Introduction to Media Theory

Tuesday 13th September 2022

Stranger Things

Media Language- How the media communicate meanings through forms, codes and conventions.

Media Representations- How something or someone is represented through media, which may or may not be different to how they are in reality.

Media Industries- The different industries within media for example journalism, broadcasting or news.

Media Audiences- The specific audience that a piece of media is targeted towards.

Postmodernism & Baudrillard

Hyperreality- Representations created in the media are now more powerful than reality.

Hyperreal- Representations don't represent reality, instead represent representation.

Simulacra- Artificial copies of reality

Postmodernism needs: 

Irony

parody of Homage

Bricolage

Intertextual references

Fragmented narrative

Self-reflexivity

common themes

loss of reality

lack of Verisimilitude 

Stranger Things Notes:

Hyperreality- The young kids shown to be swearing and saying much more sexual things than most children of that age wouldn't normally.

Intertextual references- Dungeons & Dragons, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit

Irony- Will getting caught by the Demogorgon in the game then does in real life too.

Includes lots of music from the 80s in the background.

Simulacra- Differences between Will and Mike and the fact Will's bike realistically wouldn't be as good as Mikes because of the social status. Also, the typical American school is created, like lockers and classrooms.

Representation

Family life:

Examples- The Wheelers and The Byers. Joyce Byers is a single Mother so it is only her, Will and Jonathan which is different to the Wheelers who seem to have a stable household. 

Ideologies- Wheelers have the typical American life whereas the Byers are barely managing and struggling much more. Could link into the domestic situation of being a single Mother and shows us that the Wheelers are the more superior.

Female Roles:

Examples- Joyce Byers and Nancy Wheeler. Joyce is portrayed as a Mum who clearly cares very deeply for her son because she is a panicked character who is now beginning to revolve her life around finding her son. Nancy is a teenage girl, smart yet still involved with Steve.

Ideologies- Nancy, even though she is involved with Steve, doesn't just let him do whatever he wants with her, she is a stronger character who stands up for her decency which shows feminism. 

Music as protest hip hop and beyond

Tuesday 20th September 2022

Lo-To investigate the principles behind theories, to discuss various theories, to critically apply theory to texts

Representation is how you want to be known and how you present yourself to people. It is what you are known for.

These people are represented as a group of scary looking people that are very modern and have stern expressions. They look like they are all part of a gang. Chains represent wealth which is over the top wealth.

The thing that tells me this is because of how they are dressed, in dark and modern clothes that looks the same, and the looks on their faces are not exactly what you would recognise as friendly. The background is of a poor socio-economic suburb which contradicts the wealth they are trying to present with their chains. They could also be trying to identify with people that are of lower class and creating a desired audience of people who would enjoy their music.

Sidran said that for slaves, the only way to express problems and emotions was through music.

Sam Cooke- A Change is gonna come

What does it ask for?

It asks for equality and life to be fair between everyone no matter their race, gender or anything else. Sam Cooke wants us to be aware of the things he has had to go through

What is the message?

That through all of this struggle, the fight will eventually be worth it and that he does have hope that things will get better. The song is a protest song that is fighting for equality through this song.

Rose T-1994 Black Noise

Even though rap music is criticising injustice for black men, it maintains sexist attitudes towards black women and homophobia.

NWA-Express Yourself

Upbeat and non-confrontational

Social power=represented as white, male

Sidran applies through injustice with slavery, death row, prison, police brutality

Rose applies as females were used as objects of desire and their status was not high as they hid behind the females showing a lack of care

Idioteque by Radiohead

Who's in a bunker? Who's in a bunker?

Women and children first

And the children first, and the children

I'll laugh until my head comes off

I'll swallow 'til I burst

Until I burst, until I

Who's in a bunker? Who's in a bunker?

