Attitude Online - Theories (Hall & Gilroy)

Misogyny - The hatred of women.

Stereotypes and Inequality in Attitude - Stuart Hall

• Stuart Hall suggests that the media and the power of media representations play an important role in defining the ideological thinking of audiences regarding specific groups.

• Hall's argument that stereotyping, as a form of representation, reduces people to a few simple characteristics or traits Hall's argument that stereotyping tends to occur where there are inequalities of power as subordinate or excluded groups are constructed as different or 'other'.

• Hall's work focuses on the use of stereotypes by the media - arguing that stereotypes work by reducing characters to simplistic physical characteristics and behaviour traits. Hall argues that stereotypes reflect the amount of power that social groups have within society, and that negative stereotypes reflect, in Hall's view, social inequalities or the wider views of society. In other words, the construction of specific groups as 'outsiders' or 'others' by media products mirror their social exclusion from wider society.

Theories around ethnicity and post-colonial theory - Paul Gilroy

• Post-colonialism is the study of the impact that being under direct rule has had on former colonies. For example, despite being a tiny island, Britain colonised and declared ownership of many countries, including India and Australia.

• These ideas and attitudes continue to shape contemporary attitudes to race and ethnicity in the postcolonial era.

• These postcolonial attitudes have constructed racial hierarchies in our society, where, for example, white people are by and large given more positive and important roles than BME people.

• Media producers are also guilty of using binary oppositions to reinforce BME people and characters as 'others'.

Attitude provides a very stereotypical representation of gay men - six packs, stereotypically attractive males.

There are different gay communities other than attitude - the other stereotype of gay guys are referred to as looking young and being 'twigs'. Also another representation of gay males is 'bears' where they are fat hairy men etc.

Regulation

Regulation

• Regulation
• Rules and Restrictions.

• Why?
• To make sure children don't see inappropriate shows as it may be traumatising.

• How is television regulated
• The watershed is a voluntary time that they agree to put some more inappropriate shows so they do not get complaints.

• The mass media
• considered that audiences are stupid and easily influenced and the mass media is used to explain this - cultivation theory - passive audience.

• Ofcom
• Regulation comes down to harm and offence of the under 18's.

• Harm and Offence
• 'Ofcom is required to assess the likelihood of material encouraging or inciting the commission of crime or of leading to disorder.'

• Regulation is ineffective - Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt
• Media in general is getting harder to regulate due to digital technologies, for example, if a child wants to watch something on Netflix they can watch whatever they like and it isn't regulated.

• Self Regulation
• Parents being able to put pins on certain shows so there child cannot watch it.

Imitable behaviour - bullying - rebellion against social norms - teenager using a gun - sadism - potentially racist from an allegorical perspective

Leo attacks Sadiq - Violent, intimidating scene - may be particularly offensive to those involved in violence - possible racial violent undertones.

Kidnapping - may trigger memories - depicts unconscious woman being dragged away - connotations of murder and sexual assault

• Niska in brothel
• Were supposed to feel sorry for Miska, so potentially this will traumatise the audience. 
• The scene is depicting prostitution
• Objectification of women
• Taboo theme: man having sex with a robot
• Depiction of sexual assault

• Fred in Picking Scene
• Fred has been branded connotations of slavery
• Also alludes to the holocaust
• Audience may have family members affected by these events

• Odi collapsed in supermarket
• Depiction of lifeless/dead Odi - may be potentially upsetting to parents. Odi is a son figure to George - emotionally distressing

Key Theory - Stuart Hall - Reception Theory

• How we receive a media products (3 ways)
• Dominant / Preferred
• Negotiated
• Oppositional

• All about the ideology of the producer
• We are too dependant on technology

Key Theory - Henry Jenkins - Fandom

• Textual Poaching

• Fandom refers to a particularly organised and motivated audience of a certain media producer franchise.

• Unlike the generic audience or the classic spectator, fans are active participants in the construction and circulation of textual meanings.

• Fans appropriate texts and read them in ways that are not fully intended by the media producers ('textual poaching'). Examples of this may manifest in conventions, fan fiction and so on.

• Rather than just okay a video game or watch a TV show, fans construct their social and cultural identifies through borrowing and utilising mass culture images, and may use this 'subcultural capital' to form social bonds. For example, through online forums like Reddit or 4chan.

• A fan is a more enthusiastic audience member

• Fansub
• Subtitle file made by a fan. 

Lisbet Van Zoonen on Humans (Leo Representation)

• Lisbet Van Zoonen - Male Gaze Theory (main theory)

• "There is a depressing stability in the articulation of women's politics and communication. The underlying frame of reference is that women belong to the family and domestic life and men to the social world of politics and work; that femininity is about care, nurturance and compassion, and that masculinity is about efficiency, rationality and individuality."

• Van Zoonen also argues that gender is constructed and that its meaning varies dependant on cultural and historical context.

• She suggests that masculinity as well as femininity is constructed - and that the codes used to construct men 'as a spectacle' are different.

• in medias res (in the middle of a story)

• John Berger (bonus theory)

• Men act, Women appear. 

• Within a narrative, males drive it forward, women are there to be looked at.

• Humans

• Ensemble cast - there are lots of characters.

• A lot of character arcs - 20 named characters in first episode of Humans.

• Story Arc's in Episode 1
• Hawkins Family
• Leo trying to find Anita
• Flashback - Leo and Anita
• Niska in the brothel
• Fred in the plantation
• Matilda's struggle with synths
• Synths in the warehouse being produced
• Detective to see wife with synth
• Anita kidnapping Sophie

• Humans linked to Van Zoonen - Leo's Confrontation

• Shot reverse shot - Shows how confident Leo is and how uncomfortable Sadiq is as he is not keeping eye contact.

