MEDIA
THEORY Ultimate guide to revision
101
MEDIA REPRESENTATION
HALL Polysemic Representations
Power in Representations
HALL Polysemic Representations Key Ideas o Representation is not about whether the media reflects or distorts reality; as there isn’t just one true meaning. o Meaning is created by what is present, absent and different, and can therefore be contested. o Representations involve the audience in creating or resisting meaning. o Power and ideology can fix a preferred meaning.
HALL Polysemic Representations Terminology Ideology Preferred Meaning Reality Fixed Meaning Construction Mediation Stereotype Power
HALL Polysemic Representations Analysis
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Stereotypes and archetypes are used to attempt to fix meaning but the complex plot lines and character relationships encourages audiences to determine their own meaning.
HALL Polysemic Representations Applications Can be applied to any media product. Applies particularly to the way in which news headlines try to fix the meaning of a representation, both the copy and the photographs. Draws attention to the role of power in representations, reflecting: distribution of power in society, the power of media institutions and also the power of the audience to decode representations in different ways. Acknowledges both the encoding and decoding process of representations.
HALL Polysemic Representations Limitations Doesn’t explain anything specific about LFTVD or news as it is a general theory of representation. Ignores producer power to reinforce hegemony, giving audience power too much focus. Ignores the power of repetition of messages in the media and its affect on audience choice and meaning deconstructed.
GAUNTLETT Identity
Identity Construction
GAUNTLETT Identity
Key Ideas
o The media provides us with tools to construct and explore our identities. o Old media conveyed messages about ideal identities, through stereotypes and traditional perspectives but new and digital media offers a more diverse range of ideas. o Identities such as gender and sexuality are viewed as less fixed than in the past. o Audiences are active in decoding representations.
GAUNTLETT Identity Identity Ideology Digital Media Messages Construction Diversity
Terminology
GAUNTLETT Identity
Analysis
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The vast range of identities offered through House of Cards, albeit stereotyped in some cases, offers audience a range of points of identification. To a global audience, this provides a greater portrayal of American society and diversity.
GAUNTLETT Identity
Applications
Can be applied to any media product offering complex and or contradictory messages about identity. Applies to the sense of identity that a media product can offer its audience or fans; the collective identity of a liberal, progressive Guardian reader or a patriotic, Mail reader, celebrity savvy online tabloid reader, or cult fan of a LFTVD. Applies to the way different sections of media products offer diverse and sometimes contradictory media messages to audiences, offering a range of points of identification; sections of newspapers or news sites, or range of characters within LFTVD. LFTVDs often attempt to reach and engage a global audience by streamlining representations to create mass appeal but also portraying a wide range of local representations which increases the diversity of place and cultures.
GAUNTLETT Identity
Limitations
Modern audiences are not likely to gain a sense of identity through traditional platforms but through self-expression online and through consuming forms of popular entertainment. Assumes that audiences are powerful, active agents, and so underestimates the power of media conglomerates to shape popular culture, tastes, and identities. Not specific to LFTVD or News since they are not produced for audience to be involved.
VAN ZOONEN Patriarchy
Feminist Theory
VAN ZOONEN Patriarchy
Key Ideas
o Patriarchal culture leads to differences in gender representations; women as objects and male bodies as spectacles. o Gender is performative; ‘what we do’ rather than ‘what we are’. Gender is socially constructed through performance of our own ideas of gender. o Gender is therefore contextual and varies depending on the contexts of any given society. o The internet offers a diverse range of gender identity.
VAN ZOONEN Patriarchy Objectification Spectacle Femininity Masculinity Diversity Performance Social Construct Patriarchal
Terminology
VAN ZOONEN Patriarchy
Analysis
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The female body is objectified to reinforce patriarchal power. Zoe’s choice of low cut top and tight white dress acknowledges social expectations of women, constructed by the patriarchy.
VAN ZOONEN Patriarchy
Applications
Can be applied to any media product, especially representations of gender. The concept of patriarchy may be applied to the ownership and control of media, including recruitment, production process and representations. Particularly relevant to media products that focus on body image or differences in gender performance.
VAN ZOONEN Patriarchy
Limitations
Does not explain anything specific to LFTVD or News as it is a general feminist theory. By focussing on gender the theory ignores analysis of other forms of inequality in representations. Theory assumes a social conflict in regard to gender construction and therefore ignores social consensus on how to represent gender.