I have seen too much

I haven't seen enough, you haven't seen it

I'll laugh until my head comes off

Women and children first

And children first, and children

Here I'm alive

Everything all of the time

Here I'm alive

Everything all of the time

Ice Age coming, Ice Age coming

Let me hear both sides

Let me hear both sides, let me hear both

Ice Age coming, Ice Age coming

Throw it in the fire

Throw it in the fire, throw it on the

We're not scaremongering

This is really happening, happening

We're not scaremongering

This is really happening, happening

Mobiles skwerking, mobiles chirping

Take the money and run

Take our money and run, take our money

Here I'm alive

Everything all of the time

Here I'm alive

Everything all of the time

Here I'm alive

Everything all of the time

Here I'm alive

Everything all of the time

This song mentions the global issues that are being faced currently and protests about the fact that even though we are aware that this is going on, we don't face it in a sensible way, not everybody is listened to which tells us that the social status of a person is the main issue. It seems like the people that are in charge don't do enough to prevent these things or actually listen to voices of their people. This is shown through the lines: "let me hear both sides, let me hear both sides, let me hear both sides" which shows the rush and uncertainty as the repetition is emphasising how the world is unfair and one sided.

 Tuesday 27th September 2022

Media Theory: Gender and Bond

Lo-to investigate the principles behind gender theories, to discuss various theories, to critically apply theory to texts

What does the term audience mean?

The term audience means the type of person and age range of people that a specific thing is targeted towards.

Who are the audience?

I think that the audience for this picture would be young men or women either with an interest in the celebrity or what her style may be, so people who enjoy fashion for example.

What are the audience told from this image?

The audience are told that this woman is a beautiful woman who is mostly used as an example of the beauty expectations at the time, and she is being objectified through wearing tight, showy clothing and makeup, even though she is just coming out of the water, so this is not necessarily an accurate representation.

Van Zoonen

Van Zoonen says that women are objectified throughout the media. She also emphasises the importance of gender being seen as a construction, that women, depending on the era and culture, will be treated very differently.

How are the women represented in the text?

In the text, women are represented as objects of men's desire and pleasure. They are viewed as below men and submit to what they want. This is shown in the shower scene, where the woman is entirely naked and seen in a contrasting way from Bond who is fully clothed but happily watches her, which shows that he doesn't even value the privacy of the woman. This would be common within these times as beautiful women were objects that men would use for fun. This suggests to the audience that the women within the film are weaker than the man, especially when Bond grabs her and throws her down like she is nothing in comparison to him. We later find out further that she is working for a man so that emphasises even more that she is just following the orders of a man. Van Zoonen can be applied here since she is used as a tool, both wearing very little (only a towel in the end) and following a man's orders.  In addition, later on during the film, even though this woman was the most powerful woman character that we have come across, she eventually gives in to sexual desires and tries to seduce Bond which is an example of Smelik's theory because she has now lost any form of dominance she once had over Bond. Since at the beginning she posed as a threat, she has gradually lost her power and the strong personality she once had at the beginning because of this theory that takes away the power to a man. She also had very few female traits when we were introduced to her so Kaplan has been applied too from the start. For example, she speaks in a harsh tone, without a hint of friendliness which is linked in with this theory of women not having their 'normal' womanly traits such as kindness and attractiveness. She is portrayed as a stronger woman. In terms of the time in which this was filmed, in the 1970's, it was very common for women to have no superiority or power, for example even within their school curriculum, girls were not given as many academic subjects to study as boys were given.

Tuesday 4th October 2022

Media Theory: Gender and Bond Beyond

Lo-To investigate the principles behind gender theories, to discuss various theories, to critically apply theory texts

mise en scene= the arrangement of the scenery, props, etc. on the stage of a theatrical production or on the set of a film.

Butler

Butler states that gender is created based on typical gender roles. It has become a natural ritual to perform with these gender roles. It causes a "gender trouble" when performing these roles for people who do not fit in with the heterosexual norm.

bell hooks

bell hooks is an American feminist, who changed her name to have no capitals. She spoke about that for women there are sexist representations. She said it was not just sexism that created inequality, but also, race, class, sexuality etc. She claims that most media representations reflect this ideology and that it creates a "white supremacist capitalist patriarchy".

