Introduction to Media Theory
Tuesday 13th September 2022
L/O: To investigate the principles behind theories. To discuss theories. To critically apply theories to texts.
Stranger Things
Media Language: The sound/editing/camera-work.
Media representations: How something presents itself through media. (events,issues)
Media industries: Different types of media/ the ownership behind it, who has the power. Process of production.
Media audiences: How the film targets their audience.
Post modernism + Baudrillard
Representation Examples
Family life - Two different lifestyles, the rich one living in the suburbans with a nicely sized house with everything sorted, the byers family living in a much smaller house with a single mum and her brother having to take the role of the father waking him up making breakfast etc.
Female roles -
1980s icons/life -
Small Town America - The police in the local area are laid back when the mum tells the officer that her son is missing he seems to show no interest and comes up with excuses such as 'im drinking my coffee' and trying to reassure her saying '99/100 times they are normally safe' it shows a flaw in the place, also the fact that there are these agents patrolling the place killing the guy who was taking after the test subject girl shows it could actually be dangerous.
Baudrillard
Simulacra - Hidden government labs
Tuesday 20th September 2022
Media Theory: Music as protest hip hop and beyond.
LO: to investigate the principles behind theories. To discuss various theories. To critically apply theory to texts.
What can I remember about baudrillard?
Hyper real, reality, post modernism (irony, satire), modernism
Representation is how a character represents themselves through colour, attire, background.
These people are represented as similar almost like brothers as the one on the right and left are wearing the same jacket, they are also all standing the same.
Serious emotions, poor socio-economic suburb, big gold chains.
Sidran 1975
Music was a way of expressing problems/emotions for slaves.
Rose 1994
Rap music criticises injustices for black men but maintains sexist attitudes to black women.
NWA Expressing themselves
Upbeat - non confrontational, social power is represented as white, male, middle classed.
Sidran - Applies, told of injustices, slavery, death row, prison, police brutality.
Rose - females were used as objects of desire or status, he hid behind here when there was a shooting which shows a lack of care.
Police killed my dad though, they still got me mad, bro
My little sis' confused where her dad go
A hundred bags, where? What is that? Yo
My name's Bando
I'll make that off a trap phone
Probably even more, where's my cash? Yo
My little sis' confused where her dad go
A hundred bags, where? What is that? Yo
My name's Bando
I'll make that off a trap phone
Probably even more, where's my cash? Yo
The first lyric is very heart touching, he said the police killed his dad which can connotate with discrimination.
Tuesday 27th September
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 people viewing a certain industry.
Who are the audience?
Men.
What are the audience told from this image? How are the audience told this?
What representations are created? How are these representations created?
Van Zoonen - They claim that women are objectified in a sexual manner in media, because of this gender can vary depending on the cultural background and when the text was set.
Women are represented as objects and that they are inferior to men, following van zoonens statement that they are viewed sexually and it depends on the social, cultural background and time the piece was set in this is shown by multiple scenes in the movie, one being the dancing girl which seems to be used for her body to please the male audience, the camera purposefully zooms in at her stomach. This is proven by smeliks statement as when Bond goes into the girls hotel room she is shown naked in the shower while on the other hand Bond is in a suit waiting outside, she then pulls out a gun on Bond to claim dominance however the weapon is shortly slapped out of her hands and she is then pinned to the bed and slapped. When this women pose threat to Bond it was shortly lived as the threat gets diminished via a punishment of a slap and Bond's sexual dominance, the threat of the female is removed by Bond's sexual dominance. (Missing 3,4,5)
Tuesday 4th October 2022
Media theory: Gender and Bond Beyond.
When the role is repeated it becomes a sort of an expectation, normalised.
There are different elements that come together for female oppression, more than just sexism, race and class. She also says the media creates oppressive ideologies.
. Female has no purpose in the opening scene of the movie other than sexual performance
. Positioning of her on the bed using a high camera angle to make her look submissive and her body language.
