MEST 3: New Digital Media - Media Studies
MEST 3: Key Terms/Theories/Issues/Debates
PART I: CRITICAL DEBATES/KEY CONCEPTS
|Institution: |
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|The following terms can be used to describe most modern media institutions. |
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|Monopoly – a single media organisation that dominates production and distribution in a particular industry either locally or |
|nationally, such as Microsoft’s dominance of the computer operating systems market. |
|Oligopoly – a small number of organisations that dominate an industry either locally or nationally, such as Emap and IPC’s |
|dominance of the UK magazine industry. |
|Conglomerates – a collection of companies owned by a single institution. Diversification provides protection to the whole |
|company so that if one part of the business is in difficulties, the other parts can prevent it failing. Examples include News|
|Corporation, Time Warner and Disney. |
|Multinationals – organisations that have institutions in more than one country. |
|Independent producers – self funded, smaller organisations. Thanks to advances in technology – these are growing in numbers. |
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|DEBATE: Who controls the media: audience or producers? |
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|A market-liberalism perspective stresses the power of audience over media producers in the marketplace. It suggests that |
|audience preference decides what media texts are produced, through: purchase of media texts, paying for access, taking out |
|subscriptions, ‘hitting’ an internet site, audience research. Market liberalists argue that this is vastly preferable to |
|government controlled media which decides ‘what is good for people’. |
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|A political-economy perspective stresses the power of the media producers over media texts and consequently media’s influence |
|over a particular audience. This perspective argues that markets appear to offer freedom – especially when compared to the |
|state-owned and controlled media that operates under some authoritarian regimes. However, there are many problems with media |
|organised and run by the free market system – there is inequality in whose interests the media operates. Those with more |
|money, who appeal to advertisers, will have more orientated to their needs. |
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|A political-economy perspective suggests that rather than media producers responding to audience needs and wants, they are |
|packaging audiences to sell them to advertisers. This is especially true in e-media where the number of hits to a website can|
|be recorded. It was the potential advertising revenue that motivated ITV’s purchase of Friends Reunited and News |
|Corporation’s purchase of MySpace. |
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|(Similarly, Adorno and Horkheimer claimed culture is manufactured by what they called the culture industry, where they saw |
|culture being treated as a commodity, rather than a form of art or expression.) |
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|The political economy perspective sees the power of media organisations as open to abuse; some media producers are seen as |
|promoting particular political positions in their texts, for example, in America, Fox News is seen to support the Republican |
|Party, including the previous the Bush administration (see Outfoxed). The Sun newspaper in Britain is also very partisan |
|(strongly supporting one political party), depending on which party Murdoch decides to ally with; see The Sun’s strong support|
|of the Conservative government during the 2010 election campaign, for instance. The Italian media mogul Silvio Berlusconi, |
|for instance, exerted an enormous amount of pressure on the Italian media to secure another term as prime minister. |
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|Gitlin (2003), after interviewing a number of American television producers, concluded that the pursuit of audience figures |
|had a negative effect on the quality of television. For instance, producers may avoid any representations that might be seen |
|as challenging the values and ideologies of the audience (e.g. representing the murder of a British soldier in Iraq, |
|sympathising with the Iraqi assassin, would prove very controversial and therefore would be avoided by most media |
|institutions). |
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|Curran (1986) argues that the advertising industry has a major influence on the structure and output of the British print |
|media. It is argued that media producers focus on providing the media for the sectors of the population that the advertising |
|industry wants to address. For many publications, advertising is the main source of revenue and therefore the advertisers |
|could wield significant power in print publications and may affect the content; the use of sponsored promotions in magazines |
|like Empire may seem harmless, but what if a newspaper was reluctant to print a story because it might upset one of their |
|major advertisers? |
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|CENSORSHIP AND REGULATION: |
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|The media is regulated positively by obligations placed upon it (e.g. radio stations must regularly broadcast news) or |
|negatively by preventing or censoring certain media content. |
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|For example: |
|The Race Relations Act (1976) makes it illegal to broadcast or publish material that could be deemed offensive to ethnic or |
|racial groups. |
|The Official Secrets Act (1989) prevents those in the military, government or police from speaking to the press without |
|permission. |
|Libel laws state that if a media institution publishes anything that is considered to be harmful and untrue, the victim can |
|sue for libel and make a claim for financial compensation of their damage. |
