Below is a link to the PowerPoint which focuses on....
Marxism, Feminism, Post modernism and Post Colonialism
...in addition there is a separate Powerpoint for Marxism and Post Colonialism, with focus on France (further below!) AND the ANSWERS to the questions on theoretical perspectives we did in class.
Theoretical Perspectives - General
Marxism
Post Colonialism
Answers to Theoretical Perspectives Questions (class test)
In addition you can read the chapter on 'Theoretical Perspectives' in the A2 Text Book.
Think about how these perspectives can be linked to our texts?
Rough Guide to Media Theory
ROUGH GUIDE TO MEDIA THEORYWhenever you produce any kind of written work for media
studies, you must demonstrate that you understand the key concepts of
media theory. If you know these key concepts off by heart, and are able
to apply some theories to help explain them, you’re probably more than
halfway to getting a decent grade.
This handy ‘rough’ guide is intended to be
kept as a reminder. It DOESN’T replace all the in depth analysis that
you’ve had from your tutor, but it can be useful to help you check that
you’ve ‘touched base’ with key concepts and theories.
Genre
The Key Concept of Genre relates to the codes and conventions shared by texts and the generic features they share. Atext is classified in a genre through the identification of key
elements which occur in that text and in others of the same genre. These
elements may be referred to as paradigms,
(basically, ways of doing something) and range from costume to music to
plot points to font (depending on the medium). Audiences recognise
these paradigms, and bring a set of expectations to their reading of the
text accordingly: for example, the criminal will be brought to justice
at the end of the police thriller. These paradigms may be grouped into
those relating to iconography (ie the main signs and symbols that you see/hear), structure (the way a text is put together and the shape it takes) and theme (the issues and ideas it deals with).
Genre Theories
Burton’s Six Elements associated with Graeme Burton
Burton suggests that each text in a given genre shares particular key elements to make up the generic formula, these include:
Protagonists
Stock Characters
Plots and Stock Situations
Icons
Background and Décor
Themes
Example
‘The protagonist, Neo, is very typical of the action film generic
formula…‘The genre of the film, a romantic comedy, is established in
the opening sequence through representation of setting, the Parisian
landscape….’
Unique Selling Point
The Unique Selling Point is a marketing principle which sells a text
to audiences on an aspect the text offers which isn’t offered by any
other text based on the same generic formula.
Example:
The unique selling point of the runaway bride is that it stars
Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, who co-star in this film for the first
time since the hugely successful Pretty Woman. This would attract fans
of the latter film who think that the star’s roles in the later film is a
‘stamp of quality.’
Pleasure of Recognition
Audiences enjoy the familiarity of ‘generic texts’, no effort has to
be spent ‘getting to know’ characters or situations. Recognition of the
generic code also allows audience to predict events, which leads to the
pleasure of prediction, and being correct….
Examples.
It’s easy for audiences to recognise the protagonists in Se7en
from the thriller films they have seen previously; Mills is the young
over-zealous detective and Somerset the older, world weary version –
then audience can predict their behaviour accordingly.
Repetition and Novelty associated with – Graeme Burton
Generic texts repeat many elements of a formula, to offer audiences
the pleasure of recognition, but also have novel elements of surprise,
to offer audiences something new. Repetition is also appealing to
producers, who have to put less work into their texts.
Example
“it’s not all Ha Ha Ha, He He He “ is in practically every
respect a typical women’s TV dramatic comedy, based on the lives of a
group of thirty something friends coming to terms with what adulthood is
about. In many ways it is very similar to Cold Feet, and uses the same
generic formula. However, this show also has an element of novelty,
something that makes it different, it’s about the lives of Asian women.”
Genre theory from HeworthMedia
Postmodernism associated with..Jean-Francois Lyotard, Jean Baudrillard
The ‘post modernist’ era began about the 1960s, Modernist era
1900s – 1960s (Modernism – a deliberate departure from tradition using
innovative forms of expression, and interests in new technologies and
new visions) Characterised by rejecting theories of belief systems that
helped people order their lives as ‘subjective’ and each as viable as
the next.
Lyotard argues that values are maintained in modern societies through
the means of “grand narratives” which are stories a culture tells
itself about its practices and beliefs. A “grand narrative” in American
culture might be the story that democracy is the most enlightened
(rational) form of government, and that democracy can and will lead to
universal human happiness. In Marxism, for instance, the “grand
narrative” is the idea that capitalism will collapse in on itself and a
utopian socialist world will evolve. Postmodernism then is the critique
of grand narratives, the awareness that such narratives serve to mask
the contradictions and instabilities that are inherent in any social
organization or practice. A “grand narrative explains that “disorder”
REALLY IS chaotic and bad, and that “order” REALLY IS rational and good.
