Introduction to Media Theory

Tuesday 13th September 2022  

Postmodernism + Baudrillard 

Hyperreallity is the idea that representations are more powerful and ‘real’ than reality. 

 

Hyperreal representations don’t represent reality, instead they are representations of representations. 

 

Simulacra artificial copies of reality 

 

In postmodern cultures representations are more powerful than reality, and representations themselves no longer relate to reality.  

 

 Key Words 

Media Language: how the media through their forms, code, conventions and techniques communicate meanings, Camera work, editing, sound. Mise en scene. 

 

Media Representations: how the media portray events, issues, individuals and social groups. 

 

Media Industries: how the media industries processes of production, distribution and circulation affect media forms and platforms. 

 

Media Audiences: how media forms target, reach and address audiences, how audience interpret and respond to them and how members of the audience become produces themselves.  

 

Postmodernism  

-Irony 

  

-Parody or Homage 

 

-Bricolage 

 

-Intertextual References 

 

-Fragmented Narrative  

 

-Self Reflexivity 

 

-Common themes- what if? 

 

-Loss of reality 

 

-Lack of Verisimilitude  

 

Baudrillard  

-Argued that, as modern societies were organised around production of goods, postmodern society is organised around ‘simulation’-the play of images and signs. 

 

-Previously important social distinctions suffer ‘implosions’ as differences of gender, class, politics and culture dissolves in a world of simulation in which individuals construct their identities. 

 

-The world of Hyperreallity- media simulations, e.g. Disneyland and amusement parks, malls and customer fantasy lands- is more than real and controls how we think and behave.  

 

Stranger Things 

Representations	Examples	Ideologies created
Family life	The Byers family consist of the mum Joyce who mainly appears to work a lot and the older brother Johnathan who has stepped up to try to look after both his brother Will and mum as their dad is not in the picture.  While the in The Wheelers household the dad goes to work while the mum stays home to look after the kids, and the older sister who seems academically smart and a strong feminist has a stereotypically relationship with her young brother.
Female roles
1980s icons/life
Small town America

Media theory: Music as protest Hip Hop and Beyond

Tuesday 20th September 2022
LOs:
To investigate the principles behind theories.
To discuss various theories.
To critically apply theories to text.

Representation

Representation is to present people and places for what they are known for.

How is these people represented?

These people are represented as a group of people who appear to be wearing the same items of clothing which appear to be in the form of some sports wear especially in the style of a baseball attire. They are also shown as serious and gives the impression as a gang, pacifically a gang in a run down area.

What tells you that?

They give me these impressions as they are congregated in a close group appearing in a serious manner, as well along with their baseball attire some are wearing gold chains this gives a kind of gangster vibe.

Sidran, B. 1975. Black talk.

Black music as protest over time.

Summery: Black music tells the story of social problems.

Sam Cooke- A change is gonna come

What does it ask for?

It's asking for inequality to change.

Rose, T- 1994 Black Noise

Summary: Rap music criticises injustices for black men but maintains sexist attitudes to black woman.

NWA- Express Yourself

Upbeat- non confrontational

-Social power is represented as white male.

Sidran- Applies told of injustices, slavery, death row, prison, police brutality

Rose- Females were used as objects and desire, and their status was not high as they hide behind the females showing a lack of care.

Halls's theory of Race: Cultural Identity and Diaspora

Diaspora: The dispersion or spread of any people from their original home land.

Find a song listen and annotate the lyrics

Just stop your crying
It's a sign of the times
Welcome to the final show
Hope you're wearing your best clothes
You can't bribe the door on your way to the sky
You look pretty good down here
But you ain't really good

 

You can't bribe the door on your way to the sky

Tuesday 27th September 2022

Media Theory: Gender and Bond

LOs: 

To investigate the principles behind gender theories.

To discuss various theories.

To critically apply theory to text.

What do you see?

What does the term audience mean?

Audience means a group of people ranging in gender and age bring targeted by a text.

Who are the audience?

I think this image is targeted to young men or woman who are either interested with the woman herself or her style.

What are the audience told from this image?

The audience is being told that she is beautiful through being objectified. 

Van Zoonen

Van Zoonen says that woman are objectified (viewed as sexual objects) in media representations. She  emphasises the importance of gender being seen as socially and culturally constructed through performance of these roles, furthermore as a result gender can vary depending on cultural and historical contexts.

How are woman represented in the text?

