon binary oppositions. He observed that all narratives are organised around the conflict between such binary opposites. § § § § Good Vs Evil Human Vs Nature Black Vs White Protagonist Vs Antagonist Humanity Vs Technology Man Vs Woman Human Vs Alien

Roland Barthes: Enigma Code Refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the reader. The purpose of the author in this is typically to keep the audience guessing, arresting the enigma, until the final scenes when all is revealed and all loose ends are tied off and closure is achieved.

NEW DIGITAL MEDIA

Jenkins – Participatory Cultures (Convergence) • In the last ten years, there has been an unprecedented amount of technological development, particularly in new media technologies and the Internet. Jenkins has written extensively about ‘convergence culture’; due to multimedia technology, different media forms and technologies have converged. Audiences have become sophisticated ‘users’ of many different platforms of media which cross over. Jenkins stresses how audiences are no longer just consumers, they are also producers and users. They create and consume, participate and publish, download and upload, receive and share. Blogs, network sites, web 2. 0 and wikis are just some examples of audiences as powerful creatives within the world of Media production and reception.

David Gauntlett • Old media and it’s top-down structure meant that audiences learned to be consumers; learnt to be passive. “We sat around while unprecedented destruction of our natural world has taken place. ”

Henry Jenkins • Interested in the idea of Media Convergence. It is less about technology and more about a cultural shift. Convergence: The flow of content across platforms, cooperation between industries and migratory behaviour of audiences. • Convergence means that consumers are more directly involved in the production of media than ever before. When grass roots productions get taken over or used by big institutions.

Lawrence Lessig • • 2 types of creativity that make our culture; they shape our world. Commercial and Free. Believes that new media and digital technologies are giving audiences back the chance to be creators and sharers. • Traditional broadcast media treated audiences like consumers and people became receivers of creativity which was owned by these huge old media institutions. • Copyright law which was set up to protect big institutions in the old media is now restricting grassroots creativity in the new media world. • Big institutions are still trying to limit and control the everyday creativity of people. He has helped to establish something called the Creative Commons Licence which is an alternative to copyright law.

Marshall Mc. Luhan (1964) • The medium influences how the message is perceived. The medium affects the society in which it plays a role not only by the content but by characteristics of the medium itself. • Marshall would argue that it is simply the speed of electronic media that allow us to act and react to global issues. We are forced to become aware of responsibility on a global level. “This sudden ‘implosion’ of electronic media has heightened human awareness to an intense degree. ”

Eric Raymond • He is interested in the development of ‘Open Source’ software (example: Linux) where the ‘users’ are actually co-developers. • “Open style internet has change the structure of society. ” • Cathedral (Top Down) to Bazaar (Grass Roots)

David Gauntlett • Audiences learned to be consumers/passive in the old media top down structure. The internet invites audiences to become active and engaged.

• Chandler (1995) “the more we live with TV the more invisible it becomes”

Lessig • “Commercial and Free types of creativity shape our world. ” “New Technology gives the audience chance to be creators and sharers”

Raymond • “Open style internet has changed the structure of society. ”

Deliotte (2008) • “ 32% of consumers see themselves as a broadcaster”

Globalisation

Mc. Luhan (1965) • “We’re in the process of making a tribe. ” “ • Global Village”

Zuckerman (2014) • “Our interest in the world is more limited that our technological reach…There’s a strong tendency in our contemporary media environment to pay attention to stories only when they’ve reached a crisis point. ”

IDENTITIES

• John Locke (1690) “Personal Identity consists of memory. ”

Buckingham (2007) • “A focus on ID requires us to pay closer attention to the ways in which media and technologies are used in everyday life and their consequences for social groups. ”

Gauntlett (2008) • “ID is complicated; everyone thinks they’ve got one. ”

Abercrombie & Longhurst (2005) • “Audience involvement beyond the text is part of a wider shift in audience’ experience. ” Boundaries between audience and producer become fluid

Jenkins (2006) • “Boundary between text and reader has broken down, not merely the way the reader constructs the text but in the growth of fan cultures. ” (Interpretive Community)

(Markus & Nurius, 1986). ” (Brown et al. 1994, 814) • “[It is said that young people] use media and the cultural insights provided by them to see both who they might be and how others have constructed or reconstructed themselves… individual adolescents struggle with the dilemma of living out all the ‘possible selves’

Gauntlett • “We are a making and doing culture – the way we create in both the internet and everyday activities will play a role in changing how a collective ID is created. "

Blumler & Katz • Uses and Gratifications – Audiences have a ‘need’ to share to develop ‘personal relationships’ and ‘personal ID’.

Giddens (1991) • “ID is not found in behaviour nor in the reactions of others. . . ” “The individuals biography cannot be wholly fictive… it must continually integrate events which occur in the external world and sort them into the ‘ongoing story about the self’”.

(Baym, 2010, 9) • “In media, people have more ability to expand, manipulate, multiply, and distort the identities they present to others. ”

(Brown et al. 1994, 813) • “…individuals actively and creatively sample available cultural symbols, myths, and rituals as they produce their identities. For teens, the mass media are central to this process because they are a convenient source of cultural options. ”

Hamley (2001) • “It’s no longer possible for individuals to construct ID merely on a small community… in constructing an ID young people make use of imagery derived from the popular media. ”

Gauntlett (2002) • “ID in consciously constructed and the media provides tools to help us construct our own… producers and users are in dialogue but neither over powers the other. ”

Tubella (2005) • “Traditional media, especially TV, play an enormous role in the construction of collective ID; the Internet influences the construction of individual ID. ” • “The narrative of self identity, individual or collective, is continually modified in the process of retelling. ”

Walther (2001) • “Online, one may transmit only cues that an individual desires others to have …. CMC senders may construct messages that portray themselves in preferential ways, emphasizing desirable characteristics and communicating in a manner that invites preferential reactions”