. Stereotypical attire from both genders, men in suits to look 'representable' and women in revealing dresses.
. Close up on her mouth.
. OTS shot revealing her skin showing submission while Bond is still fully in a suit
. Butler theory applies heterosexual female role, costume, make up and vulnerable position for Bond to save her
The representations in the text are gender stereotypscs and portraying women just for male audience pleasure and sexual activities. This is seen in when the establishing scene is presented and theres a women next to Bond, walking behind him to show that Bond is dominant to this woman, you can also apply Butler's theory to gender when you see all the women in revealing clothes and all the men fully covered, the women showing skin shows a weakness. The gender roles in this section establish that the revealing clothes that the women wear and all the makeup they creates high standards, it also presents that the female has no purpose in the opening scene other than sexual performance. Here we can see that the texts supports what Van Zoonen states because all these women are objectified and the fact that this behaviour has been normalised through performance. This reflects the context of the time as when something it set 1900's for example gender was very different back then.
Tuesday 11th October
LO: To investigate the principles behind theories. To discuss theories. To critically apply theories to texts.
In the drag race butlers theory is met as the characters are not the heterosexual normal which slightly caused gender trouble since its aired on bbc3. Gauntlettes theory is met because it lets the audience think through their own identites.
Tuesday 1st of November 2022
Media Theory: Masculinity
L/O: To investigate representations of masculinity differ
1960's Men:
Capable, strong, in control,
Tolson - It was not so easy for men to maintain the pretence of sexual bravado.
Faludi - recognised 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 in to myths.
3- Myths create an ideological meaning and help ideology feel natural, real and acceptable.
Barthes claims that objects and that connotations with these objects can refer to a certain trait which creates an ideological.
In the 1960s it was demonstrated as men were controlling, violent and powerful, there were lots of adverts to reinforce this statement as an example there was a advert of someone standing on a woman, this was an advertisement for trousers. In the 1990s it was demonstrated as men were losing control, lacking superiority, this is shown in the cola advert where the man was sexualised while working and there was lots of girls staring at him with sexual intent, its like the roles were reversed. In 2020 it's demonstrated as there are more variation of men nowadays and that the masculine expectations are somewhat still there but not nearly as bad as they were the other years, this is shown in the gillette advert when the older men teach the younger men that certain masculine stereotypical behaviour is not alright.
Exam:
'Representations can vary within long form television dramas'
Discuss how and why audiences might respond to and interpret these representations differently.
Consider the contexts in which television is crafted and consumed by viewers.
Explain how media contexts influence different aspects of representation and audience response.
Make judgements and reach conclusions about the varied representations in television.
In stranger things the long form television drama is perfected by sound, editing, mise en scene and the camera work essentially baudrillard, creating fake realities. This is demonstrated by the contrasting families, firstly Will, mise en scene is used heavily when we get to Will's house on purpose to show the contrasting differences between him and Mike. Will's home is messy, and the use of camera work so it zooms in on these parts, such as the wall as well we can see that the paint is scraping off which already has the connotations of a poor socio-economic. It also shows that his house is in a discreet location with no neighbours near a woods which is like isolating his family from the world, we can also see Will's parent smoking, historical context is used here as smoking in the 80's was normal however now it is slightly frowned upon or just scientifically being bad. Baudrillard comes in effect here because it implies that 80's American children were not cared for or looked after. Secondly, Mike, his house is significantly larger, owning a garage which is seen as a luxury especially in the 80's and still is considering a luxury nowadays, in the establishing scene of stranger things we are also shown that Mike also owns a sort a game room exclusively just for him and his friends. We also see another luxury of Mike's older sister which she has a phone all to herself in her bedroom as well as it being nicely decorated with good lighting whereas Will's house always had grunge lighting no matter if it was bright or night.
15th November 2022
What representations are created here?
Bravery, Facial expressions suggest confidence safety reassurance, absence of appearance if injury,
What is consent?
