John Esposito COM 315 October 14th 2020 Short Responses to Definitions Intertextuality According to Arthur Asa Berger, intertextuality "refer to the use in texts (consciously or unconsciously) of material from other, previously created texts. Parody, or the humorous imitation of a text, is a good example of a text's conscious reuse of material. In order for the parody to be effective, audience members must be familiar with the original text…" (29). Intertextuality is the action of shaping the meaning of a particular by another text, or the interconnection between related or similar literature works that influence and reflect the way the audience interprets the text. It also implies that the audience must have read the text to understand what the audience is meaning with the parody, quotation, or the allusion of the text. In this regard, an excellent example of intertextuality is the Leonard Stephen/Bernstein Sondheim musical West Side Story, which is incepted on the premise of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Furthermore, the 2003 television show Skin is another example of intertextuality based upon Romeo and Juliet. For the text to be useful in the audience's eyes, they must know the original text to contextualize the second author or essayist's essay. Intertextuality is significant to media analysis because it shows how much culture influences an author even as they influence the culture. When an author creates a work of scholarship literature or is inevitably influenced by everything read or seen up to that point. Intertextuality is also vital in media analysis because it leads to a much richer reading experience that invites new ways of interpreting concepts and ideas. Intertextuality also another story, idea, and context in the text at hand. It similarly provides one way for learners to construct their essays of texts from other people's knowledge. Freud's structural hypothesis (Id, Ego, Superego) According to Berger, "…the psyche is in constant struggle, as the id and superego ware against each other. The poor ego tries to mediate between the two-between the desire for pleasure and the fear of punishment, between the drives and the conscience" (85). In other words, the author implies that a person's personality has its components, including the id, which is the pleasure principle, the ego, which should be regarded as the reality principle, and the superego, which should be viewed as the principle of perfection. Accordingly, these principles develop at different times and work together to influence the behaviors of the person. Berger also means that the superego assumes a role of opposition to the id. In between these two polarities, the ego is tasked with mediating between them, always operating with the aim of self-preservation. On its part, the ego plays its role by storing up the experiences in the individual's memory, adapting to relatively stronger stimuli, avoiding excessive string stimuli, and bringing about vital changes in the world through the reality. For instance, in the movie Star Trek, McCoy is the ide, Spock is the ego. Simultaneously, Captain Kirk is the superego; in the Books, Vampire novels can be regarded as the id, while science books the ego, and the Bible Koran's regarded as the superegos. Consequently, Freud's id, ego, and superego are vital in media analysis because it can help authors and views critically analyze songs, films, and hers to understand their different personalities and how they fit in the broader context of the culture represented. In like vein, Freud's structural model can be used to examine various kinds of television programs whereby texts that feature the police are superego, soap operas involving sexuality to be regarded as id texts, and interviews and documentaries ego texts. Defense Mechanisms According to Berger, defense mechanisms are "… the various techniques the ego employs to control instincts and ward off anxieties. All of us make use of these mechanisms from time to time, although we are seldom conscious of doing so" (89). In other words, the author means that the defense mechanisms are the strategies utilized by our bodies to ensure that undesirable aspects are prevented from affecting us. From a media perspective, one would observe that much of what is brought to the audience involves human beings in different relationships. Many of the characters read about or seen can be conceptualized in terms of their defense mechanism based on their specific behaviors. One of the most common examples of people's defense mechanisms is ambivalence, which refers to the simultaneous feeling of hate and loves repulsion and attraction toward the same object or person. In some instances, these feelings usually alternate in quick succession in individuals that wish to gratify contradicting wishes. Avoidance is another example of a defense mechanism related to the refusal to be involved in distressing subjects since they are connected to aggressive or unconscious sexual impulses. Rationalization is another defense mechanism used by people, whereby they continuously offer logical excuses for the behavior generated by the irrational and unconscious determinants. Defense mechanisms are vital in media analysis because they can be applied to characters' behavior in television programs, films, and other texts and the various media aspects. They can help an analyst understand the motivation behind specific human behavior, enriching and deepening individuals' abilities to analyze the media. Alienation According to Berger, alienation is "…a feeling of estrangement and separation from others. A person who is alienated feels like a "stranger" (alien), with no connections to his or her society or to some group in that society. Feelings of alienation are connected… to the bureaucracies that develop in organizations" (110). What Berger implies is that alienation is the phenomenon whereby the established systems are distinct from the subjects. In other words, it is a problematic separation between the self and the other, which properly belong together or the estrangement of human beings from some essential part of their society or nature, which typically results in feelings of helplessness, powerlessness, or hopelessness. For instance, the alienation of a worker from this product implies that not only is their labor subjected to objectivity and takes its separate existence, but the same product exists outside them, alien and independent from them and that it can stand opposed to the worker as an autonomous power. In this perspective, the individual becomes estranged or separated from their friends from their work, from life, and themselves. An individual's life, which is central to their sense of self and identity, becomes separated from them and up as a destructive force. The concept of alienation is essential in media analysis. The different aspects and objects in television programs and movies provide a gratification moment for the alienated individual and distract them from their misery. In particular, advertisements typically stimulate the desire, making individuals work harder in their lives. The concept of alienation can also be used to understand characters in films in the cult television show of The Prisoner and texts such as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman. Work Cited Berger, Arthur Asa. Media Analysis Techniques. San Francisco State University, 2012, pp. 1-259.
