Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Key Concept Theory / Theorist Explanation
We use the internet and other media texts
Representation
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Feminist theory States that feminism is a struggle to end
bell hooks the patriarchal (male) oppression and the
ideology of domination.
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Feminist Theory Classification:
Liesbel Van Zoonen Liberal Feminism:
Reformist approach to feminism
Equal gender relations being
brought about by equal opportunities
policies
Doesn’t seem to question the power
dimensions in society that maintain
male superiority of status and
female inferiority
Concentrates on sexual roles
stereotypes, prescriptions or sexual
behaviors, appearance, interests,
skills and self-perceptions
Women shown in media are
perceived to be the wife, mother,
daughter, girlfriend and as working
traditionally female jobs or as sexual
objects
Possibly shown as usually young
and beautiful but not very well
educated
Social Liberal Feminism solutions:
Women should be in more equal
positions of society and enter male
dominated fields
Creating awareness about
stereotypes
Women magazines should portray
women as independent and
assertive career women
Radical Feminism:
Radical feminist have been seen to
be politicising issues formerly
considered as private
Media strategies of radical feminism
are straightforward
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He emphasises how important visual
representation is and how image is a sign
of modern culture.
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Key Concept Theory / Theorist Explanation
Examines the long term effects of media
Audience
Suggests exposure to media cultivates, or
develops the viewer’s perception of reality
Reception theory This theory was first developed in his 1973 essay
Stuart Hall 'Encoding and Decoding in the Television
Discourse'. His approach, called
the encoding/decoding model of communication,
is a form of textual analysis that focuses on the
scope of "negotiation" and "opposition" by
the audience.
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The uses and gratifications theory was proposed
by Blumer and Katz, and consists of four main
points. When we choose a form of media it has
to (according to the theory) fulfil at least one of
the four, although there is a potential for
overlapping points
Identification
Being able to recognise parts of yourself in
what you are seeing. E.g being able to
identify with particular characters.
Aspiring to be like characters and seeing
them as role models.
Uses & Gratifications
Seeing others who reflect your values.
theory
Blumer & Katz Education
Being given information and knowledge.
Entertainment
We use media as a distraction from our
daily lives.
We enjoy escapism to alternative ‘worlds’
or ‘stories’.
Social Interaction
Media can create discussion between
friends.
The media encourages the audience to
get involved with each other.
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Tessa Perkins Nine Qualifications to what seems like common sense about stereotypes:
Theory
Tessa Perkins Nine Common sense about Stereotypes Condition Definition
The Irish tourist board propagates a positive stereotype
of Ireland. A land of friendly drinking, music, greenery
Positive Stereotypes are
and 'the crack'. This stereotype also helps to sell
not always negative
Guinness on St Patrick's day.
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Tessa Perkins Nine Qualifications to what seems like common sense about stereotypes:
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Key Concept Theory / Theorist Explanation
the importance of money and status in
society and that your reputation is
CAPITALIST
governed by how much money you earn or
have
promotion of mixed sex relationships (male
+ female) and that the attraction and
HETEROSEXUAL
keeping of a member of the opposite sex
helps build your reputation in society
Ideologies
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Key Concept Theory / Theorist Explanation
- This is where an Institution devises a
Construction product that should appeal to a set
audience.
- This is the actual watching, listening or
Consumption
buying of the product.
The Audience is split into six social grades
Advertiser Social Grades from A-F so as to help marketers target
their audience more effectively
The audience is split into 5 groups based
upon their psychological needs:
Belongers
Psychographics Emulators
Emulator-Achievers
Socially Conscious Achievers
Need Directed
This is used by marketers to target the
areas where people live when they are
targeting their audience for their products.
Geo-Demographics
(e.g. is it a youthful urban audience, or a
more safety conscious middle aged
Audience
suburban audience?)
Marketing
These set of 14 lifestyle types are again
Theories
Lifestyle Types used by marketers to help them define and
target their audience for their products
This theory has been very much linked to
how advertisers target the wants and
Maslow’s Hierachy of Needs needs of their target audience by appealing
to them on as many Levels as the pyramid
has.
This states that audiences consume texts
in three ways
primary = we actively consume the text e.g.
cinema
secondary = we are aware of the text but
Audience Consumption Theory
not actively consuming (e.g. radio in the
car)
Tertiary = we are not fully aware of the text
or actively consume it (e.g. billboard
adverts)
This is a marketing theory that uses a
AIDA Principle process of four acts to promote products
from Action, Interest, Decision, Action
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Key Theory / Theorist Explanation
Concept
This theory suggests that audiences only
Audience Consumption Theories
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The theory states that audiences get four
uses from the media. (Personal identity,
Uses and Gratifications Theory
social interaction, information and
entertainment)
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Key Concept Theory / Theorist Explanation
The theory suggest that the media fulfills
the audiences wants and desires and
presents them with a generic world that is
Dyer’s Entertainment & Utopia
far superior and more exciting than their
Theory
own. (e.g. the glitz and glamour of X-Factor
is more exhilarating than the everyday
experience of working in a factory)
This theory suggest that audiences seek
media texts that present them with a world
Dyer’s Entertainment & Utopia that is worse and more depressing than
Theory Inverted their own which will give audiences a more
positive outlook on their own world and
make them feel better.
