Media Language and Representation summary (Tide)

Media Language

Structuralism: A method of interpretation and analysis of aspects of human cognition, Behaviour, culture and experience which focuses on the relationships of contrast between elements in a conceptual system

Binary: Composed of two pieces or parts

Media language: The different ways in which media communicates to the audience

Mise-en-scene: Everything that appears within a frame

Symbol: A sign that suggests another idea beyond the denotation

Semiotics: The language of codes and signs

Connotation: A meaning associated with a sign

Denotation: The literal or common sense meaning

Polysomic: A sign with multiple meanings

Forms: Different types of media

Platforms: Ways of communicating to the audience

Products: What the media produces

Encode: Communicating ideas with systems and signs

Decode: How audiences interoperate a message

Codes: Signs in media that give meaning

Effect: Impacts that codes have on the audience 

Lexis: The actual words

Hyperbole: Exaggerated language to create a dramatic effect

Ellipsis: Where sentence are left incomplete and instead finish with free dots

Colloquialism:  Informal expressions used more in casual conversation

Language features: Certain types of media language used by media products for a specific purpose

Register:  The range of language used within a product

Hybrid Genres: Media texts that include features from more than one genre

Sub-Genres: A smaller category within a larger genre

Story arc: The way in which the narrative progresses from beginning to end

Formulaic structure: Where text has a set structure and rarely changes

Narrative: The plot/story arc is how the story is told

Characters: Stock characters that help establish a genre

Iconography and setting: Allows information to be conveyed quickly to the audience

Technical codes: Many genres have specific editing/filming styles that distinguish it from others

Audio codes: Often paired with technical codes, it can introduce and distinguish the genre

Representation

Representation: The portrayal of something in a particular way

Language: Any way of communicating

Stereotypes: A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person

Feminism: The belief that women should have the same rights, power and opportunities as men and should be treated in the same way

Patriarchy: Male dominated

Matriarchy: Female dominated

Hegemony: Leadership or dominance; who is in charge

Discourse: Discussion, debate, exchange of ideas e.g. politicians

Objectification: Being treated as an object

Voyeurism:  Pleasure from watching

Misogyny: prejudice against women

Aspirational: Aimed at or appealing to people who want to improve an aspect of their lives

Masculinity: The state of ‘being a man’ which can change as a society changes

New Man: A term that describes a new era of masculinity

Ethnicity: a person’s cultural Identity demonstrated through, e.g. Customs, Food, and Dress etc.

Race: Being a descendent of a common ancestor giving a person certain characteristics, e.g. Skin colour or facial features

Tokenism: Providing a cursory or superficial representation of a underrepresented group

Issue: An important matter or topic that is of public concern

Event: Something that occurs or is about to occur and is of interest to an audience

Dominant Ideology: A set of values that have a broader social or cultural currency

Opinion leaders: Those in position of power who aim an audience of their point of view

Example: Mark Duggan’s portrayal in newspapers

Example: The feminine mystique, Pervasive and unexplained sense of dissatisfaction amongst housewives after WW2, women were socially pressured into becoming housemakers and the “feminine mystique2 was idealised and enforced, It stops women developing full, autonomous identities

Example: Baby boom, a time period post WW2 where women were marrying early and having babies, families with three children doubled, families with four children quadrupled

Example: Levittown, The first mass produced suburb made in 1951, I was affordable and many veterans purchased them because of the GI bill

Example:  White flight, when millions of African Americans moved to the NE, Midwest and Western cities in the US

Example: Self representation, new media offers a range of opportunity for self-representation, the choices made about how to construct yourself and to choose how people see you in videos and photos, means that we can manipulate how people see you, unlike in real life. E.g. Selfies or vloggers

Example: Women, The representation of women has developed and adapted to reflect cultural and sociological changes, although women’s roles in society have changed there are still some stereotypes based upon how men see them e.g. women a judged more on their looks and appearance foremost, as well as this media tends to focus on women’s sexuality and emotions

Example: Men, Stereotypically men are represented differently in media than women and similarly to women theory representation has also changes in order to address changes within society, there has been many cries that masculinity is in crisis and with the new man representation of masculinity has changed but not fully, and media primarily focuses on: body image and physique, physical strength, sexual attractiveness and relationships with women, and power and independence

Example: Social Context, Despite women’s roles in society changing during the war, domestic products of the 1950’s continued the be aimed at women, the likely audience would have been increasingly affluent, lower middle class women, at this point in the 1950’s women were being appealed to for their supposed need for innovative domestic products and technologies, this increased popularity of a wider range of products lead to an increased focus by corporations an branding and selling points 

Theorist: Betty Friedman

·         The feminine mystique, Pervasive and unexplained sense of dissatisfaction amongst housewives after WW2, women were socially pressured into becoming housemakers and the “feminine mystique2 was idealised and enforced, It stops women developing full, autonomous identities

Theorist: Liebst Van Zoonen,

·          The idea that gender is constructed through discourse, and that it its meaning varies according to cultural and historical context

·         The idea that the display of women’s bodies as objects to be looked at is a core element of western culture

·         The idea that mainstream culture, the visual and narrative codes that are used to construct the male body as spectacle differ from those used to objectify the female body

·         Whilst women roles may have changes in the proceeding war years, the tide advert contradicts Zoonen’s theory that media contributes to social change, by representing women in non-traditional ways, and using non-sexist language

Theorist: Bell Hooks

·         The Idea that feminism is a struggle to end sexist/patriarchal oppression and the ideology of domination

·         The idea that race and class as well as sex determine the extent to which individuals are exploited, discriminated against or oppressed

·         The idea that feminism is a political commitment rather than a lifestyle choice

·         Hook’s feminist theory argues that lighter skinned women are more desirable and fit into the western ideology of beauty and the advert could be seen to reinforce this by only representing “modern”, White women. Possibly relating to Gilroy’s ethnicity and post-colonial theories 

Theorist: Judith Butler

·         The idea that identity is performativley constructed by the very ‘expressions’ that are said to be its results (It is manufactured through a set of acts)

·         The idea that there is no gender identity behind the expression of gender

·         The idea that performativity is not a singular act, but a repetition and a ritual

Theorist: Claude Levi Strauss

·         Binary opposites are a  pair of terms that are similar in similar context e.g. Old VS Young or Tide VS other inferior products

Theorist: Stuart hall

·         Stereotypes and representation

·         The images of domesticity form part of the “shared conceptual road map” that gives meaning the “world” of the advert, the comic strip being a familiar representation the audience 

Theorist: David Gauntlett

·         Anatomy of the audience

·         Women in the Tide advert act as role models of domestic perfection that the audience may want to construct their own sense of identity against