Key Media Concepts/Theory’s

Genre David Buckingham (1993)– Argues that ‘genre is not simply given “given” by the culture: rather, it is in a constant process of negotiation and change’. Claude Levi-Strauss (1958) – Ideas about narrative amount to the fact that he believed all stories operated to certain clear Binary Opposites e.g. rich vs. poor. Steve Neale (1995) – “Genres are processes of systemisation” – they change over time. Christian Metz (1994) – argued that genres go through a cycle of changes during their lifetime. Barthes (1997) – suggested that narrative works with five different codes and the enigma code works to keep up setting problems or puzzles for the audience. His action code ( a look, significant word, movement) is based on our cultural and stereotypical understanding of actions that act as a shorthand to advancing the narrative. Pam Cook (1985) – “Linearity of cause and effect within an overall trajectory of enigma resolution”. A high degree of narrative closure. A fictional world that contains verisimilitude especially governed by spatial and temporal coherence. Representation Charles Sanders Peirce (1993) – “ we think only in signs” David Gauntlett (2007) – argues that “Identity is complicated. Everybody thinks they’ve got one. Artists play with the idea of identity in modern society. Baudrillard – discussed the concept of hyperreality – we inhabit a society that is no longer made up of any original thing for a sign that is now the meaning. He argued that we live in a society of simulacra – simulations of reality that replace the real. Media Language Andrew Goodwin –

- Thought Beats

- Narrative and Performance (repeatability) - Star Image ( also Dyer) - Relation of visuals to a song ( illustration, amplification,

disjuncture) - Technical aspects( Camera, editing, effects etc.) Carol Vernallis – Vernallis’ theory centres around four key concepts that all relate to the way the music video is constructed (how it creates meaning). They are: 1. Narrative 2. 2.Editing 3. Camera movement and framing 4. Diegesis Audience Mass/Niche & Mainstream/Alternative Stuart Hall (1980) – analysed the readings within audiences as either: 1. Dominant or Preferred Reading: The meaning they

want you to have is usually accepted. 2. Negotiated Reading: The dominant reading is only

partially recognised or accepted and audiences might disagree with some of it or find their own meanings.

3. Oppositional Reading: The dominant reading is refused, rejected because the reader disagrees with it or is offended by it, especially for political, religious, feminist, reasons etc.

John Hartley (1987) – “institutions are obliged not to only speak about an audience, but – crucially, for them – to talk to one as well; they need not only to represent audiences but to enter into relation with them. McQuail (1972) – An audience can be described as a “temporary collective” Ien Ang (1991) –“Audiences only exist as an imaginary entity, an abstraction, constructed from the vantage point of the institution, in the interest of the institution”.