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|There are three inter-related areas of media regulation: |
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|Economic regulation – where economically powerful groups, advertisers and sponsors, exert pressure to limit the content of |
|media texts. |
|Cultural regulation – where the cultural attitudes and values of the audience limit the content of media texts. |
|Legal regulation – where acts of Parliament or governmental organisations or government approved industry institutions |
|regulate media content, such as the Video Recordings Act (1984) or the British Board of Film Censors or the Digital Economy |
|Act 2010. |
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|A political-economy perspective is most concerned about economic regulation, while a market-liberal perspective emphasises |
|cultural regulation. |
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|In order to avoid pressures to censor from government or businesses, some industries have opted for self-regulation, where |
|they make regular financial contributions to an ‘independent’ organisation to oversee and regulate the industry, e.g. The |
|Press Complaints Commission or the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). |
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|Examples of government regulation of the media include OfCom. See p.41-42 of the A2 Media Studies Book to see the elements |
|that OfCom consider in matters of censorship and broadcast schedules. |
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|The protection of the minority perspective argues for control of media content to protect the rights of individuals, minority |
|groups and those who may be harmed by the media, e.g. children or women. |
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|The freedom of speech perspective argue that freedom of speech is paramount and that criticising the government and those who |
|are powerful in the media is important to ensure that democracy works. This view stresses that even if, at times, harm is |
|done by material in the media this is better than allowing governments to censor media content. |
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|GLOBALISATION: |
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|Globalisation refers to the way in which, in contemporary society, distant countries are inter-related and connected together |
|by trade, communication and cultural experiences. |
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|According to Giddens (2003) we live in a ‘runaway world’ where cultures, economies and politics appear to merge across |
|national boundaries. For instance, TV programmes such as The Simpsons are watched all over the world. |
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|A poltical economy perspective argues that the homogenisation of culture and communication leads to shared values and |
|ideologies. The USA dominates the world’s media with 85% of the global film market, thanks to: a large home market, dominance|
|of the English language and technical advantages. |
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|Some may argue that the above is an example of cultural imperialism, a process by which one country dominates other countries’|
|media consumption and consequently dominates their values and ideologies. |
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|Putnam (1997) suggests that the US government prioritised media for support as an important export industry that promotes both|
|US values and US goods. However, this view is not straightforward for instance some texts tailor themselves to their local |
|values and ideologies, e.g. Sesame Street. |
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|Anthropologist Danny Miller has a different take to the cultural-imperialist perspective in that other cultures use western |
|texts as a method of empowerment, to explore social issues in their own societies. |
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|The media does, undoubtedly, hold an enormous amount of power, but audiences still have the power to: |
|Select the media texts they wish to watch |
|Influence the media producer to produce texts that appeal to local audiences by incorporating the local culture |
|Interpret the media texts according to their own lives and to create a range of meanings. |
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|POLITICAL THEORIES: |
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|There are a number of political theories that explore the influences and pressures placed upon the media, |
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|Marxist Theory - Karl Marx argued that the working proletariat were being exploited by the bourgeoisie. He thought that class|
|consciousness would lead to revolution and that the bourgeoisie prevented this by creating a false consciousness. In |
|contemporary society – the media would be essential in maintaining a false consciousness. |
|Hegemony - Antonio Gramsci, in the 1920s and 1930s, first introduced the concept of hegemony. He used this concept to |
|explain how popular culture contributed to the manufacturing of consent for bourgeoisie power within capitalist societies by |
|presenting certain divisions in society as ‘common sense’ (for example, the representations of middle-class people in |
|positions of power and influence). |
|In a Marxist vein, Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman (1988) argue that the media manipulates populations to prevent them from |
|rebelling against the powerful or dominant classes, through the manufacturing of consent. They argue that this is not done |
|conspiratorially, but through the institution’s need for profit and to appeal to consumers. |
|Media campaigners Edwards and Cromwell (2006) agree with Chomsky and Herman’s evaluation of the media, highlighting the |
|paradox that “much of the contemporary world is dominated by giant, multinational corporations [and] the media system |
|reporting on the world is itself made up of giant corporations. Indeed, media entities are often owned by the same giant |