This is where films have less effect over
Audience spectators over time and repeated
Consumption viewings. This is linked to the Effects
Theories Debates where spectators become
desensitised to violence and therefore their
The Desensitisation Theory threshold becomes higher and therefore
they need more shocking images to get an
emotional response and there films get
more violent and that has been linked to
the increase of social problems in the last
two decades
This is a theory where Institutions repeat
similar films to try and increase their
revenue, but knowing that the repeating of
The Law of Diminishing Returns similar films will mean cheapening the
brand image of the films, but the revenue
will diminish over time, but it will be
cheaper to make
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Key Concept Theory / Theorist Explanation
narrative is not seen as a linear structure
Narrative
but a circular one. The narrative is driven
by attempts to restore the equilibrium.
Tzetvan Todorov
However, the equilibrium attained at the
end of the story is not identical to the initial
equilibrium.
Vladimir Propp studied fairy takes and
recognised a set of STOCK
CHARACTERS in every story.
Vladimir Propp He also concluded that all the characters
could be resolved into only 8 broad
character types in the 100 tales he
analysed
Levi-Strauss claimed that stories can only
Claude Levi-Strauss exist with BINARY OPPOSITES, which are
elements that are against each other,
Roland Barthes explored how an audience
DECODES a text and outlined a list of
codes that we all use to construct meaning
from a text.
1. Enigma Code - anything that sets up
a question of a mystery
2. Action Code - actions and
behaviour in the text that are
universally understood (e.g. a fist
Roland Barthes fight)
3. Semic Code - the way characters,
events, settings are ascribed
meaning by the culture making the
text
4. Symbolic Code - use of binary
oppositions or psychological
symbols
5. Cultural Code -codes that are
understood throughout the world
Structuralism This theory was art of a movement from
the 1950s onwards that said that
everything has a structure within art,
linguistics and literature (e.g. narrative
theories by Propp and Todorov)
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This theory was a rejection of Structuralism
and said that art, linguistics and literature
doesn’t have structure (e.g. Roland
Barthes narrative codes) and that signs
Post-Structuralism and symbols are interchangeable and can
be recombined with other signs and
symbols to create new meanings.Post-
Structuralism is quite similar to Post-
Modernism.
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Wider Contexts
Wider Context Theory / Theorist Explanation
the application of one’s own cultural norms to that
of another. Some people have accused The
American media or presented a very Americanised
Ethnocentrism
view of the world, with the Western world being the
‘good guys’ and the Middle East and other
‘foreigners’ being the bad guys!
Propaganda Model- the media aims to create fear
as a tool for consuming media texts. It could be
suggested that post 9/11, the western world lives
Chomsky in fear of attack and that encourages to watch
more political thrillers and programmes that deal
with the threat of terrorism, hence increasing
revenues for those types of texts
The Media demonises events to portray an unfair
reflection. Baker was saying that the media will
always aim to project a negative view of any group
Baker
in society to use Levi-Strauss’ binary opposites
theory where drama and conflict are easy ways to
Political Contextual
engage an audience.
Mass production of texts tend to a ‘dumbing down’
Theories
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Wider Context Theory / Theorist Explanation
a theory that covers a nations wish to expand
its influence militarily or economically over
weaker nations and culture and seeks to bring
the weaker culture under the superior culture
of the conqueror. (e.g. The British Empire of
Colonialism
the 1700 and 1800s controlled one third of the
extu Cont Politi
cal
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Wider Context Theory / Theorist Explanation
The Male Gaze Theory – media texts are
constructed from a ‘male point of view’ with
Laura Mulvey
emphasis on males as the dominant sex and
females as the subservient and object of desire
‘meaning is constantly being produced in every
social environment and place’.
Woodward This suggests that the media is constantly
adapting to the social changes going on , rather
then dictating them.
This theory states that social changes lead to
constant self evaluation of society and culture.
This means that the media has to take into
Context Theories
Anthony Giddens -
(pulls together) all these changes and then aims
Cultivation Theory
to represent and reflect these changes in their
texts. (e.g. the representation of ethnicity has
changed considerably as the UK has become
more multi-cultural)
A movement that sought to focus on making art,
literature and society being progressive rather
than traditionalist. This led to the development
Modernism
of Impressionist Art and also the psychological
theories of Sigmund Freud who looked at the
Individual rather than society.
This was reaction to Modernism and sought to
bring new meanings by combining signs and
symbols from contemporary culture and mixing
Post Modernism
them with cultural references from the past to
make a more dynamic and complex way of
creating new cultural references.
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Wider Context Theory / Theorist Explanation
This is the sociological stance of women from the
early 20th Century that looked to bring about equal
rights for women in society.
The movement really took off in the 1960s. Radical
Feminism has by its nature sought to put women into
Feminism
more powerful roles than men and aimed to bring
about women’s power in society at the expense of
men.
Contex Sociol
ogical
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