Spectre

Scene 1

-Female had no purpose (except for sexual purpose)

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

-The woman walked behind Bond

-Costume is fitted and stereotypical, her dress is revealing VS suit which is formal and respectable

-Close up in the lift of her mouth which has key connotations of sexual implications

Scene 2

-Bennet- tames widow, revealing secrets with his sexual advances, seducing her

-Over the shoulder shot, revealing her sexual position as naked, she is a sexual object

-Mise En scene- 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 build-up of violence and sexual dominance

Scene 3

-A doctor who is the daughter of an assassin

-Wearing fewer revealing clothes. Status?

Throughout Spectre, we can see that women are portrayed as objects of sexual desire. We can see this from the character of the Widow who is shown through mise En scene to be a woman of high status and living in an opulent setting which identifies to us her class. However, in one of the scenes, Bond manages to tame her, which allows him to further sexually advance on her and reveals her secrets which was his goal all along. She is shown in an over the shoulder shot with her bare back and shoulders showing, implying that she is naked and in a position of being a sexual object. During this scene, we as an audience can see that she is an example of Van Zoonen's theory as she is a vulnerable woman and is all too happy to open up to this man even after just losing her husband. This emphasises her weakness as a character and a woman in general. Also, the fact that she is a heterosexual female character with vulnerability of the dominant men is an example of Butler, and her costume, makeup and position show us how important it is that she has a man to save her at this point. Additionally, Bennet has been applied as the woman has been sexually tamed, she is unsure of her position now and has been seduced by Bond. In the 1970's, within the media industry, they are reinforcing the sexist views of a woman and objectifying her. This can also be said for the famous actress Farrah Fawcett. She was so popular within the 1970's that to this day we hear of the phrase "Farrah Fawcett hair" which shows us yet again another example of how these women were only admired for their beauty. She was somewhat of a muse to the men of that decade and many men would have described her as the ideal woman which goes to show that throughout the acting industry, women have been objectified not only in the James Bond films but elsewhere too, even real life. In 2014, gender stereotypes were getting a lot better, and people began to accept other people's identities and view women in a much less misogynistic way. However, through this film this is not a great representation.

Tuesday 11th October 2022

Media Theory: RuPaul and Identity

Lo- To investigate the principles behind theories, to discuss theories, to critically apply theories to texts

Identity

An identity is how someone defines themselves, how they would like people to see them and how they separate themselves from someone else.

Name, age, sexuality, appearance, race, religion, lifestyle, personality, accent

Gauntlett

Gauntlett says that media audiences use characters portrayed through the media to understand their own identities. Because of this, he says that things such as sexuality and gender are seen as less fixed than in the past.      

RuPaul

Identity: Gender-breaking stereotypes, sexuality-clothing and makeup reinforcing sexual stereotypes, appearance-important, personality-bright bubbly, lifestyle-over the top, interests-drag, religion-Christianity, location/roots-proud

Gender Roles (male/female): Women wearing very little, accentuated thighs and breasts, making their women identities glamorous, breaking stereotypes-dressing as women

Societal Values: Individuality- They seem to care a lot about how each of them has their unique personalities. Links to Van Zoonen= women sexualised.

Culture of America: religion being mostly Christian. Assume that the religion doesn't approve of his choices. America creates an idea that all of America is accepting of these things when in reality they really are not.

Heterosexual Norms: Not heterosexual norms however huge number of stereotypes reinforced within the show. The ideology is created that it is as normal or even more normal to be homosexual as well as or rather than heterosexual.