|corporations they are tasked with covering.” |
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|One of the criticisms of some applications of Marxist theory, in particular the political-economy approach is that it assumes |
|that the audience is passive and easily manipulated by media producers. |
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|Stuart Hall (1981) has developed Marxist theory to present a more complex picture of media power. He suggests that texts are |
|polysemic and do not have one clear message that supports the dominant values and ideology. However, he does acknowledge that|
|it is important to be aware of the way in which debates and contestations are constructed within media texts. |
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|Liberal pluralism challenges Marxist approaches as it sees society as being made up of competing interest groups, rather than |
|seeing society as dominated by the bourgeoisie. This approach is supported by a market-liberalist approach. This approach |
|offers a more active perception of audiences; however, it does have its shortcomings. There are economic and institutional |
|considerations that limit the inclusiveness of views across the media, especially when commercial concerns are paramount, and |
|consequently there are many people who question liberal pluralism. Just think of the influence the field of Public Relations |
|has over the news, for instance. |
|Audience: |
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|MEDIA INFLUENCE: |
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|Although most media texts are produced with specific audiences in mind, there are also different ways of consuming media |
|texts. |
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|Primary media such as films, demand close and concentrated attention from the audience |
|Secondary media such as radio or some TV programmes, provide a background for an audience who are often doing something else |
|(e.g. making dinner) |
|Tertiary media are consumed by audiences who are almost unaware of their own engagement with the media, such as advertising or|
|radio stations broadcasting in shops. |
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|The Frankfurt School and the work of Adorno and Horkheimer expressed concern that cultural industries influences the political|
|views of its audiences, especially when these texts were passively consumed by the audiences. They were especially concerned |
|about how the media were used in Nazi Germany to influence ordinary people to support fascism. |
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|However Gerbner (1956) suggested that messages do not just flow from the text to the audience, but instead there is another |
|step in the process as audiences discuss the ideas they acquire from the media with each other. They may even debate and |
|challenge the values and ideologies that the media conveys. |
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|CONSUMPTION THEORIES: |
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|Both Blumler and Katz (1974) and McQuail (1997) suggest a Uses and Gratifications model for summarising why audiences consume |
|texts (more on p. 66 of A2 Media Studies book) |
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|Shaun Moore (1998) argued that media texts often allow audiences to perceive themselves as part of an imagined community, |
|where the audience feel that they have something in common with other imagined members of the audience. |
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|Corner (1996) suggests the popularity of reality TV rests upon the dynamics of ‘anxiety and security’. In some texts, such as|
|I’m a Celebrity…, audiences enjoy experiencing risk, danger and then relief at successful outcomes in the programme. |
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|Morley (1990) argues that it is important to consider the media, not just as programming and text, but as objects that in |
|themselves carry meaning and value, e.g. some media such as plasma TVs and Apple iPods operate as status symbols. |
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|Spigel (1999) argues that in the 1950s television moved from being seen as an intruder into domestic life to being |
|incorporated into the home. Gunter and Svennevig (1987) argue that the media are now an integral part of the family |
|household. |
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|Silverstone (1994) argues that the television provides a sort of security and reassurance for many adults and young people by |
|giving them the comfort once provided to them as young children by teddy bears or blankets. |
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|Couldry (2004) explored the concept of a mobile audience. He argued that audiences saturated by contemporary media engage in |
|media tourism (e.g. visiting film studios, or the set of Big Brother etc.) |
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|AUDIENCE vs PRODUCER: |
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|According to Abercrombie and Longhurst (2005), audience involvement beyond the text is part of a wider shift in the audience’s|
|experience, allowing the boundaries between the audience and the producer of the media texts to become more fluid. Many areas|
|of new media (e.g. YouTube and Facebook) rely on their audiences literally to create them, as do television programmes like |
|The Jeremy Kyle Show. |
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|It is arguable how significant this seeming shift in power from producers to audience actually is. Consider Facebook, for |
|instance, where the audience can only participate within carefully constructed and framed spaces. In the case of television, |
|audience or participant’s control of the text is limited: |
|The programme hosts’ or experts’ views are dominant and they allow who will speak and when |
|The programme’s hosts or experts may have a privileged relationship with the camera and the use of a voice-over or narrator |
|emphasises the particular view of the media producer |
