Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
MEDIA THEORIES - Coggle Diagram
MEDIA THEORIES
NARRATIVE THEORIES - MEDIA
VLADIMIR PROPP - 7 SPHERES OF ACTION
THE HERO - the protagonist, the head of the narrative
THE HELPER - often the sidekick, the helper uses their force to help the hero remove the misfortune from their lives
THE PRINCESS/ THE DAMSEL- the “sought-for” character who the hero has to find to complete his quest.
THE DONOR - someone who provides the hero with what they need to complete a quest - usually an artifact, or information
THE DISPATCHER - the one who sends the hero on their quest
THE FALSE HERO - someone who appears to be the hero, but actually turns out to be a villain
THE VILLAIN - the Big Bad, who opposes the hero. usually the one who causes DISRUPTION (TODOROV)
LEVI STRAUSS - BINARY OPPOSITES
BINARY OPPOSITIONS – elements embedded in narrative and mise-en-scene, such as good and evil, black and white or young and old
TSVETAN TODOROV - LINEAR NARRATIVE THEORY
EQUILIBRIUM - balance
DISRUPTION - imbalance
RECOGNITION OF DISRUPTION - consequences of imbalance
ATTEMPT TO REPAIR - trying to restore balance
ENHANCED EQUILIBRIUM - balance is restored, but in a different way to how it was in the beginning
BARTHES NARRATIVE CODES
ACTION CODE - something will happen within the narrative to suggest that action will occur (e.g. someone picking up a gun) - CHEKOV'S GUN
• THE ENIGMA CODE – the setting up of a question in the narrative to keep the audience in suspense and guessing what could happen next. (e.g. a character receiving a mysterious phone call and walking out of the room).
• THE SEMANTIC CODE – examining the connotations of elements within a narrative, for instance, props, costumes, settings --COLOUR THEORY
• THE SYMBOLIC CODE – relates to the elements within a text that reflect oppositions (e.g. good vs evil, light vs dark, innocence vs guilt) --- LEVI-STRAUSS' BINARY OPPOSITES
• THE CULTURAL/REFERENTIAL CODE – this code relies on the audiences understanding of the world outside of the text, so that the text can be understood (e.g. a film referencing WW1)
THEORIES OF REPRESENTATION - MEDIA + SOCIO
MULVEY - SCOPOPHILIA.
literally ‘the sexual enjoyment found in viewing’, Mulvey proposed that the way women are represented is intended to feed the sexual demands of men in the audience
KELLY SUE DECONNICK - THE SEXY LAMP
if you can remove a female character, and replace her with a sexy lamp, and it has no overall effect on the story, then that character has no depth.
DYER - 4 FUNCTIONS OF STEREOTYPES
AN ORDERING PROCESS
Stereotypes allow us to order the mass amounts of data we receive about our world and the societies within it -by reducing complex data into its most simple form, we can order it, allowing us to either change or reproduce sectors of society we find desirable/unddesirable
A SHORT CUT
condenses a HUGE amount of knowledge on a complex social structure into a single visual - E.G. the 'dumb blonde' refers more to just intelligence and hair colour - it also refers to the characters sex - and therefore her status in society, her relationship with men, and her inability to think rationally
AN EXPRESSION OF VALUES
Stereotypes proclaim, 'This is what everyone -- you, me and us -- thinks members of such-and-such a social group are like'.
The stereotype is taken to express a general agreement about a social group, as if that agreement arose before, and independently of, the stereotype
A REFERENCE
Allows us to address/learn about an entire demographic based off of one character FROM that demographic - e.g. characters facing oppression are, essentially, a figurehead for all individuals facing that oppression
ORRIN E. KLAPP - HEROES, VILLAINS, AND FOOLS
character epithets are sanctions indicating social approval or disapproval and can be sorted into 3 categories:
VILLAIN - liar, traitor, dictator
FOOL - sucker, sap, fanatic
HERO - underdog,robin hood, big shot
the people represented by stereotypes that fall under these epithets contribute to social understandings of demographics - links to Dyer's expression of values
MEDIA EFFECTS - SOCIO AND MEDIA
PASSIVE
HYPODERMIC SYRINGE - HAROLD LASSWELL - "magic bullet" and "hypodermic needle" models originate from Harold Lasswell's 1927 book, Propaganda Technique in the World War. argues that the media is used to 'innject' ideology and opinions into audience's lives, so that they accept propaganda as truth
BANDURA'S BOBO DOLL - psychological study wherein children were shown a video of someone beating up a bobo doll, and also committed acts of violence against the same doll, but a different group were shown a video of someone acting nicely with the doll and acted nicely - provided a foundation for the idea that children absorb what they are shown, 'monkey see, monkey do'
GABRIEL TARDE- SUGGESTO-IMITATIVE ASSAULTS - the first to discuss copycat crime in the early 1900s, coined the term "suggesto-imitative assaults' to describe how media could influence individuals to recreate acts they saw in the media
SURETTE - Research suggests that copycat crime is a common part of offender criminal histories with approximately 25% offenders reporting that media or popular culture played some role in their crimes
TECHNOLOGICAL CONVERGENCE
HELFGOTT, O'TOOLE, & SICKLES
Computer technology has enhanced mass communication beyond anything imaginable just 30 years ago. Offenders have become more sophisticated in their modus operandi (M.O.) behaviour in an effort to stay one step ahead of law enforcement technology. Social media has transformed the nature of some types of offences such as mass shootIngs where offenders utilize media to both inform and display the motivations for their crimes
ACTIVE
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS - BLUMLER AND KATZ - states that people use the media for 4 reasons.
personal identity
personal relationships
sueveillance
1.diversion
JENKINS (1994)- huge disparity between the amount of violent crime being shown in the media and amount of violent crime being enacted - copycat crime is blown out of proportion
GENRE THEORY - STEVE NEALE
REPETITION AND DIFFERENCE
Films within a genre should include feature that are similar, so the audience knows it is a film IN THAT GENRE, but also include features that are different, to keep an audience interested