Postmodernism, in rejecting grand narratives, favours
“mini-narratives,” stories that explain small practices, local events,
rather than large-scale universal or global concepts. In a post modern
world, in terms of belief and style, ‘anything goes’. Signs of
post-modernism include irony, (irony – The use of words to express
something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning),
mixing of genres, eclecticism, (eclecticism – The practice of selecting
or borrowing from earlier styles and combining the borrowed elements).
Intertextual references and playfulness.
Examples
“Pulp Fiction is a pertinent example of Post Modernist film. It’s
fragmented, non-linear structure, over exaggerated characters and
anti-realist codes of representation challenge everything we previously
understood to be ‘good film-making.’
Audience
In order for communication to take place there must be at least two parties: the sender of the communication and the receiver of the
communication. The audience is the receiver of the text, as it
interprets the message conveyed. Whether you are constructing a text or
analysing one, you will need to consider the destination of that text,
ie its target audience and how that audience (or any other) will respond
to that text.
Audience Theories
Two Step Flow associated with Katz & Lazersfeld
The Two Step Flow theory theorises about how the mass media
reaches and affects people.In the first step, the media influences
‘opinion leaders’ – individuals whose opinions affect other people, and
in the second step, the opinion formers share their views with others.
The Two step theory is especially relevant to political campaigning,
where opinion formers are used to give credence to a political party’s
point of view, and also in advertising – where it is increasingly common
to use ‘celebrities’ to endorse products.
Example
“……it is also interesting that in this list of titles owned by Murdoch
is the Times Educational Supplement, a publication aimed at teachers.
Teachers are significant opinion formers, in terms of Blulmer and Katz
flow theory of media effects…..”
Uses and Gratifications associated with Blulmer and Katz
A sociological theory which pays attention to how audiences
actively make meanings from the media they consume and ‘use’ the media,
rather than how the media affects audiences. Functions include personal
relationships, (using the media for emotional and other interaction, eg
substituting soap operas for family life) identification, (finding
yourself reflected in texts, learning behaviour and values from texts)
entertainment, escapism, (escaping from everyday problems and routine)
Social surveillance (Information which could be useful for living eg
weather reports, financial news, holiday bargains)
Example.
“Soaps offer their target audience much more than simple entertainment.
For example the Uses and Gratifications Theory on media effects includes
such functions as social relationships, as audiences build bonds with
familiar characters. The regularity and familiarity of soaps may
therefore actually offer audiences a feeling of belonging sometimes only
gained by spending time with close friends.”
Effects Theories
A Set of differing approaches on the relationships between texts and audiences, including:
- Hypodermic Syringe. Media representations have direct effects on the attitudes/beliefs/behaviours of passive audiences.
Catharsis – violent and and sexual content in media
texts serves the function of releasing ‘pent up’ tension
aggression/desire in audiences.
Example
“Whereas it was thought that a film such as Natural Born Killers may
directly influence audiences to behave like protagonists Mickey and
Mallory in acts of copy cat behaviour, such a ‘hypodermic syringe’
approach to media effects is now generally refuted.”
Dumbing Down associated with John Humphreys
The tendency of programme developers, due to commercial requirements, to
appeal to the widest possible audience, by offering familiar, easy,
‘accessible’ texts, which fail to challenge audiences intellectually or
represent experiences outside the audiences own. ‘Dumbed down’ texts are
stories with which audiences can relate, to do with sex, money,
suffering, jealousy, conflict, which elicit an emotional response.
Example
Although the BBC is funded by the license fee, rather than
advertising, it must still justify this fee by attracting a significant
audience share. Some have argued that this has led to ‘dumbing down’
programme content, making BBC versions of commercial shows. An example
of this would be ‘Fame Academy’ the BBC version of Pop Stars.
Cultural Capital Theory Associated with: Pierre Bourdieu, Also called Reception Theory associated with Stuart Hall. The
term describes as well as having differing amounts of economic capital,
different classes also have different accumulations of cultural
education and experiences. Audiences bring their cultural capital to
their individual readings of any given text.