|Editing reality and confessional shows ensures that the producers retains control of what is finally aired |
|The producers of the shows have constructed the scenarios and narratives, such as the selection of the tasks on Big Brother. |
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|The debate over whether audiences are passive or active continues. Overall, the media effects theory and Marxist theory |
|assume the audience to be passive members while uses and gratifications theories and reception studies assume the audience to |
|be active and discerning. |
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|What is becoming clear, however, is that audiences will interpret texts differently. For example Morley’s (1980) study of |
|Nationwide emphasised that the text was interpreted differently by different social groups. |
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|MEDIA EFFECTS: |
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|The effects perspective looks at how media affect their audiences. |
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|The high profile reporting of the killing of the toddler Jamie Bulger by two young boys attributed the boys’ behaviour to |
|watching the horror film Child’s Play 3 (1991). Although there was difficulty in establishing a causal link between media and|
|behaviour, the public outcry led to the Video Recordings Act of 1984, which resulted in tougher age-classification laws, |
|supported by amendments to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act in 1994. |
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|Bandura (1961) developed a social-learning perspective, suggesting that viewers learn from media consumption (in it, children |
|were shown a film of people acting aggressively, which the children replicated in their play). However, his conclusions have |
|been continually criticised and rebuked. |
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|The cultivation perspective, on the other hand, suggests that it is not the content of an individual media text that affects |
|people, but the cumulative effect of watching a range of media texts that has an effect. This is also known as the saturation|
|perspective. It has, for example, been suggested that people become desensitised towards violence in the media over time. |
|However, as early as 1970s, Gerbner pointed out the impossibility of proving this theory. |
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|Anderson and Dill (2000) undertook a study on the effect of violent video games on game players, and suggest that violent |
|video game play was related to aggressive behaviour and delinquency. The unique characteristics of the violent video games |
|they focused on included: the interactive style of play, the active participant by players and the addictive nature of the |
|games. |
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|Gentile and Anderson (2006) later argued that video games affected aggression in children because video games are engaging and|
|reward repeated violent actions. |
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|Further challenges to the effects perspective are that: |
|It assumes the audiences to be passive and undiscerning and therefore open to manipulation. |
|They focus on ‘vulnerable’ groups, such as children, and treat then as unable to differentiate between lives experiences and |
|media. |
|It is the least powerful in society who are seen as influenced by media content, thus effects perspectives become thinly |
|masked criticisms of the media tastes of these less powerful groups. |
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|Overall, a Foucauldian perspective (a view influenced from the works of social theorist Michel Foucault) based on an idea of |
|discourse (which establishes ‘common sense’ or knowledge about that subject) argues that media shape our perceptions and our |
|knowledge of the world. This perspective underlies the constructionist approach to representation. |
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|MUSIC FANS: |
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|In the post Second World War era, Adorno and Horkheimer (1986) argued that popular music was part of a ‘culture industry’ and |
|that, in the interests of profit, the music industry produced banal, interchangeable music for a passive, childlike and |
|manipulated audience. |
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|Media theorists such as Fiske (1988) have challenged such perceptions, pointing to how active and discerning fans are, not |
|merely in consuming popular music, but using the music to create their own cultural artefacts and identity. Furthermore, |
|Fiske points out that the products used to promote the music and groups, including posters, magazine spreads, souvenirs from |
|concerts, may be used by a fan in a create way when they construct a collage of images in their room or decorate their college|
|files. Thus fans are ‘completists’ by completing the construction of meaning that a text carries. |
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|Media Forms: |
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|When analysing a text consider the following contexts: |
|Social and political context (e.g. immigration or terrorism) |
|Historical context (e.g. changes in values over time – remember blatant sexism was acceptable in the 50s/60s) |
|Economic context (e.g. financing and cross-cultural factors) |
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|STRUCTURALISM: |
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|Structuralism has been used to study the media in regards to how meaning is constructed. |
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|Semiotics was developed by Saussure (1983) who suggested that there are three levels on which we read media texts: |
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|Syntactical level – identifies the basic denotations in the text, its dominant elements, for example the colour or overall |
|effect |
|Representational level – looks at the representations conveyed in the text |
