Media Studies Renier van Loggerenberg
SECTION B – CASE STUDY
1.
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5.
REPRESENTATIONS IN THE MEDIA
THE IMPACT OF NEW/ DIGITAL MEDIA
CHOOSE & ANSWER 1 Q ONLY
1HR – 48 MARKS
IN-DEPTH AREA OF RESEARCH INVOLVING THE
CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF A RANGE OF MEDIA TEXTS
6. DEVELOP VIEWS UPON REPRESENTATION/DIGITAL
MEDIA
7. WRITE ABOUT YOUR VIEWS IN THE EXAM.
SUPPORTING THEM WITH EVIDENCE AND
EXAMPLES FROM YOUR OWN CASE STUDIES
8. DETAILED REFERENCES TO SPECIFIC TEXTS YOU
YOU WILL NEED TO:
1. ANALYSE HOW REPRESENTATIONS
ARE CONSTRUCTED IN VARIOUS
MEDIA TEXTS
2. CONSIDER THE POLITICS OF
REPRESENTATION AND THEIR
PRODUCTION
3. CONSIDER CROSS-CULTURAL
FACTORS (IF RELEVANT)
4. EXPLORE THE APPEAL OF
REPRESENTATIONS FOR
AUDIENCES AND HOW
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http://reniermedia.wordpress.com/2013/06/0
7/globalisation-theory/
Audience Theories
http://reniermedia.wordpress.com/2012/06/0
4/audience-theories/
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Gay men
Lesbians
Black men
Transgender
Muslims
Mental disabilities.
East Asians.
WHICH THEORIES APPLY?
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Dyer's (1979) theory that the powerful often stereotype the less powerful. e.g. Hegemonic institutions
such as The Sun who often stereotype vulnerable groups such as teenagers who are portrayed to be
violent and hedonistic.
Chomsky's (1988) theory that hegemonic institutions such as the Hollywood factory are related to
Political Economy.
Butler's (1990) theory that heterosexuals gain much more representation in media as compared to
homosexuals.
Del Sola Poole's (1977) theory that new media has utopian qualities - Mention 'Public Sphere' and
the opportunity of people representing themselves through new media such as E-Media.
Laura Mulvey's (1995) theory that males are often the subjects whereas females are often the objects
- The 'Male Gaze' - Females are viewed voyeuristically.
Habermas's (1991) 'Cultivation theory' that violence and sex in media has caused people to be
'desensitised' due to repeatedly viewing it.
The 'Uses and Gratification' theory - "What do we do with media?" Relates to active audiences.
Relationship of media and personal lives, escapism etc
The 'Hypodermic needle' theory - Relates to passive audiences. The idea that the media influences
are thinking and opinions
Audience Theory
Three questions:
1) Why do audiences choose to
consume certain texts?
2) How do they consume texts?
3) What happens when they
consume texts?
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There are three theories of audience that
we can apply to help us come to a better
understanding about the relationship
between texts and audience.
The Effects Model or the Hypodermic
Model
The Uses and Gratifications Model
Reception Theory
The
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Effects Model
The consumption of media texts has an
effect or influence upon the audience
It is normally considered that this effect is
negative
Audiences are passive and powerless to
prevent the influence
The power lies with the message of the text
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This model is also called:
 The
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Hypodermic Model
Here, the messages in media texts are injected
into the audience by the powerful, syringe-like,
media
The audience is powerless to resist
Therefore, the media works like a drug and the
audience is drugged, addicted, doped or duped.
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2.
Key evidence for the Effects Model
The Frankfurt School theorised in the 1920s
and 30s that the mass media acted to restrict
and control audiences to the benefit of
corporate capitalism and governments
The Bobo Doll experiment
This is a very controversial piece of research
that apparently proved that children copy
violent behaviour
 The
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Bobo Doll Experiment
This was conducted in 1961 by Albert Bandura
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In the experiment:
Children watched a video where an adult
violently attacked a clown toy called a Bobo
Doll
The children were then taken to a room with attractive
toys that they were not permitted to touch
The children were then led to another room with Bobo
Dolls
88% of the children imitated the violent behaviour that
they had earlier viewed. 8 months later 40% of the
children reproduced the same violent behaviour
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The conclusion reached was that
children will imitate violent media
content
There are many problems with the
experiment. What do you think are
the flaws with the methodology?