Butler and Gauntlett both apply within RuPaul because the target audience would most likely be other gay men or LGBTQ+ people, who may get inspired to become a drag queen themselves as a part of their identity. They are using representations from the media to add to their identities. This is Gauntlett's theory. Butler is applied 

Butler states that gender is created based on typical gender roles. An example of this is in Tangled. Like many of the Disney movies, it is very stereotypical for the princess to be rescued by a prince which links in with Butler's theory. Over the decades that these princess movies have been created, there always seems to be a more powerful man who is able to do things that the woman cannot do. In Tangled we are introduced to Rapunzel who does the "typical" things that a woman is expected to do such as singing, art, and simply just appearing beautiful. She is a young woman that only manages to achieve her goals with the help of a man which puts the message across that women are meant to have a male love interest who can protect them. The relationship between Flynn and Rapunzel is one of the bases to the film, much like the other Disney princess films. There have never been any examples of homosexual relationships in Disney which makes children grow up and think that this is how it is supposed to be, and that women are inferior to men. Because the majority of children grow up watching Disney films, they are exposed to these concepts of superiority of men, just as Butler's theory states, young girls are taught that they are supposed to be heterosexual and have inaccurate beauty standards.

Tuesday 18th October 2022

Media Theory: Race

Lo- TO investigate the principles behind theories of representation of Race, to discuss various theories, to critically apply theory
to texts

Levi Strauss

Levi Strauss says that in order to have good, you must have bad, to have light you need darkness. He was the creator of binary opposites, meaning one thing cannot be made without meaning making. He says that the world we live in is based around these binary opposites and they rely on one another.

Levi Strauss

-Cops are good, men in car are bad

-Cool car, other plain cars

-Black, white

-Rich, poor

-Order and law, reckless and unorganised

Hall

-Entertainer/clown= dialogue is chatty and light-hearted 

-Depend on each other. Loyalty.

-Slapstick comedy

Levi Strauss

-White vs black museum

-Colonialism, negative and uneducated vs covers the colonial rule, acknowledging the downfall

-Gangster vs King= tradition and culture, proud of it and roots, primitive nobility (positive element of Hall. Native)

-Villain killer vs needs for money

How does Black Panther depict different racial representations?

Throughout Black Panther, there are a few different examples of different racial representations. An example of this is the gangster vs king idea. It is full of tradition and culture, and they are proud of their native roots which is depicted throughout the majority of the movie. The use of Hall's theory is present which shows the positive element of the Native characters and their primitive nobility. Another time where racial representations are shown is during the museum scene. There are different interpretations of white and black characters since the woman who is in charge of the displays appears to be extremely smart and well-mannered on first impressions however when it came to showing the artifacts, she surprisingly was rather unknowledgeable. On the contrary the black native man was well aware of things she was not, showing that people who you expect to know things aren't always how they seem and people who you judge may not be as clueless as you originally think. At first sight, the audience would believe that the women are going to know what she is talking about however this is a perfect example of Levi Strauss' theory which is shown within the examples of these white Vs black characters in the museum. 

Tuesday 1st November 2022

Media Theory: Masculinity

LO- To investigate how representation 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 of fake vs real. Because it is so fake, it creates insecurities) are meant to be all muscular and strong- holding on by one hand

-Modern real man is different to the traditional man since they are all about self-awareness and self-confidence and care

-Tanned and defined

-Sporty-climbing without a rope=bravery or possibly stupidity, physically fit

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

-Product being sold is protein drink, building muscles

1960's men

-Capable

-Strong

-Powerful

-In control

-Violent

-Dominant

-Money earners

1990's men

-Desperate for control

-Losing control

-Lacking superiority

-Sexualised

-Worker (manual labour)

2020's men

-Sexualisation of men

-Still capable

-Strong and brave

The crisis of masculinity

In the 1960's men could not live up to the standards that the media created and expected them to fit into. It was easy for men to maintain the presence of sexual bravado. (Tolson)

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

Barthes - Semiology

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

2) Denotations and connotations are organised into 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 signification of romance and love.