|Symbolic level – involves the hidden cultural or symbolic meanings that the text conveys |
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|There are two steps to reading signs: |
|Denotations – occur immediately to the audience |
|Connotations – rely on the representational and symbolic levels of meaning that can be associated with or suggested by a sign.|
|These meanings often depend on the culture and background of the ‘reader’ |
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|Barthes (1967) developed Suassure’s ideas to analyse media texts in relation to culture. He suggested that our understanding |
|of many media texts rests not merely upon what the texts portray, but on the texts’ relationship to frequently told stories or|
|myths in our culture e.g. the way romantic comedies often draw on the Cinderella myth. |
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|For Barthes, the final layer of signification in media texts relates to cultural meaning. In terms of the Cinderella myth the|
|cultural meanings or rather the values and ideologies conveyed are that men are active and women are passive, that men are |
|economically powerful providers and a women’s key role is to be sexually alluring. |
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|Fiske (1982) warns that there is a tendency to read connotations as if they were self-evident truths – as if they were |
|denotations. However, connotations are codes that are particular to specific cultures. As a result audiences in different |
|cultures may interpret media texts differently. |
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|Some texts may try to limit meaning, however, for example: newspapers may anchor photos by their use of captions. |
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|There are many different types of signs, but each has two parts: the signifier (the part that creates meaning) and the |
|signified (the idea or meaning that it represents). |
|An iconic sign has a signifier that bears a close relationship to the object being signified. For example, a photograph of a |
|person has a close relationship to the person whom it signifies. |
|An indexical sign assumes a relationship between the signifier and the signified, so that when we see one, we expect the |
|other. For example, smoke signifies fire. |
|Symbolic signs have no obvious relationship between the signifier and the signified. Examples are the use of red for hot on a|
|tap, blue for a boy or the symbol of a dove signifying peace. |
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|Genre and auteur theory (which suggests that the director is the author of the film and that films reflect his or her |
|particular visual style, themes, values and ideologies) are two other areas dealt with by structuralism. For example Grist |
|(2000) argued that the films of director Martin Scorsese always explore themes of masculinity and repression. |
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|POST-STRUCTURALISM: |
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|Post-structuralism challenges many of the assumptions of structuralism, most importantly the idea that a text has one single, |
|identifiable meaning. It plays down the role of the ‘author’ and emphasises the arbitrary relationship between signifiers and|
|signified, and suggests that texts contain floating signifiers that can be interpreted differently by audience members. This |
|concept is closely related to post-modern ideas. |
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PART II: REPRESENTATION
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|SOCIAL AND POLITICAL INFLUENCE: |
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|Political ideology can deeply influence the representation of people, groups, events or places. For instance, it is common in|
|films to present Islamic terrorists as cold-hearted, merciless and barbaric and American or British soldiers as warm-hearted, |
|friendly and sympathetic. These representations often stem from a political ideology that maintains support for a political |
|cause. |
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|The ideology (or business plans) of the institution can also affect representation. For example, Rupert Murdoch, in his bid |
|to conquer the Chinese market, often ensures that his newspapers represent Tibet in a way that supports China’s invasion. |
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|Political parties or leaders can be represented in positive or negative ways, depending on the political bias of the |
|institution. |
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|Due to Globalisation, western texts are dominating the world market. As a result, western representations have more influence|
|in the world. |
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|REPRESENTATION OF CELEBRITY: |
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|Gamson (1994) argues that ‘celebrity is produced, and constructed by concerted, co-operative action of media industries for |
|profit’. |
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|Stacey (1994) argued that the meaning audiences place on celebrities is linked to the pleasure gained through fantasising |
|about escaping from the confines of their own lives. The fantasy involves being part of the lifestyle that celebrities are |
|perceived as living. For example, this includes owning luxury homes and clothes, travel, staying in hotels, eating in |
|expensive restaurants and being the focus of lots of attention. |
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|An alternative critical perspective is put forward by media theorist Richard Dyer (2004) who suggests that a celebrity must |
|resonate with the ideas, values and spirit of the time – even the moment. |
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|Adorno and the Frankfurt School (1991) looked at both the positive and negative influence celebrities can have on the general |
|public. They argue that the general public might identify with charismatic celebrity individuals, with negative outcomes. |