BUTLER Gender
Feminist Theory
BUTLER Gender
Key Ideas
o Gender is created in how we repeatedly perform our gender roles. o Gender is a social construction but sex is biological; identity is not fixed. o Reject heterosexual binary divides in gender. o Feminism concerned with masculinity and femininity excludes other forms of gender and sexuality creating gender trouble.
BUTLER Gender Queer Identity Feminism Social Construction Biological Essentialism Androgyny Binary Opposites Gender Trouble
Terminology
BUTLER Gender
Analysis
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Zoe’s identity appears fluid since she performs a variety of roles, arguably constructing gender trouble. She objectifies herself to gain power while also rejecting stereotypically feminine traits.
BUTLER Gender
Applications
Can be applied to any media product, especially representations of gender. Can be applied particularly to products where the performance of gender may be prominent. Draws attention to alternative identities and representations outside of a binary norm. Draws attention to the need to increase diversity in representations in mainstream media.
BUTLER Gender
Limitations
Does not explain anything specific to LFTVD or News as it is a complex queer theory. Ignores social consensus on gender identities. Ignores audience power to construct their own identity from alternative readings.
BELL HOOKS Intersectionality
Postcolonial Feminism
BELL HOOKS Intersectionality
Key Ideas
o Feminism is a movement to end white western capitalist patriarchy and systems of oppression; it is a commitment. o Intersectionality refers to the overlapping identities and representations; gender, race, class, sexuality, etc. o Black women should develop a political oppositional gaze, refusing to identify with characters that would result in oppression; white women, for example, who reflect the slave masters of the colonial past for black American women.
BELL HOOKS Intersectionality Intersections Identity Postcolonial Oppositional Gaze Oppression
Terminology
BELL HOOKS Intersectionality
Analysis
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The somewhat tokenistic representation of Linda Vasquez in a powerful role highlights her vulnerability as a woman of ethnic minority.
BELL HOOKS Intersectionality
Applications
Can be applied to any media product, especially representations of gender and or ethnicity. The concept of ‘intersectionality’ draws attention to misrepresentations and stereotypes based on intersections of identity and their inter-relationship in media representations. Draws attention to the way audiences may form identification or reject identification with representations. Draws attention to systems of power and oppression in society and within the media landscape.
BELL HOOKS Intersectionality
Limitations
Does not explain anything specific to LFTVD or News. In prioritising gender linked to other inequalities, the theory may overlook existing or emerging equalities within representations. In stressing the influence of social conflict on representations the theory underestimates the influence of social consensus on representations.
GILROY Ethnicity
Postcolonial Theory
GILROY Ethnicity
Key Ideas
o Britain has failed to mourn the loss of the empire creating postcolonial melancholia; this continues to inform modern attitudes towards race and ethnicity in a postcolonial era. o Representations are expressed in criminalising immigrants and creating binary oppositions between east or other, and ‘us’. This is founded on belief in the inherent superiority of white western capitalist society. o African diaspora caused by the slave trade has created a transatlantic culture; simultaneously African, American, Caribbean and British, the ‘Black Atlantic’. o Particularly black men are still oppressed by the media because of representations based on these postcolonial attitudes.
GILROY Ethnicity Postcolonial Diaspora Black Atlantic Culture Diversity Ideology Superiority Oppression
Terminology
GILROY Ethnicity
Analysis
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The lack of ethnic diversity in House of Cards reinforces the ideology of white western superiority.
GILROY Ethnicity
Applications
Can be applied to any media product, especially representations of race and ethnicity. ‘Black Atlantic’ concept draws attention to culture created by slave trade. ’Postcolonial Melancholia’ draws attention to ongoing ideology of white western superiority.
GILROY Ethnicity
Limitations
Does not explain anything specific to LFTVD or News. In prioritising race and postcolonial attitudes, the theory may overlook other emerging equalities within representations. In stressing the influence of social conflict on representations the theory underestimates the influence of social consensus on representations.
REPRESENTATION Hall Gauntlett Van Zoonen Butler bell hooks Gilroy
MEDIA
THEORY Ultimate guide to revision
101