Approval/Yes
What is dissent?
The holding of expression of opinions that appose that are commonly held.
What are the audience expected to think from this image?
Positive, winning, organised, brave
State of Mind is broken
He is a soldier
He has fought in Vietnam
War - PTSD - Monologue, hallucination, alcohol dependent
Todorov's Equilibrium -
What does it tell us?
His equilibrium in Apocalypse Now demonstrates that war isn't the right answer, this is shown by the multiple signs of PTSD in the start of the film, such as his hallucination of the ceiling fan he thought it was a helicopter instead. Another sign was the fact he was drinking a lot and when he looked at himself in the mirror he punched it and painted his face with his own blood, also the monologue, he was speaking to himself in his head thinking that every time he woke up he was in the jungle.
Bell hooks says that sexist representations isn't just about the gender its also about race, class and sexuality.
The ideologies in Apocalypse Now demonstrates that war isn't the right answer, this is shown by the multiple signs of PTSD in the start of the film, such as his hallucination of the ceiling fan he thought it was a helicopter instead. Another sign was the fact he was drinking a lot and when he looked at himself in the mirror he punched it and painted his face with his own blood, also the monologue, he was speaking to himself in his head thinking that every time he woke up he was in the jungle. The ideologies in this sections establish that his state of mind is broken and that soldiers are not treated as well as they should be treated. Here we can see that the text is against war because just in the start of the film they imply lots of different factors that MISSING THEORISTS + CONTEXT
Tuesday 22nd November 2022
Media Theory: Dirt
L/O: To reflect on areas and improve
Representations can vary within long form television dramas. 'Discuss how and why audiences might respond to and interpret these representations differently.
Levi Strauss- Binary oppositions
Gauntlett- Identify varies in the media so audience have lots of identities to choose the identify with.
Butler- performance of gender roles.
Mise en scene- Safe area, suburban area, american dream house. Vs will in the woods in a shack, trailer style.
Mise en scene- Mike- light warm setting, vs will-dark cold atmosphere
Dialogue- Sound- reinforces the differences in gender roles and authority- calm and firm, vs hysterical and lack of authority
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 later in uniform, co-ordinating the search for Will- authoritative and caring.
Teenage roles Nancy- Studying hard, focused on success, secondary interest of steve.
1. Opening point in response to the question
2. Clear example from the text (media languages examples)
3. Explain how this creates meaning (representations created, audience expectations)
4. Link this to theory (who applies here)
5. Link to context historically (what does it reveal and the time of production?)
The representations in the text are contrasting and the audience reaction can differ, this is shown in stranger things by creating a fake reality of 'The American Dream Lifestyle", compared to the truth for most people which would be Will's lifestyle. This is seen by mise en scene of Mike's house, we can see that his house is located in a suburban area which already is a connotation of wealth but since it's in a suburban area you could also say that it's much safer. In Mike's house there are also luxuries like Mike having his own game room and Nancy having a phone in her bedroom in the 80's which is seen as a luxury back then. The representations in this section establish that the audience expectations would be that Mike has a laid-back lifestyle since of his wealthy socio-economic, parents that want the best for him, they demonstrate this by showing affection and cleaning after him. MISSING 4+5
20/9/22- Excellent effort and work so far, well done.
ReplyDelete27/9- Great response to the question, You achieve 1, 2 and 3. T: 4 and 5. You just need to explain how the scene reinforces VanZoonen's ideas that the woman is a sexual object for the male character and the male audience, you have mentioned this as you open but your main examples discuss Smelik.
ReplyDeleteTo finish the point on Smelik you just need to state that the threat of the female is removed by Bond and his sexual dominance.
11/10- Great structure in response to the question. T: 5 refer to context and in this one we are looking at 2014, what does this suggest hasn't changed in the expectations of women.
ReplyDelete1/11- absent for the lesson on Race representation and theory, Read through my blog and make notes on the theory and main points, screenshot and summarise.
ReplyDelete