Media Theory

 Introduction to Media

13/9/22      Media Theory: stranger Things

Media language: all the aspects that go into a media product

Media representations: how different ideas/people are represented in media e.g race

Media industries: different forms of media e.g music,games,TV and owner ship of media

companies

Post-modernism + Baudrillard

Hyperreallity: the thought that media representations are more impactful than real life

hyperreal: reality isn't shown through representations,  representations represent representations

simulacra:fake copies of reality

Modernism- The thought that we made something or went through a period of making something

postmodernism- the thought that we did make something and are looking back on it

20/9/21   Music as protest hip hop and beyond 

A representation is how an idea or thought is presented

SIDRAN 1975; black slaves could only express themselves through music

as speaking wasn't allowed. each man made his own sound.

thus the rhythm of blues was born, musicians made songs based on 

their problems in society

ROSE:RAP does well at criticising the injustices of black people but maintains

the inequality of men and women

NWA- Express yourself

Upbeat-non confrontational

social power is represented as a richer whiteman

Sidran's theory applies as problems like mass icarsaration and police brutality are shown

Rose applies as no women are shown in a powerful rule

Stormzy Superheros 

Stormzy uses his music to talk to urban young black brits

and tell them to be better and highlights problems they face.

Specifically the song superheroes demonises street violence and tells

young people that they are better than that,"young black kings,and no more 

fighting on the streets" the way he calls them kings talks them up and makes 

feel better about themselves.He doesn't just speak to young boys he also tries to 

inspire girls as well " my young black queens,you're the only ones that got us"

this means that Rose's theory doesen't apply as he doesn't objectify women in his

song he uplifts them.

27/9/10  Gender and Bond

L/O: to investigate the principles behind gender theories

to discuss various theories 

An audience is anyone who views a piece of media

The audience of this picture specifically is mainly heterosexual men

and you could argue homosexual women but looking at the age of the photo 

homosexuality wasn't as accepted so women probably weren't targeted.

people who are fans of her might also be interested.

Van Zoonen

He said that women are very often objectified in representations.

the importances of gender are shown in a society and time by how they are

preformed in media, their for gender roles can change depedning on context. 

Laura mulvey - 1975 1989

Kaplan

When a women takes on the leading role "the masculine role" 

she loses her stereotypical feminine traits and becomes cold and

masculine 

Smelik-

Women in the text are represented as being an object for men.

This is seen in the clothes worn by mrs anders through out the film

when she is first introduced she is fully clothed in a trench coat and later in the film

she is wearing a more revealing dress,This supports the theories of both kaplan- Women that take on the leading role lose their female traits, and smelik- women who pose a threat to the man later receive punishment or salvation in the form of getting with a man.She is introduced as a threat to bond holding info he needs, in this she lacks any stereotypical female traits and is shown as cold, she is also wearing a long trench coat and is fully covered. Then later on in the film she gains  "salvation" by showing empathy to bond and making advances on him, in this scene she is wearing a revealing dress to show that she no longer has power over bond and she has regained her feminine traits. This reflects the context of the time as women did not have equality and were seen as weaker than men and any who weren't were portrayed as being non an enemy. 

1. opening

2.example

4.theroy

5,conext

4/10/22  Gender and bond beyond  

Bennett 1982

women in bond are emotionally/sexually damaged, this causes them

to make questionable choices and advances on bond, bond always tames them

Butler

our performance of gender roles creates Gender

we learn these gender roles through their repetition and

they become gender norms

this causes trouble as some do not fit into these "norms"

and feel alienated

bell hooks:

Feminism fights against the patriarchy and sexist representations

she argued that that media representations reflect the repressive ideologies

against gender,race,sexuality and class of those who control the media

i.e straight rich old men

Her main point is that societal disadvantages add up for example. Women are oppressed but a working class woman is more oppressed than a higher class women.  