|For example, connecting the rise in incidents of anorexia in young girls with the popularity and endorsement of thin |
|supermodels and celebrity WAGs. Or a celebrity campaign can be used for positive effect; for example, Joanna Lumley’s |
|campaign for fair treatment of Ghurkas. |
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|NEWS VALUES: |
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|The way an issue is represented in the news, depends on news values: |
|Is it a negative story or bad news? |
|Is there the potential for personalisation and human interest? |
|Does the story have shock value? |
|Does it feature or create celebrities out of people to whom the general public can relate? |
|Is there continuity with this or other stories? |
|Does the story have close enough proximity to the target audience (e.g. are British people involved?) |
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|Sometimes the story can take on a cultural concern: an issue, concern or paranoia that a society or culture becomes |
|preoccupies with or worried about. |
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|MEDIA VIOLENCE: |
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|Potter (1999) suggested that in order to take a critical perspective of media violence it is important to consider how a |
|violent incident is represented in that media text. He asks the following questions when looking at a violent text: |
|Who is the perpetrator of violence? |
|Who is the victim of violence? |
|Is the violence presented as justified? |
|Are the consequences of violence portrayed? |
|Is the violence represented as normative or as abhorrent? |
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|Cameron and Frazer (1987) claim that representations of sexual violence are endemic in our society. Media texts often portray|
|women and the elderly as victims of crime. Yet statistically, in Britain, the group most at risk of violence is young men. |
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|Gitlin (2003) points out that fictional violence is an easy target for criticism. However, he suggests that careful attention|
|is also paid to what representations of violence are selected and what is omitted. The true extent of the brutality of war is|
|often omitted in news coverage, which many argue is sanitising war. |
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|THE SIGNIFICANCE OF 9/11 ON MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS: |
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|Representations of violence shifted since 9/11. Greater emphasis has been placed on the threat from terrorism rather than |
|crime, as evidenced in the popularity of US series 24. Texts that present the over-simplistic binary opposition of good (the |
|U.S.) vs. evil (terrorists) are being constructed largely through political discourse (the scope of discussions that takes |
|place within political circles). |
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|The realism of 9/11, which in some ways resembled the scene from an action film, made traditional representations of violence |
|(e.g. James Bond films) seem fake and unreal. The more ‘realistic’ Bourne trilogy hit the zeitgeist (the general set of |
|ideas, beliefs, feelings that are typical of a particular period in history), becoming enormously popular and heavily |
|influenced Bond’s ‘reboot’ in Casino Royale, which became (a fraction) more grounded in the real world. |
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|Noam Chomsky argued that 9/11 saw a return of metanarratives.. |
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|FEMINISM AND POST-FEMINISM: |
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|Graham Murdoch (1999) argues that when a particular group is not visible in media culture, it is not included in the dominant |
|perception of society. Absence from media representation implies a sense of ‘otherness’, of not belonging and |
|marginalisation. Individuals from under-represented groups may internalise this and consequently feel alienated from society.|
|Representation is therefore a political issue. |
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|For instance in the 60s and 70s many feminists complained about the limited range of representations of women in the media |
|(e.g. women presented as housewives etc.). In many ways, these representations naturalised the power imbalance of men and |
|women. |
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|Laura Mulvey (1975) in her influential work Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema argued that mainstream Hollywood film was the|
|product of a patriarchal (male-dominated) industry and that in such texts: |
|Men controlled the action and were responsible for moving the narrative along |
|Women were represented as passive objects of the male gaze |
|Pleasure in viewing comes from voyeurism (pleasure in secretly watching), narcissism (the identification with or the erotic |
|appeal of an idealised version of oneself) and scopophilia (the pleasure in looking at other people as objects). |
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|Gammon and Mashment (1988) however, have pointed out the limitations of Mulvey’s theory and pointed out that there have been a|
|variety of texts, in recent years, which represent men as objects for the female gaze (think Sex and the City). They also |
|point out that women are more active in their viewing of media texts and may, for example, identify with aberrant or |
|villainous characters or place their own interpretations on texts. |
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|Post-feminist thinkers, believe that because women now have more equal rights, there is no need for feminism or feminist |
|texts. However, it is hard to agree that women have equal power to men. How many female presidents have the USA had, for |
|example? |
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|Judith Butler (1999) suggests that gender is not the result of nature but is socially constructed. That is to say, male and |