Woman are represented in the text as seen as only objects and inferior to men. This is shown through the belly dancer where she is only in a type of bikini showing off a lot of skin while bond is in a suit fully covering his body, this gives him sexual power. Van Zoonen applies in this text as she has stated how woman are only for the pleasure of men and this is exactly shown through the costume worn by the belly dancer, this represents how woman were meant to be dominated by men in 1974

missing 3,4,5

Here you manage to tackle 1,2&3. T: Now explain how VanZoonen applies as she states that women are presented for the pleasure of men and the costume and scene shows that the female is represented in that exact way, then go onto state how this reflect the values of 1974, find an example of how women were treated then, explain how this is then shown in the extract.

Tuesday 4th October 2022

Media Theory: Bender and Bond Beyond

LOs:

To investigate the principles behind gender theories.

To discuss various theories.

To critically apply theory to texts.

Butler

Butler states the performance of gender roles creates a response to gender, these become naturalised through repetition and ritual. However the performance of these roles cause 'gender trouble' for those who do not fit the heterosexual norms.

bell hooks

bell hooks an American feminist talks about how feminism challenges patriarchy and sexist representations, however she goes on to say this isn't the only contribute to oppression for example race class, sexuality etc. She claims that these ideologies dominate media representations and creates a 'white supremacist capitalist patriarchy'.

Spectre

Scene 1

-Female had no purpose (sexual purpose)

-Positioning of the woman on the bed (high angle)

-Walked behind him

-Costume stereotypical (dress is revealing) 

-Close up of her mouth 

 Scene 2

-Bennett- tames widow, revealing secrets wit his sexual advances (seducing her)

-Over the shoulder shot, reveals her sexual position as naked (she is a sexual object)

-Mise en scene (the setting or surroundings of an event), woman is rich and in an opulent setting which identifies her class

-Butler, heterosexual female vulnerable role; costume makeup and vulnerable position, she needs this man to save her

-shot reverse shot buildup of violence and sexual dominance

Scene 3

-A doctor who is the daughter of an assassin 

Gender throughout Spectre is represented as females being objectified and lesser than men. We know this by seeing the character of the widow through the high angle shot of the her laying on the bed in a sexual intended way, this creates the impression of her being inferior, the use of classical music is to give the scene the intention of seeming beautiful when really the music is only covering the darkness of what is really happening. this scene establishes Bond as the superior being here while the widow is presented as the weak damsel who has no opinion over how she is treated which gives Bond the power and dominance the male gender desire. This can be applied to Van Zoonen's theory to how the widow is simply treated as if she has no purpose but to appease the greed of men who view woman as their very own play things to use then just throw away when they see please because they are, Bond in this scene enforces this with his actions towards the widow which shows how he lacks any respect towards woman. This reflects the context of the time as it represents the different in privileges depending of your gender and how little woman opinions of how they were treated mattered in the industry, this keeps up the general stereotypical notions of how different genders are viewed and how Van Zoonen and the principles of her theory applies to the film industry through them only using woman to present them as objects.

18/10/2022

Only area to work on developing is 2: adding in specific media language elements, shots, sound and editing.

Marking colour

Tuesday 11th October 2022

Media Theory: Rupaul and Identity

LOs:

To investigate the principles behind theories

To discuss Theories

To critically apply theories to text.

How can you define identity?

Identity is something to define a person through their lifestyle 

What makes up a person's identity?

• Gender
• Personality
• Culture
• Religion 
• Lifestyle 
• Sexuality
• Appearance

Gauntlett

A wide range of different contradictory messages about identity is portrayed by media representations, which can be used by audiences to think through their own identities.

Identities including gender and sexuality are now seen as less fixed than they were in the past.

Identity:

Gender- breaking stereotype, DRAG artist; all identities accepted 

Sexuality- make-up elements, clothes, reinforcement the sexualisation of woman 

Personality- bright, bubbly 

Lifestyle- extravagant, over the top

Interest- DRAG, talents = typically feminine 

Appearance- important 

Religion - positivity, (positivity maybe doesn't show their reality)

Roots- proud, is that the reality? 

Gender roles: 

Male- goes against the gender stereotype 

Female- stereotypically represented, reinforcing sexualisation- dressing the stereotype female way  

Societal values:

Culture of America: 

Heterosexual norms:

Gauntlett applies to RePaul's drag race due to how the DRAG artists defines the gender norm through living up to the stereotypical female.  

Tuesday 18th October 2022

Media Theory: Race

LOs:

-To investigate the principles behind theories of representation of race.

