Media Theories

 Essential Theories:

Theories of Media Language:

Semiotics theory- Barthes- the idea that blogs, vlogs and websites convey their meanings through a process of signification

Structuralism- Levi-Strauss-  the idea that binary oppositions play a fundamental role in the production of meaning in online products

Postmodernism- Baudrillard- the idea that, in the online age, the boundaries separating the real world and the world of the media have imploded or collapsed

Theories of Media Representation:

Theories of Identity- Gauntlett- the idea that online media products provide users with an array of resources with which to construct their identities

Representation theory- Hall- the idea that online representations are constructed through media language

Gender performativity- Butler- The idea that gender is a performance: a series of gestures, actions, dress codes that construct an imaginary 'man' or 'woman'.

Ethnicity and postcolonial theory- Gilroy- the idea that online products can create a sense of diasporic identity, and can challenge or reinforce colonial discourse

Industry Theories:

Cultural industries theories- Hesmondhalgh- Media organisations seek to maximise profit and minimise risk through vertical and horizontal integration. The largest companies/conglomerates now operate across a number of different cultural industries. The democratising effects of the 'Internet Revolution' have been over-exaggerated, and are difficult to properly diagnose.

Regulation theories- Livingstone and Lunt- Highlights the struggle in UK media regulations between the need to further the interests of citizens (by offering protection from harmful or offensive material) versus those of consumers (by ensuring choice, value for money, and market competition). Critiques the increasing prevalence of global media corporations and digital technologies, which have made traditional approaches to media regulation ineffective.

Ownership Effects: Curran and Seaton- The media is controlled by a small number of companies and proprietors that make products to create profit. Profit-driven media is softened to create mass audience appeal; Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) provides impartial news, serves minority audiences and champions unity through inclusion. Media adversely affects media content, whilst diverse ownership creates diverse products.

Audience theories:

Cultivation theory- Gerbner- Media products can shape audiences' attitudes and perceptions. Audiences can be led to accept established power structures and mainstream ideologies. Exposure to repeated patterns of representation over long periods of time can influence and cultivate the way in which people perceive the world around them.

Media Modelling Effects- Albert Bandura- Audiences can acquire attitudes, emotional responses and new styles of conduct through modelling. Media representations of violence or physical aggression can lead audience members to imitate the behaviour. Violence is an endemic feature of media content.

Fandom theory- Jenkins- appropriate media texts, producing non authorised readings. Fans are active participants in the construction and circulation of textual meanings. As a result of digital technology, fans and media makers have converged. Fans use participatory culture to effect wider social change.

'End of audience' theory- Shirky- the idea that in the digital age we have all become producers, as online media and digital technologies enable us to 'speak back' to the media in various ways. Passive audiences are dead.

Reception theory: Hall- Media texts are encoded with preferred readings which the audience decode. Audiences are active and can read media texts through dominant, negotiated or oppositional reading. Media reinforces dominant ideologies and cultural hegemonies.

Gender theories:

Feminist Theory- Van Zoonen- Men and women's bodies are sexualised in the media, but codes differ. Women's sexuality is represented as submissive and passive, focused on disempowerment. Men's sexuality is based on strength, power, force, focused on empowerment.

Intersectionality- Bell Hooks- Gender roles are constructed, not natural. Patriarchy dominates perceptions. Social expectations for men and women to conform to the patriarchy. Society is a network of different prejudices and oppressions, not just gender, but also race/ethnicity, religion, culture, class.

Life On Mars post modernism Text

To what extent can S1 episode 1 of  Life on Mars be seen as a postmodernist text ? 

The content below is not prescriptive and all valid points should be credited. It is not expected that responses will include all of the points listed. Responses are expected to apply knowledge and understanding of postmodernism to the set product studied. Responses in the higher bands will explicitly engage with the debate in the question around 'to what extent' the set product is postmodern and draw conclusions that are substantiated by effective reference to examples, responses in the middle band will show some engagement with this debate and use examples in a straightforward way to support conclusions, whilst responses in the lower bands may not engage with the debate in the question, may not draw conclusions that are substantiated by reference to examples, or may simply describe aspects of postmodernism and/or the set product. There is no requirement to argue that the product is postmodern; candidates might equally argue that the product is not postmodern at all, or that it is only postmodern to a certain extent. Various conclusions are acceptable, provided they are substantiated through analysis of the set product.

AO2 In applying knowledge and understanding, reference will be made to some of the following characteristics, qualities, conventions or features associated with postmodern products
:  reflexivity and anti-realism
 bricolage
  hybridity
 parody and/or pastiche
 intertextuality
  postmodern irony
  implosion
 postmodern identity
 hyperreality
 simulacra.

1. (a) In applying their understanding of postmodernism to Life on Mars, responses may, for example, refer to some of the following:
 the way in which the programme blurs the boundaries between fiction and reality (Has Sam actually gone back in time? Is this a fantasy etc.?)
 genre hybridity (e.g. the way in which the programme combines the conventions of the crime drama with those of science-fiction)
 the use of parody and pastiche (e.g. the way in which the programme can be seen to parody popular crime dramas of the 1970s such as The Sweeney)
 the use of intertextuality (e.g. the intertextual reference to High Noon through the poster that is seen on the wall of Gene Hunt’s office)

Kiss of the vampire

Kiss of the vampire

Kiss of the vampire is a 1963 horror film that is based on the subvert genre of vampire Gothic horror. Its a horror film intended to be the new franchise to the 1958 film Dracula. Vampire films are linked to sex and romance generally. Back in the 1960's, vampires were related to horror and violence, while in recent times vampires are more related to sexual actions and thrillers (non scary). The use of a ‘painted’ main image is highly conventional of films of the period and links to the poster for Christopher Lee’s Dracula, but the fact that it’s in colour anchored by the text In Eastman Color connotes that this is a modern telling of an older story.

Suspense is created through the enigmas surrounding the connoted relationship between the male and female vampires emphasised by the “kiss” of the title and the fate of their two victims Barthes’ Hermeneutic Code. Barthes’ Semantic Code could be applied to images of the bats and their conventional association with vampirism and horror in general.

The 1960s is often seen as the start of women’s sexual liberation, aided by events such as the introduction of the contraceptive pill in 1960. More women than ever were entering the paid workforce and sixties feminists were campaigning for equal pay, an end to sexual harassment and more equality between men and women in wider society. In America, equal pay legislation was passed in 1963. ‘Older’ stereotypes of women as passive victims of men and more modern ‘male fears’ of women challenging male dominance could both be seen to be encoded in this film poster

Stuart Hall’s theory of representation – the images of a castle, bats, the vampire’s cape and dripping blood form part of the “shared conceptual road map” that give meaning to the “world” of the poster. The audience is actively encouraged to decode this familiar generic iconography. David Gauntlett’s theory of identity – perhaps the female vampire acts as a role model for women struggling against male oppression or desperate to be seen as the equals of men, whatever the narrative or environment.