|female behaviour and roles are not the result of biology but are constructed and reinforced by society through media and |
|culture. Butler argues that there are a number of disruptive representations of masculinity and femininity, which cause, what|
|she refers to as gender trouble. |
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|QUEER THEORY: |
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|Butler’s theories of gender trouble have also been linked to queer theory, which explores and challenges the way in which |
|heterosexuality is constructed as normal and the media has limited the representations of gay men and women, often |
|representing them in terms of sin and sickness. |
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|Queer theory also challenges the traditionally held assumption that there is a binary divide between being gay and |
|heterosexual, and suggests that sexual identity can be more fluid, e.g. Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean |
|series. |
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|Queer theory also suggests there are different ways of interpreting contemporary media texts, for instance by looking at texts|
|that were broadcast before homosexuality was decriminalised in 1967. For example, queer theory offers alternative |
|interpretations of Batman and Robin’s relationship in the 1960s TV show. |
| |
|Camp – which is linked to Queer theory – involves an exaggerated performance of femininity, usually by men. A camp |
|performance often involves an emphasis on style, image, irreverence, breaking taboos and poking fun at authority and is often |
|used in comedy, fame and chat shows, e.g. Graham Norton. A camp style draws attention to how masculinity is constructed and |
|in doing so challenges traditional notions of masculinity. |
| |
| |
|POST-COLONIALISM: |
| |
|Colonialism refers to the period of history in which Britain controlled vast regions of the world, and profited largely |
|through the use of slavery and the exploitation of natural resources. |
| |
|As, theoretically, no colonial empires remain in existence, the present era is known as a post-colonial era. However, this |
|term is problematic. Britain and the USA, for example, diplomatically, economically and militarily, still hold power in many |
|parts of the world. |
| |
|Post-colonial theory, for instance, links to theories surrounding globalisation and cultural imperialism in that it suggests |
|the dominance of the white culture (just think of the absence of non-white images in the media). |
| |
|Edward Said (1995) introduced the concept of Orientalism and suggested that: |
|Firstly, that the West tries to speak for the Middle East in texts, as if it has authority over it |
|Secondly, that the West often uses the Middle East in texts to contrast itself against “the Other” |
| |
|In a post-colonial world, many families have been forced to migrate due to force or economic reasons and have experienced |
|racism and developed a sense of ‘otherness’, which has been termed Diaspora identity. This is not always negative, as can be |
|seen by the Asian music scene in Britain or the influence of Bollywood in films such as Bride and Prejudice and, arguably, |
|Slumdog Millionaire. |
| |
|However, it can be argued that many representations of race that have evolved in the media, are founded upon negative |
|historical myths from the colonial past. Alvarado (1987) has suggested that there are four types of representations for |
|members of the black community. |
|The humorous – e.g. Eddie Murphy |
|The exotic – models such as Naomi Campbell |
|The pitied – representations of needy black communities through charity advertising or films such as Blood Diamond |
|The dangerous – portrayed in news and documentary reports of black inner-city gangs or gun crime. |
|In fact such representations are usually constructed in terms of binary oppositions, for example the battle between good and |
|evil is the battle between white and Middle-Eastern people in The Kingdom. |
| |
|Both terrorism and immigration have been subject to negative and inaccurate views in the press, for example. Note that the |
|aggression of western nations is rarely called terrorism (read more on p. 64 of A2 Media Studies book). |
| |
| |
|MORAL PANICS: |
| |
|The concept of moral panic was developed as a result of Stanley Cohen’s studies of youth groups in the 1960s and may affect |
|how an issue is represented. Cohen (1972) argues that a moral panic occurs when society sees itself threatened by the values |
|and activities of a group who are stigmatised as deviant and seen as threatening to mainstream society’s values. |
| |
|The process by which a moral panic develops involves three stages: |
| |
|The occurrence of a deviant act or social phenomenon |
|The act or problem being widely reported on in the media, e.g. initially on the news and then spilling over into internet |
|chatrooms and incorporated into fictional narratives etc. |
|A call for greater governmental control either from legislation, policy, initiatives or the more vigilant operation of already|
|existing social controls. |
| |
|Examples of moral panics include: HIV/AIDS, ecstacy and designer drugs, teenage pregnancies, asylum seekers, binge drinking |
|and terrorism. |
| |
|Thompson (1998) argues that in recent years there have been an increasing number of moral panics that have become all |
|pervasive. For example, the moral panic on paedophilia now affects the institution of the family and all those looking after |
|children, who feel their behaviour is brought into question. Thus moral panics do not only affect those who are stigmatised |
|as deviant but also restrain other members of society keen to disassociate themselves from deviant groups. |
PART III: NEW DIGITAL MEDIA
| |
|In the last twenty years there has been a digital revolution in the production and distribution of media texts, which now rely|
|on the digital codes used by computers and the internet. |
| |
|New digital media includes the following: video and DVD, portable camcorders, home computer and games consoles, cable, |