-To discuss various theories.

-To critically apply theory to texts.

1. White people as they have that stereotypical African look.

2. The characters are presented to the audience with a lack of individuality.

3. They are all dressed similar as well as having the stereotypical African makeup. 

4. 

Levi Strauss- Binary Oppositions

- The structure of meaning making was dependent on binary oppositions. Levi Strauss argued that these could relate to characters in film, recurring signs in adverts, narrative elements in a film, good/bad, black/white, east/west, barbarism/civilisation.

- To shape a structure to communicate ideology or myths through studying hidden rules. 

-Based on binary oppositions helps us understand our place within the world; for example night and day, we know it is not night if it is day.

Applying to film scene- Bad Boys

Hall

- the entertainer/clown, dialog chatty, didn't take this seriously 

- slapstick comedy, slams car door into hydrant

Strauss

- black/white + rich/poor, driving along beach yelling 'sorry rich white people" 

- order and law vs recklessness, getting chased by cops even though they are cops

Applying to film scene- Black Panther

- Black kids playing basketball at night in a poor neighbourhood

 

- Inner lip tattoo for recognition

- Black woman being smuggled through the jungle in vans 

- White woman in charge on museum has security keep an eye on black visitor

- White people ancestors stole from black people ancestors, museum scene- talking about vibranium and artefacts

- White woman sounds educated but is not as it is not their artefacts- black man uncovers colonial rule and acknowledges the downfall 

- Villan vs need for money 

- Gangster vs King,

King- embodies: tradition + culture + primitive reality + proud of culture + identity 

vs 

Gangster- embodies- critiques of popular culture + representations, closes down- negative representation

Homework- How does Black Panther depict different  racial representations?

You can apply Levi-Stauss’ theory as throughout the beginning of the film during the scene with the king and his brother it shows how they are clear opposites as the king is presented to a be more primitive in culture where as his brother is presented more gangster. Hall is applied through how the king and his guard presents their more primitive culture through how they hold themselves, speak and dress, while his brother presents more of the stereotypical gangster through his hand jesters, way of speaking and overall attire. The audience will respond to how much individuality the two brothers present and how clear they present their cultures by seeing the king as proud and noble while his brother is seen more as a thug and trouble.

Tuesday 1st November 2022

Media Theory: Masculinity 

LOs:

To investigate how representations of masculinity differ.

To discuss various theories on masculinity

To critically apply theory to texts and explore the impact of the representations.

What representations are created here?

- 'Real men'- extreme idea- idea of fake vs real (because it is so fake it creates insecurities), modern real man- self care

- Muscular- toned, defined, tanned

-Sporty- climbing- free climbing, bravery, possibly stupidity, physically fit 

-Outdoorsy- loves wildlife and outdoors/ capable of looking after themselves

-Product being sold is protein drink, building muscles 

1960s Men

-Capable

-Strong

-In control 

-Powerful

-Controlling

-Violent

-Dominent

1990s Men

-Desperate for control 

-Losing control

-Lacking superiority 

-Sexualised

-Strong

-Worker (manual labour)

2020s Men

-Sexualisation of men

-Still capable

-Strong and brace

The crisis of Masculinity

In 1960 'it was not so easy for men to maintain the pretence of sexual bravado' (Tolsen), this lead men to not being able to live up to the standards the media created, especially that the crisis of masculinity is not new. 

Feminism and gay rights have meant that the superiority of men came under ideological attack and ideas of what masculinity should be were unclear. Faludi recognised that men would face difficulties in fitting in to a changed environment where they are not automatically the 'ruling class'.

Adverts which represent how masculinity has changed 

1960s

Today

Barthes - Semiology

1. Denotations can signify connotations, associated meaning for the same sign.

2. Denotations and connotations are organised in to myths.

3. Myths create an ideological meaning and help ideology feel natural, real and acceptable. 

Denotation could be a rose (the object) and the connotation would be the significant of romance and love.

Or that men are stronger than woman, which is a myth.

(Connotation and Denotation are two principal methods of describing the meanings of words. Connotation refers to the wide array of positive and negative associations that most words naturally carry with them, whereas denotation is the precise, literal definition of a word that might be found in a dictionary.)