Bond specter

beginning 

has a female for no purpose but sex

her position on the bed is suggestive

wore a fitted dress parallel to bonds suit

The widow

Bond tames the widow and uses her to get information by using his

sexual advances.-bennetts theory

she is shown as being and living in opulence

she plays the heterosexual female role, doesn't try to fight back against her

killers and then bond saves her - butler's theory of gender performance      

HOMEWORK

In the extract women are shown as being objects for men . we can see this in the beginning

as bond in accompanied by a woman for the whole sequence and it ends with a high angle shot of

the women laying on the bed in a suggestive way only for bond to leave. The performance of gender 

roles here show that the woman are secondary to men as she isn't a character she acts more like a prop to make bond better to other men. This perfectly shows of butler's theory that gender performance creates our idea of gender as we get the idea she isnt important and thus women do not play important roles so women aren't important in society. This shows the context of the production as people behind the film are most likely the stereotypical straight white male who don’t wish to see anyone else praised in media.

In the extract men are show to have dominance over women both physically and sexually.We can see this in the scene where bond interrogates the widow as when she doesn’t cooperate he easily pushed her against the wall and seduces her, this is all captured in a low angle shot to emphasise her weakness compared to bond. This demonstrates the theory of Van zoonen that women are often objectified in representations as she doesn't fight back and lets bond have his way. 

11/10/22  Rupaul and Identity 

L/O:to investigate the principles behind theories and to apply theories to texts 

identity is what separates a person from someone else, it's all the things about someone

that makes them.

Identity is made up by many things, someones personality,race,gender, and others

GUNTLETT

representations in the media give a wide amount of different and contrasting messages about

identity which audiences can take on and think through their own identities, for example someone might see a positive representation of race and not be racist.

Butler again:

Gender ideals are created by how they are preformed in media

We learn these ideals by the repetition of gender roles in media

This repetition of these (normally heterosexual) cause gender trouble for those who do not fit

in these norms.

RuPaul

Identity:

Gender roles

Male: The Gender roles of men in the show heavily break societal norms as it shows people who may be biologically men identifying and dressing as women which is widely different from the ideas of our heterosexual society which men are men and must act and dress like men. so it shows that men don't have to conform

Female:

Societal values:

Culture of america: RuPauls drag race creates superficial ideology that america is a widely accepting county when it comes to ideas like sexuality. This can be seen by how the show talks about topics like religion and the south of america as Angeria holds her place of origin and religious up bringing in high regards despite the fact they probably weren't to fond of her choices in life but we don't hear this which creates this superficial idea that not conforming to the heterosexual norms of society is easy when in reality it far from it.

Heterosexual normas:

We can apply gauntlet’s theory to RuPauls drag race the show does give our a wide range of messages that people can take on, for example the show presents being a drag queen as a real hobby/profession that is worth pursuing which someone who may have an interest in drag might watch this show and be compelled to explore their interest

Butler’s theory can also apply as you can argue that the role of women in the show is portrayed as being for show for example dancing, singing and wearing nice clothes, which is all the things the drag queens do while dressed up. This repeats the heteronormative role of women thus the idea is instilled further into those who watch it

18/10/22  Race  

L/O: to investigate the principles of race representation theories and discus them

Levi Strauss

Meaning is made by binary oppositions for example there is no

day without night. Can apply this to media texts by saying that if

one character is good and one is bad the bad character is going to 

present whatever they represent in a negative light

Bad boys

Levis strauss

Black vs white/rich vs poor- referenced in dialogue

order vs reckless- shown in the police chase, the main characters painted in

a bad light

Black panther 

White vs black, the black man brings up the wrong doings of white colonialism making

the white people seem like the worse people

Gangster vs king, the gangster is shown to have no respect for his roots by selling out the location of the vibranium and is made to look like the loser compared to the king who is obviously proud his culture and the wrong doing of the gangster validates the culture more. The king also shows the 'native' representation from hall, having that primitive nobility

Masculinity   1/11/22  

In the ad it says "milk for real man" which implies that

big muscular men are real men and anyone who isn't is 

a fake man. and that make men exist

masculinity is defined as being muscular and defined and doing

something 'manly' for example climbing without safety to make him

look brave which adds that masculinity also includes being fearless all the time

1960s men

a man is strong and capable, has control over things

they are in control physically and are dominant over women

The masculinity crisis is not new, in the 1960s men couldn't live up to

the bravado ( being bold to impress or intimidate) that the media had made for them

gay rights and feminism lead to the superiority of men as an ideology being attacked

and masculinity remains unclear.  