Extending the concept of an active audience still further, in the
1980s and 1990s a lot of work was done on the way individuals received
and interpreted a text, and how their individual circumstances (gender,
class, age, ethnicity) affected their reading. This work was based on
Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding model of the
relationship between text and audience – the text is encoded by the
producer, and decoded by the reader, and there may be major differences
between two different readings of the same code. However, by using
recognised codes and conventions, and by drawing upon audience
expectations relating to aspects such as genre and use of stars, the
producers can position the audience and thus create a certain amount of agreement on what the code means. This is known as a preferred reading.
Example
Fully participating with some of the narratives offered by ‘Have I
Got News For You’ require a certain amount of cultural capital on the
part of the audience. Foe example, to understand the joke made about
President Bush in the episode 2nd July 2004 the audience
should be familiar with contemporary trends in politics and Bush’s
campaign for the American Presidential elections. Furthermore, greater
meaning would be made if the audience were familiar with Michael Moore’s
Fahrenheit 9/11.
Media Language
Media Language is concerned with understanding the processes
involved in the construction of media texts and how the techniques used
in the construction affect the way texts are read.
You should be able to discuss the technical codes of
any particular media form (like the size and font of the masthead on
the front page of a newspaper, or the use of spooky music in a
particular scene of a horror film) and how they are used to create
meaning. But explaining these will be easier if you have a basic
knowledge of Semiotic Theory, because this will help you to explain how communication occurs.
This theory states that every text, whether it’s a film, a book, a picture, or just an individual word, is made up of individual signs. These
signs have both a literal or denotative meaning – the signifier, and a
connotative, or signified meaning. The ‘signifier’ is the form the sign
takes, the ‘signified’ is the concept it represents. Knowing about
semiotic theory is especially useful if you are studying advertising.
Advertisers make it their aim to give products additional meanings which
help to sell the product, over and above their literal meaning.
Example
“The campaign for BISTO sets out to convince the purchaser that it has far greater powers other than as a simple gravy. By clever use of
words and pictures, the advertisers turn a brown liquid that you pour
over your dinner (the denotative meaning) into a major force for good
across the land! (The connotative, or signified meaning)
Representation
By definition, all media texts are re-presentations
of reality. This means that they are intentionally composed, lit,
written, framed, cropped, captioned, branded, targeted and censored by
their producers, and that they are entirely artificial versions of the
reality we perceive around us. Everything you see, hear or read in the media has been constructed. When
studying the media it is vital to remember this – every media form,
from a home video to a glossy magazine, is a representation of someone’s
concept of existence, codified into a series of signs and symbols which
can be read by an audience. However, it is important to note that
without the media, our perception of reality would be very limited, and
that we, as an audience, need these artificial texts to mediate our view
of the world, in other words we need the media to make sense of
reality. Therefore representation is a fluid, two-way process: producers
position a text somewhere in relation to reality and audiences assess a
text on its relationship to reality.
Theories of Representation
The study of representation is about decoding the different layers oftruth/fiction/whatever. In order to fully appreciate the part
representation plays in a media text you must consider
Who produced it?
What is being represented? How is it represented?
Using what codes? Within what genre? How is the representation made to
seem ‘true’, ‘commonsense’ or ‘natural’?
What is foregrounded and what is backgrounded? Are there any notable absences?
Whose representation is it? Whose interests does it reflect? How do you know?
At whom is this representation targeted? How do you know?
What does the representation mean to you? What does the representation mean to others? How do you account for the differences?
How do people make sense of it? According to what codes?
With what alternative representations could it be compared? How does it differ?
Reflectionist vs constructionist – Associated with Stuart Hall
There are three different approaches to understanding how representation works:
Reflective – The media simply reflects meanings which already exist in the ‘real’ world.
Intentional – The media simply reflects what the producer wants to say
Constructionist – Media is constructed in the active relationship between producer, text and audience.
Example
“This ‘intentional’ approach to the meaning of representation is
typical of the Hypodermic Syringe Theory, but it is generally accepted
that audiences have greater media literacy than ever before making
active meanings of the texts they consume..”
Constructions of Realism
Explores the relationship between the text, and aspects of the
real world it represents. ‘Realism’ in contrast to ‘Reality’ is often
highly constructed. Types of realism include social realism, documentary
realism, and emotional realism. Often contrasted with spectacular or
melodramatic representations.