|satellite and digital TV, mobile phones, the internet, e-mail, MP3, podcasts, webcams, blogs, social networking spaces such as|
|MySpace and Facebook. |
| |
|Initially, audiences were quite passive when viewing the internet. Web-pages tended to offer static information, which, due |
|to dial-up speeds, were slow to access. However, new technologies have created a second generation of web-based material, |
|known as Web 2.0; emphasising: interactivity, user participation, dynamic content (i.e. content that is continually changing) |
|and freedom to engage in new media texts. |
| |
|There seem to be two ways to view this revolution, either as something utopian (creating a perfect world) or dystopian (making|
|things as bad as they can be). |
| |
| |
|UTOPIAN VIEWS: |
| |
|Cultural critic, Richard Dyer (1992) thought that the media made up for deficiencies of modern life, offering ‘utopias’ such |
|as: Community, Intensity, Abundance, Transparency, Energy |
|Del Sola Poole (1977) suggested that new media gives people the opportunity to create and disseminate their own texts easily |
|(Remember that he wrote this before the introduction of the internet) and allows “a flowering of hundreds of different |
|voices”. |
|Noam Chomsky (2003) sees the internet as a form of global “interconnection” |
|Haraway (1991) offers a utopian view of cyberspace, arguing that the ability to construct identities unrestrained by the |
|restrictions of our physical bodies. Very similar to virtual reality |
|Liberal Pluralism and Liberal Pluralist ideas see the media in a democratic light – that the media are made up of competing |
|interests and views and that this reflects the diverse range of opinions in society. This view may see the internet as a |
|microcosm of society. However, this view clearly has limitations. |
| |
| |
|DYSTOPIAN VIEWS: |
| |
|Lyotard (1984) argued that the postmodern era saw a decline in metanarratives (e.g. religion, politics) leading to a greater |
|instability in society. |
|Jean Baudrillard (1983) argues that we live in a world of hyper-reality, where the media world is more ‘real’ that reality |
|itself. He also argued that material goods are now a simulacrum – a copy, rather than an original product |
|Jurgen Habermas (1991) argues that media texts should provide citizens to debate and criticise government actions and form |
|public opinion (the public sphere). However, he saw a dystopian side of new digital media, it its ability to produce similar |
|representations and its focus on celebrity and trivia |
|Noam Chomsky (2003) also sees the internet as a “time-waster”. |
| |
| |
|MORAL PANICS ABOUT NDM: |
| |
|Some people look at the internet, with its ability to flout copyright law and some of its immoral and degrading content (e.g. |
|internet pornography) as a public concern. These moral panics over this new medium are not new. |
|1900s – concern over the sexual content of silent films |
|1930s – anxiety about the radio and the influence of crooners on housewives |
|1950s – anxiety about television’s influence on the family |
|1980s – a moral panic over violent video nasties |
|1990s – anxieties over violence in computer games |
|1990s and 2000s – concerns about the internet being used by paedophiles to contact children |
| |
|Springhall (1998) suggests that people are fearful of new technologies, such as computer games, because they challenge |
|existing norms of powerful groups and government processes, especially because they are often embraced by the youth. Also the|
|seeming lack of censorship on the internet, allows young people access to violent and sexual imagery, previously disallowed. |
| |
|Castells (1999) argued a technologically determinist view of the world, in that technology influences and dictates the nature |
|of society. He also argued that modern audience is concerned with the flow of information, unrestrained by space and time. |
| |
| |
|FUNCTIONALISM AND POST-MODERNISM: |
| |
|Functionalism – Emole Durkheim wrote in the late nineteenth century that society worked on the basis of a collective |
|consciousness and that society has a set of basic values and morals, which it shares and all adhere to. He felt that through |
|law, religion, education, etc. that this collective consciousness could be maintained and that this was a far more effective |
|way of regulating a society than laws. |
| |
|However, a post-modern perspective suggests that society is now fragmentary and contradictory which has influenced post-modern|
|texts. Post-modernism is largely related to: |
| |
|the decline of party politics and trade unionism |
|the collapse of communism and a belief in the ability of governments to centrally plan societies |
|insecurity and uncertainty |
|media-saturated society with instantaneous communication |
|an emphasis on difference rather than uniformity |
|increasing emphasis on the importance of style and the visual |
| |
|Key features of post-modern media texts are: |
| |
|intertextuality (when a media text uses elements or references from other media texts) |
|Bricolage (the process of creating a media text out of a series of artefacts, styles and signs from other media texts or |
|cultural artefacts). |
|Merging of genres, styles and media |
|An emphasis on image and style rather than narrative and meaning |
|Elements that draw attention to the construction of the media text |
|Playful and ironic elements |
|A mixing of elements of ‘high’ or elite culture within popular culture |
|Fragmentation |
|Diversity of representation and viewpoints |
|Pastiche (a creation of a media text out of elements or, or with reference to, other media texts in a mocking or caricatured |
|way) and parody. |
| |
| |
|ALTERNATIVE MEDIA: |
| |
|The internet has become a great forum for alternative media. |
| |
|The Royal Commission on the Press (1977) defined alternative media as: |
| |
|Dealing with the opinion of small minorities |
|Expressing attitudes hostile to widely held beliefs |
|Espousing view or dealing with subjects not given regular coverage by publications generally available at newsagents. |
| |
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