Barthes - ideas

Denotations can signify connotations, associated meaning for the same sign

Denotations and connotations are organised into myths

Myths create and ideological meaning and help ideology feel

natural, real and acceptable 

summary

what is presented (denotations) and what you can infer from that (connotations) create ideologies 

based on whats present

a rose, a rose is red, connotations of rose is love their for ideology created is roses mean love

1960s men               1990s men

Controlling              desparte for control

dominant                 lacking superiority

violent                     sexualised

breadwinner            worker/manual labor

strong                       not as intelligent

powerful

2020 men

Tradition/toxic

masculinity

Bullies

creepy towards women

can't be emotional

violent

New masculinity

Morally brave

looks average,not super muscular

does the right thing

can be emotional

How has representations of masculinity changed?

masculinity has changed wildly from what it was in the sixty's where heteronormative men dominate in everywhere.

In the sixtys masculinity was to superior because you were a man and abuse it for example ads told you to beet your wife;drink alcohol:you were strong. Then in the ninetys when feminism and gay rights where rampant masculinity entered an identity crisis and 

aspects 

 

15/11/22  Ideologies    

The smiling army man, the 2 soldiers seemingly working together and the soldiers in the background  represents being in the army as a positive experience with strong camaraderie.

Dissent: expressing and opinion that isn't what everyone else thinks.

Todorov-Narratology   

This theory explains that key elements to a narrative can be identified

Equilibrium

disruption of equilibrium

recognition of the disruption

resolution 

new equilibrium

The equilibrium is the films established normal, we can suggest what the narrative says about different ideologies from the equilibrium.

In apocalypse now the equilibrium tells us that this soldier has fought in the Vietnam war and it had broken his mind to the point that a ceiling fan causes him PTSD of the helicopters, this also shows that that soldiers got no support the affects of war.

the dissent is of the Vietnam war as any imagery of the war is negative e,g burning trees and the PTSd and alcoholism of the soldier 

Hall, Reception theory

media Producers embed meaning into their product

Each audience can gain this meaning 3 ways

Dominant reading- accepts the preferred meaning of text

Negotiated meaning- agrees with some of the meaning

oppositional reading- disagrees 

bell hooks:

If you are apart of multiple oppressed groups you are more oppressed

for example a poor woman is more oppressed then a woman.

bell hooks argues that the media is also like this in its  representations.

The ideologies in Dahmer are that the police are discriminatory on multiple

levels.In the text we can see that the building is in a lower socio-economic area as the corridor is obviously turned yellow from neglect and Glenda's room is well kept but small in space. Back in the 70s women were seen a being dramatic and not taken seriously and this reflected when she is ignored by the male officers. She is also discriminated for being black as when chief officers are talking it's revealed that she wasn't listened to due to her race. bell hooks theory that being of multiple oppressed social makes you more oppressed and the media reflects this as the police don't factor her opinion at all due to all of these things.This links with the context of when the series was set as the police were (aruagbly still are) highly discriminatory as they were all a reflection of the patriarchy, being white and male. 

22/11/22  Dirt: Exam question  

I need my judgement and context to have a higher level of explanation 

The representations do vary

levi Strauss -binary oppositions

gauntlett- identity varies in the media so audience have lots of identities to identify with  

Butler - performance of gender roles

Family life will vs mike/ middle class vs working class

Mise en scene- safe area, suburban area, American dream house, vs

Will in the woods in a shack

Gender roles- mikes mum (house wife) vs wills mum (working) 

Dialogue- sound- reinforces the differences  in gender roles and authority- 

calm and firm vs hysterical and lack of authority.

Police roles- hidden vices- drunk and incapable vs later when he takes action in the

search.