Example
The documentary and social realism of ‘Sweet Sixteen’ is convincing,
carefully constructed by Loach’s approach to film-making. He uses non
professional actors, and encourages them to improvise much of the
script. Furthermore it is shot in natural light on grainy film stock.
Gramsci and Hegemony associated with Antonio Gramsci
Gramsci suggested that power is achieved by dominant groups by
persuading subordinate groups that social structures and dominant
ideological values are in their interests, and convincing them to
consent to their socio-economic position.
According to Gramsci, hegemony is political power that flows from
intellectual and moral leadership, authority, or consensus as
distinguished from armed force. A ruling class forms and maintains its
hegemony in civil society by creating cultural and political consensus
through unions, political parties, schools, media, the church,
voluntary associations etc.
Example
Although the stereotypical target audience for Eastenders is female,
the representation of gender roles in the show play the hegemonic
function of reinforcing dominant patriarchal values.
Binary Oppositions – associated with de Saussure and Levi-Strauss
Structuralist (structuralism – societies and sociological or cultural
practices can be analysed, along the lines of a language, as signifying
systems) approach which suggests we may understand a representation in
it’s contrast (opposition) to other representations in the same text.
Example
The audience gain greater understanding of the character Mills and
Somerset in Se7en by their binary opposition to each other. Whilst Mills
is young, white, at the beginning of his career, messy and married,
Somerset is old, black, at the end of his career, organised and single.
The audience therefore know the characters not only by what they are,
but also by what they are not.
Moral Panics Associated with – Stanley Cohen
Cohen identified the role of the media in generating (sometimes
unfounded) public anxiety about issues such as law and order and public
health.
Example
“…the dominant representation of homosexuality was affected
negatively in the 1980s when a moral panic was created by the media
linking homosexuality with AIDS, pacifying the concerns of the
heterosexual mass audience.”
Narrative
Narrative is concerned with the form or structure of the text itself, the way it tells the story, how it is shaped. You will have come
across the word ‘narrator’ before, and understand it to mean
storyteller. Similarly, Narrative refers to the story that is told or
written. In the context of mass media the story is the media text and a
whole team of people have been involved in creating and shaping it for
the audience. Narrative is therefore a process of organising and structuring.
What’s the difference between Story & Narrative?
“Story is the irreducible substance of a story (A meets B, something happens, order returns),
narrative is the way the story is related (Once upon a time there was a princess…)”
Narrative Theory
Field and 3 Act Structure associated with Syd FieldSyd Field in the ‘Screenwriters Workshop’ identified how conventional
narrative feature length films share conventional characteristics in
their construction/the way the story is told, and that successful
scripts can be written by adhering to this theory. The narrative is
split into three sections: Set up, confrontation, resolution, and has
two significant plot points between the acts.
Example
“The film is structured in terms of Syd Fields ‘3 Act Structure’. In
the set up, we get to know the characters of Somerset and Mills, and
the nature of their relationship. At plot point 1 the ‘problematic’
(Problematic – something that needs solving) is established and the
confrontation stage of Field’s theory features Mills and Somerset trying
to catch the antagonist”
Propp and Character types associated with Vladimir Propp
Russian formalist theory (formalist – breaking things down into small
units and analysing them) Propp analysed hundreds of folk tales and
argued that there are 31 basic character functions. These functions
include actions such as ‘delivery’ (villain gets information about the
victim) ‘Trickery’ (villain tries to deceive the victim) and ‘struggle’
(hero and villain fight) Through this he demonstrated the relationship
between characters and the structure of the narrative. Fairytales are
useful to analyse because they contain stock characters and structural
ingredients. After studying 115 fairytales, Propp was able to identify
seven main character ‘roles’, as he called them:
1 the villain
2 the donor (or provider)
3 the helper
4 the princess (or sought-for person) and her father
5 the dispatcher
6 the hero
7 the false hero.
These roles represent the building blocks of narratives,
it is their actions, in what Propp calls ‘functions’, that construct
the narrative Propp states that several roles may well be filled by the
same character and that some may also be filled by more than one
character
Example
The most often-used example of this is the Star Wars trilogy (Turner, 1993; Berger, 1992);
this is because Star Wars makes an interesting point of
comparison between the tradition of the fairytale structure and the
classic Hollywood moving image product:
Todorov and Narrative Structure associated with Tzvetan Todorov Russian Formalist theory (again)
Todorov described the way in which the conventional narrative’s flow is
divided into 3 sections – (an early antecedent of Field’s 3 act
structure) A state of equilibrium is disrupted (by the problematic) to
ceate a sense of ‘disequilibrium) before achieving a sense of ‘new
equilibrium’ when the problem is resolved.
