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Key Theory / Theorist Explanation
Concept
All institutions are constrained by their
need to attract an audience. They are
INDUSTRIAL CONSTRAINTS involved in a cycle of production that feeds
itself
USP - UNIQUE SELLING - a USP is a hook, or something different
PROPOSITION that the text offers compared to other texts.
- Institutions use the concept of brand
identity as a stamp of approval and quality
BRAND IDENTITY on their products to attract an audience
and promote loyalty and trust to their
product.
- this is where an Institution buys a set of
companies from a different area of the
ution Instit
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Key Theory / Theorist Explanation
Concept
a set genre with continuing use of the
Single Genre same conventions (western)
a text that focuses on a particular set of
Sub Genre conventions within a specific genre (e.g.
gangster is a sub-genre of crime films)
mixture of two or more genre conventions
Hybridity (Minority Report (Spielberg, 2002) mixes
sci-fi with murder mystery)
an inventive way of mixing genres.
Unrelated genres are mixed together.
(Moulin Rouge mixes tragedy with
Postmodernism
nre Ge
Bollywood and Hollywood musicals and is
set in 1900, but uses pop songs from 1970-
90s)
a text deliberately borrows a sequence
from an existing media text. (e.g. The
Intertextuality Simpsons consistently borrows sequences
from other media texts)
a text borrows heavily from a certain genre.
Pastiche (Kill Bill uses Martial Arts genre within a
Gangster revenge storyline)
a text makes fun of certain genre
Parody/Spoof conventions (e.g. Scary Movie makes fun
of horror films)
genres come and go in cycles depending
on their success or failure. Eventually
Genre Cycle of Production genres lose their appeal and are then
replaced by new genres until they lose their
appeal and so the cycle goes on.
the knowing exposure of generic codes
and conventions. This is where a film will
make reference to the codes and
Reflexivity conventions of its own genre within the
narrative. (e.g. Scream makes reference
to the horror conventions in the opening
sequence)
3
Key Theory / Theorist Explanation
Concept
Media texts need stereotypes for
Tessa Perkins economy, a quick and easy way of
recognition for Audiences
Stereotypes help audiences make sense
Richard Dyer of the world
Stereotypes form fixed pictures in our
Walter Lipmann heads
ation esent Repr
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Tessa Perkins Nine Qualifications to what seems like common sense
about stereotypes:
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Tessa Perkins Nine Common sense about Stereotypes
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Tessa Perkins Nine Qualifications to what seems like common sense
about stereotypes:
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Tessa Perkins Nine Common sense about Stereotypes
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10
Key Theory / Theorist Explanation
Concept
the importance of money and
status in society and that your
CAPITALIST reputation is governed by how
much money you earn or have
promotion of mixed sex
relationships (male + female)
ies og ol Ide
11
Key Theory / Theorist Explanation
Concept
- 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
Audience more safety conscious middle aged
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
Audience Consumption secondary = we are aware of the text but
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
12
Key Theory / Theorist Explanation
Concep
t
This theory suggests that audiences only take
the meanings from the media that the Institution
Passive Audiences wants them to and do not actively seek out what
they would like to consume. They are passive to
the messages inherent in the media.
- This a theory that suggests that the media
inject values and ideas into the audience via
Hypodermic Needle Theory their texts and that people will believe those
messages, values and ideas over a long period
of time.
This theory suggests that the glamourisation of
the world the media provides allows the
Consump Audience
satisfied.
13
Key Theory / Theorist Explanation
Concept
The theory suggest that the media
fulfills the audiences wants and
desires and presents them with a
Dyer s Entertainment & generic world that is far superior and
Utopia Theory more exciting than their 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 that is worse and more
Dyer s Entertainment &
depressing than their own which will
Utopia Theory Inverted
give audiences a more positive
outlook on their own world and make
them feel better.
This is where films have less effect
Audience over spectators over time and
Consumpti repeated viewings. This is linked to
on the Effects Debates where
Theories 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
The Law of Diminishing that the repeating of similar films will
Returns mean cheapening the brand image
of the films, but the revenue will
diminish over time, but it will be
cheaper to make
14
Key Theory / Theorist Explanation
Concept
narrative is not seen as a linear structure
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
ve ti ra ar N
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
Roland Barthes understood (e.g. a fist 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
This theory was art of a movement from
the 1950s onwards that said that
Structuralism everything has a structure within art,
linguistics and literature (e.g. narrative
theories by Propp and Todorov)
This theory was a rejection of Structuralism
and said that art, linguistics and literature
doesnt have structure (e.g. Roland Barthes
narrative codes) and that signs and
Post-Structuralism symbols are interchangeable and can be
recombined with other signs and symbols
to create new meanings.Post-Structuralism
is quite similar to Post-Modernism.
15
Wider Contexts
Wider Theory / Theorist Explanation
Context
the application of ones 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
Contextual
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Wider Theory / Theorist Explanation
Context
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
ie or e h T u xt e nt o C c iti ol P
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Wider Theory / Theorist Explanation
Context
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.
Context Sociolog
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Wider Theory / Theorist Explanation
Context
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
Feminism nature sought to put women into more
powerful roles than men and aimed to
eor Th nte Co ica log cio So
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