Camera shots and editing- close up on empty drink cans, ash trays, take away items, mess and

unorganised. reveal the hidden elements of the police chief, incapable. long shots of him ater in uniform coordinating will's search party- authoritative 

There are differing representations of family life in stranger things. When we see mike's house it is shown to be a dream home the mise en scene shows it's spacious, has area to play and is in a safe neighbourhood. This creates an representation of what american family life is like, safe, fun and ideal. From this we can apply Baudrillard's theory of hyperreality, as this is not a true representation of american family life, it is a representation of the idea of the american dream. We can link this to the societal context of time expecting this to be the standard of family life, fun, safe and idealistic but this was not the case all of the time. Will's house is a shack in the woods and the mise en scene shows this as it's run down, the paint is old, the area looks unsafe, and utilities aren't up to date. This creates an opposing representation of family life in america being hard, broken and unsafe. By applying Levis Straus' theory binary oppositions this 

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6/11/22  HomeLand  

Main Narrative quest/conflict set up:

Sargent broady comes home everyone thinks he is a hero but carrie suspects he is

a turned terrorist.

Enigma Codes:

Brody's flashbacks reveal what happened in his captivity 

Why did Brody kill Tom

Why is lying about Abu-Nasir

What is the attack

Will Carrie succeed

 

Individual Character Narratives:

jess and mikes affair

Abu nazir as a topic

Carries mental health

Dana and Chris kids- rebellious narrative 

Jess and Brody's failing marriage

Brody- the hero returned/ potential terrorist a family man, stereotypical american ( white,straight,man)

Mike- best friend of mike, lover of jess. represents traditional american male values talks about football and beer

jess- wife of Brody, having affair with mike, Mum, housewife, attarctive, sexual object

Carrie- Protagonist, CIA agent, strong carrier however is disliked, very confrontational, Driven and foucesed but has no empathy or compassion, has mental health issues, potentially some sort of predator

Saul- Mentor to carrie, reliable, sensible, in control. only person who believes in carrie

David- Deputy director of the CIA, Doesn't like carrie, had a relationship with carrie, political in his moves.

10/1/23  Homeland:characters:carrie 

L/o: to explore the narrative and characterisation in set products

Carrie:

Represented as:

reckless

selfish

corrupt protector

Determined-pays to get into prison-close up of money paid to get into prison

Demanding-shouts over the phone at her boss- editing-

Powerful-resisting the guards advice

fearless-Dragged away by the guards but still clinging on for an answer

Manipulative-talking to the prisoner, barging information with his family- the

obsessive 

Post 9/11 fear:

The soliders setting up the nuses- mise en scene- sets up post 9/11  fear vai the over the shoulder 

shot of the soliders setting up the the nooses- this savage nature of the culture positions the east against the civilised nature of the west- this is further reinforced by the editing as it cuts from the run down bagdad to the the fancy party in Washington-

The representation of carrie and the middle east are that Carrie is determined.We can see this when she pays money to get access to the prison for 2 minutes. The close up shot on the money

The representations of Carrie in the text initially are that Carrie is powerful. This is seen when Carrie is shouting over the phone at her boss the dialogue in this scene shows this as Carrie tells her boss what he can can can't do when he tells her he can't do anything. The representations in this section establish that Carrie isn't a traditional representation of women as she holds power in the conversation demanding despite being of a lower rank to her boss.Here we can see that the texts supports what Van zoonen says about gender roles and that gender is how roles are preformed rathe than being a predetermined concept as Carrie in the conversation is assertive and dominant which are not traditional female traits. 

Carrie is also initially in the text represented as being fearless. This is seen when Carrie enters the prison, the use of mise-en-sene in scenes before show us this as a over the shoulder shot is used to show us nooses and gallows which tells us that people are hung and killed in this prison.The representations then establish that Carrie is a fearless operative who obiously knows what goes on in this prison but chooses to find a way in so she can protect her country, so she is not only represented as fearless but heroic also.This supports Van Zoonen's theory gender roles only exists as we preform them. 

 

 

17/1/23