Toxic Masculinity - Traditional Masculinity

-Sexual assault + harassment

-Speaking over woman

-Making excuses

-Bulling associated with traditional masculinity- online bullying- boy cries to mum, considered weak

-Inferiority of woman at workplace 

-Making excuses for boys 'boys will be boys'

Realistic Masculinity

-Average men

-Having good morals

-Doing the right thing- dad stops children fighting, man stopping another man from hitting woman

-Braking out a new stereotype, creates a new masculinity

How Has Masculinity changed over the Years?

Masculinity has changed overtime in many different ways. In the 1960s men were seen as strong and capable practically untouchable, they used this in violent tendencies towards woman to be in control and to show their dominance, as well as using their power in any way they saw fit such as how if a situation wasn't in their favour they make excuses and bush it off as long as it didn't bother them. However change started towards the 1990s as men started to lose control.

Good response in your homework. T: can you comment on what ideologies these opposites create for the audience in their representations.

Tuesday 8th November 2022

Media Theory: Assessment

LOs:

To demonstrate knowledge of media theories, to apply media theory, to texts, to critically explore a text using media theory.

'Representations can vary within long form television dramas.' Discuss how and why audiences might respond to and interpret these representations differently. 

In your answer you must:

- consider the contexts in which long term television drama are produced and consumed.

-explain how media contexts may have influenced different aspects of representations and audience response.

-make judgements and reach conclusions about the varied representations in Long form TV drama

Representations

- Stereotypical friend group of boys

- suburban house, fairly wealthy family

- bikes, hair represent 1980s

- close friendship, safety on streets

- Will is alone

- Hopper transforms from laying on sofa seeming to live like a stereotypical man who cant take care of himself, drinking, living in a mess. to be typical cop in 1980s

- lower social economic setting for Byers family

- Son cooking in place of mum

- son also has to provide for family

- switches to family all together eating at table 

- typical school bullies

- stereotypical teenager into boys

- cops stereotypical has donuts 

- police inept and incapable, not prioritising

- Joyce stands up to Hopper, he says is Will gay she says does it matter. different views on gender

Camera angles, mise en scene, shot types

-editing between camera angles on their faces

-low camera angle to show Mikes mother

- camera back and forth on door and wills face

- a pan sweep camera shot to reveal Hopper  

- mise en scene shows she is sensible character who cares for her education

Sound

- Will riding bike home, lamp makes noise and sudden sound to create jump scare 

Tuesday 22nd November 2022

Media Theory: Dirt

LOs:

To reflect on areas to improve.

To improve application of media theory.

To improve critical exploration of a text using theoretical framework.

Exam Question:

Representations can vary within long form television dramas.' Discuss how and why audiences might respond to and interpret these representations differently.

The representations vary.

- Levi Strauss- binary oppositions, good/bad, black/white.

- Gauntlet- identity varies in the media so audiences have lots of identities to choose to identify with.

- Butler- performance of gender roles.

What i need to explore

- Do the representations contrast or are they all the same?

- How the theory applies more

Structure an Exam Question

1. Address the question

2. Make a clear point using examples from the text. Media language.

3. Explore the media theoretical framework:, representations, industries, audiences. 

4. Back up using theories that support your point.

5. Repeat for a  further point.

Stranger Things

Family Roles:

Mise en scene- safe area, suburban area, American dream house. Vs Will in the woods in a shack, trailer style.

Gender Roles:

Mise en scene- Mike- light warm setting. Vs Will- dark cold atmosphere

Dialogue- sound- reinforces the difference in gender roles and authority- calm and firm vs hysterical and lack of authority. 

Police Roles:

Camera shots and editing- Close upon empty drink cans, ash trays, take away items, met and unorganised. Reveal the hidden elements of the police chief, incapable. Long shots of him in uniform coordinating the search for Will- authoritative and caring.

Teenage Roles:

Nancy- studying hard, focused on success, secondary interest of Steve. Vs the boys interested in their friendships and adventure/having fun. 

The representations are shown in a wide variety throughout Stranger Things through contrasting roles and different forms of structure. Different representations are shown through the family life of the Byers and Wheeler family, this is seen by the mise en scene in the scene when we are giving a wide shot of the Wheelers family house which is shown to be a stereotypical suburben house in the 1980s, seeing the house gives off a sense of security as it appears safe and welcoming and all together an American dream house. The Wheeler household as a whole represents the stereotypical 1980s household with Mike's mum being shown to us  as a common house wife who is meant to take care of the family, while the dad is there to provide money ad leaves the household chores to the mum, here we can apply this to Butler as we are how the different gender roles are presented.

-5 is missing

-i need to add on other representation of Byers family