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

Toxic masculinity

-Sexual harassment being seen on TV

-Speaking over woman in the workplace= inferiority

-Making excuses

-Bullying

Realistic masculinity 

-Emotional intelligence

-Doing the right thing like breaking up fights and man stopping another man from hitting on a woman

-Teaching and bringing up children in a positive way

-Having good morals

-Breaking out a new stereotype and creating a new masculinity

-Every day average looking men, different sizes, races and looks

Over time masculinity has changed in various different ways. In the 1960's, men were portrayed as powerful, dominant and capable. They were the money earners who used women as their objects and controlled them, either violently or sexually. Their wives were their objects of sexual desire and would look upon women and judge them based on their bodies and beauty. In the milk advert, we can see an idea of a 'real man' who is entirely tanned and muscular and clearly very sporty and fit which was the expected way a man should have been within these times. In the 1990's, we can see that men begin to be shown in a completely different way. They are lacking much more control however are desperate for more control than they have at this point. They have become more sexualised too so during this decade, women were not the only ones who wore very little clothing and who were easily dominated. For example, in Basic Instinct, a woman is seen to dominate a man throughout the whole thin10.g which eventually leads to rape, showing that it isn't always the men that make mistakes sexually.

Tuesday 8th November 2022 

Media Theory: Assessment

LO- 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 dramas are produced and consumed

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

-make judgement and reach conclusions about the varied representations in long form TV drama

Representations:

Stereotypical, nerdy friendship group

Mother cooking 

Teenage sister, Nancy, looks down on her brother's friends

Suburban house, bike represents 1980s and hair cuts

Close friendships, safety on the streets at night and a close-knit family 

Will is alone in his house and it is dark and seems more unsafe in lower economic society home

Hopper is smoking constantly

Transformation of 

Typical school bullying of the nerdy kids

Nancy=studious girl in love

Hopper makes inappropriate jokes, eating a lot, like a typical middle-aged man.

Representation of police being inept and incapable and not prioritising what is truly important

Social context of not accepting identities and sexualities when Joyce says he was called a homophobic slur.

Powerful man in a suit, walking ahead of everyone else and with a confident stride, camera focuses on him at eye level

Camera angles, mise En scene and shot types:

Different shots, between the kids emphasising excitement

Low angle shot to show Mike's mother

Sound, very sudden to make jump scare and it builds up to create tension as he is in the dark

Use of sound effects as Will looks towards the door, the music becomes menacing and scary and the sound effect of the Demogorgon noise creating a feeling of horror

Camera switching between Will's face and the light bulb only to go back to where he was standing and he is gone, the music has a sudden stop at the realisation of the boy having disappeared

A pan sweep camera shot to reveal Hopper bedraggled and in bed on the sofa, a contrast between expectation and reality.

Shot reverse= between Jonathan and Joyce showing his responsibilities of looking after his younger brother alongside his mother.

Cut to middle class home to contrast the states of each family.

Mise En scene shows she is a sensible character, carrying her books around, caring about getting to class on time 

15th November 2022

Media Theories: Ideologies

LO-To investigate how representation can produce ideologies, to discuss various theories, to critically apply theories to texts

What is consent?

Consent is giving permission for something to happen.

What is dissent?

Dissent is the holding of expression of opinions that oppose that are commonly held.

Todorov - Narratology

Todorov's theory states that it is possible to identify key elements to a narrative such as:

-Equilibrium

-Disruption to the equilibrium

-Recognition of disruption

-Resolution

-A new equilibrium is established at the end

What's most important is what the narrative suggests about ideologies by identifying the equilibrium.

Hall - Reception theory

Media producers encode with a preferred meaning. Each audience can choose in one of three ways:

1) Dominant reading - accepts the preferred meaning and ideological meaning.

2) Negotiated reading - some of the decoded message is accepted but the audience disagrees with parts of it so changes it to fit their experience and values.

3) Oppositional reading - both the preferred meaning and any ideological assumptions encoded in the product are rejected.