Does it indeed prove that children
imitate violent media content?
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The Effects Model (backed up by the
Bobo Doll experiment) is still the
dominant theory used by politicians,
some parts of the media and some
religious organisations in attributing
violence to the consumption of
media texts.
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Key examples sited as causing or being
contributory factors are:
The film Child’s Play 3 in the murder of James
Bulger in 1993
The game Manhunt in the murder of Stefan
Pakeerah in 2004 by his friend Warren LeBlanc
The film A Clockwork Orange (1971) in a
number of rapes and violent attacks
The film Severance (2006) in the murder of
Simon Everitt
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In each case there was a media and political
outcry for the texts to be banned
In some cases laws were changed, films
banned, and newspapers demanded the
burning of films
Subsequently, in each case it was found that
no case could be proven to demonstrate a link
between the text and the violent acts
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The Effects Model contributes to Moral
Panics whereby:
The media produce inactivity, make us
into students who won’t pass their exams
or ‘couch potatoes’ who make no effort to
get a job
The media produces violent ‘copycat’
behaviour or mindless shopping in
response to advertisements
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It is still unclear that there is any link between the
consumption of violent media texts and violent
imitative behaviour
It is also clear the theory is flawed in that many
people do watch violent texts and appear not to be
influenced
Therefore a new theory is necessary
This is called the:
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Uses and Gratifications Model
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The Uses and Gratifications Model is the
opposite of the Effects Model
The audience is active
The audience uses the text & is NOT used
by it
The audience uses the text for its own
gratification or pleasure
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Here, power lies with the audience NOT the
producers
This theory emphasises what audiences do
with media texts – how and why they use
them
Far from being duped by the media , the
audience is free to reject, use or play with
media meanings as they see fit
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Audiences therefore use media texts to gratify
needs for:
Diversion
Escapism
Information
Pleasure
Comparing relationships and lifestyles with
one’s own
Sexual stimulation
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The audience is in control and consumption of
the media helps people with issues such as:
Learning
Emotional satisfaction
Relaxation
Help with issues of personal identity
Help with issues of social identity
Help with issues of aggression and violence
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Controversially the theory suggests the
consumption of violent images can be helpful
rather than harmful
The theory suggests that audiences act out their
violent impulses through the consumption of
media violence
The audience’s inclination towards violence is
therefore sublimated, and they are less likely to
commit violent acts
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Given that the Effects model and the Uses and
Gratifications have their problems and
limitations a different approach to audiences
was developed by the academic Stuart Hall at
Birmingham University in the 1970s
This considered how texts were encoded with
meaning by producers and then decoded
(understood) by audiences
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The theory suggests that:
When a producer constructs a text it is encoded
with a meaning or message that the producer
wishes to convey to the audience
In some instances audiences will correctly
decode the message or meaning and understand
what the producer was trying to say
In some instances the audience will either reject
or fail to correctly understand the message
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Stuart Hall identified three types of
audience readings (or decoding) of the
text:
Dominant or preferred
Negotiated
Oppositional
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Dominant
Where the audience decodes the
message as the producer wants them
to do and broadly agrees with it
E.g. Watching a political speech and
agreeing with it
2.
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Negotiated
Where the audience accepts, rejects
or refines elements of the text in light
of previously held views
E.g. Neither agreeing or disagreeing
with the political speech or being
disinterested
3.
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Oppositional
Where the dominant meaning is
recognised but rejected for cultural,
political or ideological reasons
E.g. Total rejection of the political
speech and active opposition
Audience Decodes
Meaning/Message
Dominant or preferred
Producer
Encodes
Meaning
Negotiated
Oppositional