Media Theory Guide

Media Language

Semiotics - Roland Barthes: Barthes’ semiotics analyzes how texts convey meaning through signs and symbols, distinguishing between denotation and connotation, which is useful for examining advertisements and political messages.

Narratology - Tzvetan Todorov: Todorov’s narratology outlines a narrative structure from equilibrium to disequilibrium and back, aiding in the analysis of plot development in various media, particularly detective and adventure genres.

Genre Theory - Steve Neale: Neale posits that genres are defined by repetition and variation, evolving through borrowing elements, which helps investigate the development and blending of film genres like horror and sci-fi.

Structuralism - Claude Lévi-Strauss: Lévi-Strauss emphasizes binary oppositions in texts to reveal ideological significance, making it useful for analyzing moral conflicts in narratives across literature and media.

Postmodernism - Jean Baudrillard: Baudrillard argues that postmodern culture blurs the lines between reality and media representation, creating hyperreality, which is critical for critiquing representations in reality TV and advertising.

Representation Theory

Representation - Stuart Hall: Hall’s theory explores how meaning is produced through language and codes, highlighting how stereotypes reflect power imbalances, particularly in the portrayal of social groups in media.

Identity - David Gauntlett: Gauntlett suggests that media provides resources for constructing diverse identities, emphasizing complex representations of gender and sexuality in contemporary media.

Feminist Theory - Liesbet van Zoonen: Van Zoonen examines how discourse constructs gender and objectifies women's bodies in patriarchal culture

Intersectionality - bell hooks: hooks focuses on the intersection of race, class, and gender in media representations and how women's experience are very diverse

Gender Performativity - Judith Butler; Butler argues that gender identity is constructed through repeated performances, which is essential for understanding how media portrays gender in various forms.

Male Gaze Theory - Laura Mulvey; Mulvey’s male gaze theory critiques Hollywood cinema for objectifying women through a male perspective, influencing their representations as sexual objects.

Ethnicity and Postcolonial Theory - Paul Gilroy: Gilroy investigates how colonial discourses shape contemporary views on race and ethnicity, making it relevant for analyzing media that confronts or perpetuates colonial legacies.

Industry

Power and Media Industries - Curran and Seaton: Curran and Seaton reveal how a few powerful companies dominate media industries, limiting diversity and creativity within content production.

Regulation - Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt: Livingstone and Lunt analyze the balance between consumer choice and citizen protection in media regulation, particularly in the context of digital media.

Cultural Industries - David Hesmondhalgh: Hesmondhalgh focuses on how cultural industries manage risk and impact audience engagement through commercialization, shaping the production and marketing of media content.

Audience Theory

Media Effects - Albert Bandura: Bandura’s media effects theory posits that media can directly influence audience behavior and attitudes, especially regarding aggression.

Cultivation Theory - George Gerbner: Gerbner's cultivation theory suggests that long-term exposure to media shapes viewers' perceptions of reality, reinforcing dominant ideologies.

Reception Theory - Stuart Hall: Hall's reception theory examines how audiences interpret media messages based on their cultural contexts, enabling varied readings of films and news.

Fandom - Henry Jenkins: Jenkins explores how fans engage with and reinterpret media texts, participating actively in a culture that transforms original content.

‘End of Audience’ Theories - Clay Shirky: Shirky argues that digital technologies shift consumers from passive recipients to active producers of media content, fundamentally changing audience dynamics.