Example
“…although the problem has been resolved by the end of ‘21 grams’,
the world will never be the same again. This is what Todorov termed a
‘new equilibrium’, normal life has been restored. But it is quite
different to the life the characters lived before the accident happened
and disequilibrium was caused.
Story and Plot associated with Tzvetan Todorov (Another Russian Formalist Theory)
The story (fabula) is all the events shown and implied by the film in
chronological order. The plot (syuzhet) is just the events actually
shown, in the order they are shown.
Example
“…the story and plot of Pulp Fiction are quite different, and part
of the pleasure for the audience is ‘figuring out’ the story from the
plot. The story ends with the road movie stock situation of Butch and
Fabienne riding off into the sunset on a chopper. Conversely. The end
of the plot finishes minutes after the opening of the plot, with Vince
and Jules leaving the Hawthorne Grill.
Narrative Codes associated with Roland Barthes
Barthes suggested that narrative works with different codes which activate the reader to make sense of it.
Enigma Code – little puzzles to be solved
Action codes – looks, significant words, close ups which
suggest an event such as ‘jealousy’, ‘falling in love’ accident waiting
to happen etc
Symbolic code – an object, event or action which refers to something outside itself – like the flower which represents ET’s life.
Example
“….one narrative code which keeps the audience hooked in Pulp
Fiction is the enigma, ‘What is in the briefcase?’ This enigma is not
answered in the film and audiences have actively participated in making
meaning, resolving the enigma with theories and hypotheses circulated on
the internet.”
Other Theories
RegulationThe production/distribution of many texts is subject to the
regulation of an authoritative body, which may include censorship and
certification. In terms of film, the BBFC classify texts before
distribution in terms of age, based on the content of the film. Ofcom
deals with many aspects of regulation of TV, advertising, and print
media.
Example
“…….the tango advert of the mid 90s which featured a man slapping
the sides of another man’s head with the slogan ‘You’ve been Tangoed’
was banned by the advertising standards authority following complaints
that the advertisement was causing copycat acts of violence.”
Marxist approaches, associated with Marx, Althusser, Adorno
Marx suggested that those who own the means of production have control
in Capitalist societies. Marxist media theorists study how those who
have the means to produce mass mediated texts use them to reinforce
their own values.
Examples
“….women’s magazines therefore reinforce stereotypical gender roles.
Women are now actively encouraged to have careers, but also to marry
and raise families. Rather than liberating their audiences, Marxist
critics might suggest that the white middle class, middle age owners of
production companies are reinforcing patriarchal values and therefore
their own powerful position.
Feminist Theory
Focuses on the role given to women and the way they are
portrayed in the mass media. Often argue that women are represented as
sex objects (victims of the male gaze – see Laura Mulvey), as
housewives, or as weak, impressionable and mindless. Feminists critics
argue that such representations play a dangerous function in the process
of socialisation, encouraging audiences to consent to patriarchal
dominant ideology.
Example
“….the preferred reading for Charlie’s Angels is that it is liberating
for it’s target audience to identify with these strong independent
female protagonists, a significant aspect of the 70s TV series that has
been replicated in the 2000 films. However the women remain under the
control of, and completely obey the orders of, the anonymous male,
Charlie.
Star Status
A star is an actor or actress (though increasingly directors
are becoming ‘stars’ in their own right – link to postmodernism) who is
well known enough, through marketing, interviews, TV interviews,
celebrity reports etc, for their image to contribute to the roles they
play. It may also act to attract audiences.
Example
“….Angelina Jolie has quite an enigmatic reputation. She is strong and
independent, does a lot of work for charity and is a single parent to
her adopted Cambodian son. Jolie brings this star status to her role as
Lara Croft, a character who would have quite a different meaning if
played by an overly feminine, married, or dependent actress…”
Globalisation
The organisation of activities, businesses or institutions on a
global rather than a national scale. Linked to debates about ‘world
culture’, and ‘cultural imperialism’ as a result of the availability of
contemporary technology and transport systems.
Example
“…….Friends is now broadcast in many different countries, and therefore
these western values are reaching non-western audiences, promoting
consumerism, safe promiscuity, equal gender roles, and little emphasis
on family relationships. This may have a serious effect on the growth of
a global culture…..”
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