• Close up - of two heads in same shot shows that they're discussing something. But Leo is threatening Sadiq. 

• Gestures are aggressive and purposeful as he's unshaven which demonstrates a stereotype that he doesn't care what he looks like.

• He is stern and blunt in his vocal delivery, its not as easy to understand what he is saying compared to other synths.

• He is using physical force

• He is approaching Sadiq when he is vulnerable showing Leo is tactical and smart. 

• He is showing that he really wants to see Anita so it is obvious that he really wants to find her and that is his motive to be so aggressive. 

• The photo of Anita is a binary opposition to where they are now as Anita is pure and in nature whereas Leo and Sadiq are in a rough and rundown backstreet. 

• Van Zoonen on Leo

• Males constructed through movement (active)
• Leo is the active protagonist

• Silence and impassivity
• Rarely smiles or shows emotion

• Strength, muscularity and aggression
• Often running, fighting etc.

The Sci-Fi Genre and Sociohistorical Context

The Sci-Fi Genre and Sociohistorical Context

• Allegory
• A media product that has a hidden meaning
• E.g Animal Farm

• Zeitgeist
• The 'spirit of the time'
• E.g Fresh Prince of Bel Air for the 90's

• Humans Sci-Fi Conventions
• Blue eyes
• Not comedy
• Robots
• Theme tune has sympathises
• Not romantic
• Themes of artificial intelligence
• Robotic speech
• Clean, blue mise-en-scene
• Stiff movement
• Realistic real world elements

• Themes
• Sexualisation
• Sexual Exploitation
• Modern Slavery
• Capitalism and the nuclear family
• Prostitution and the rights of sex workers
• Racism

Allegorical Aspect

• Sex Robots
• A robot is a depiction of a human. Desensitise to boundaries of what is real and what is not you lose reach of real life.

• Pornography
• Cultivation theory as it is making it okay to do certain things to a woman as it is normalised so often.

• Modern Slavery
• They buy Anita from a shop. Slave market represented by the synth shop.

• Modern Slavery
• The synths are programmed to do all the housework and as they are robots they don't get paid for it. 

• Modern Slavery
• It is justified to do whatever they want to the robots as they're just a 'machine'.

Key Theory - Steve Neale - Theories Around Genre

• Why does genre exist?
• Who benefits from generic classification?
• What are some advantages of genre?
• What are some disadvantages of genre?

Differences in Anita and Laura

• Anita is physically younger compared to Laura
• Anita is eastern asian and Laura is white
• Anita is on a different side of the room compared to Laura
• Anita is wearing basic factory clothing compared to Laura who is wearing everyday clothes

Magzine 1 - Lesson 6

To what extent is Woman magazine examples of specialised and institutionalised media productions? Make reference to their distribution and circulation.

• Magazines are specialised as they target an extremely specific audience so specialised advertisers can have their product advertised to their exact target audience so they may pay a premium.

• Woman magazine is casual and friendly so it is an institution.

• IPC is a large mainstream organisation. It is part of a conglomeration.

• Other IPC titles include Rugby World, World Soccer, Angler's Mail and Family Circle.

Key Theory - Curran and Seaton - Power and Media Industries

• The media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the profit and power.

• Media concentration limits variety, creativity and quality.

• More socially diverse patterns of ownership can create more varies and adventurous media productions.

Woman Relaunch Advert 1985

• Still about cooking and women in the kitchen 'high street cookery competition', so they haven't exactly changed their ideologies as there is still a focus on the kitchen.

• The model looks like she's more dressed up and she's going out.

• The masthead has changed, the font has completely changed was naive now its full on and it seems informal but a more gossipy mode of address.

• The competition with 4 cars, if this was in the 1960's then the idea of a women driving would not exist whereas in the 1980's its not anything much different.

• The audience is still working class so not much has changed at all, due to the clothing they've used to advertise.

• 'exciting again' shows that the 1964 edition wasn't as good and it went really downhill but now its back and its exciting again.

Promotional material from Time Inc UK's profile page for woman.

• This is selling audiences, the advertisers which would be interested in woman magazine would be the market of fitness/diet.

• The brand identity is much more different now.

Regulation of Magazines

• IPSO - Independent Press Standards Organisations

• IPSO regulating the stories and editorial content.

• By todays standards Woman would probably break IPSO's rule of discrimination as they are discriminating women by cultivating ideologies into others heads about the way that women are. 

• Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) regulates adverts.

Magazine 1 - Lesson 4

Lesson Starter - Questions on Woman Magazine

• What messages about female identity are encoded in woman magazine?
• Women need to wear make-up otherwise they will not be considered beautiful.
• Women must rely on men for certain things in their life.
• They belong in the kitchen, need to bring up children - article on kitchens.
• What impact could this have on the target audience?
• Target audience is female, heterosexual and 25-45 years old
• It cultivates the idea of women having to wear makeup.
• It cultivates the idea that women are supposed to be housewives.
• What functions might woman's magazine serve?
• Brings together the female community to construct a target audience.
• What potential advantages are there for reinforcing hegemonic notions of gender in a primarily reader base?
• Reflects the society of which this magazine was released into.
• Its a lot better to keep telling women that they are crap.

Key Theory - Feminist Theory - bell hooks

• Feminism is a struggle to end patriarchal hegemony and the domination of women.
• Feminism is not a lifestyle choice: it is a political commitment.
• Race, class and gender all determine the extent to which individuals are exploited and oppressed.
• Her latest book is called 'Feminism is for everyone' this quote sums up her and her theory.

Advertising from the 1960's

• Female Stereotypes
• Women are useless as she ruined the dinner.
• Women are emotional as she's holding the male's tissue and crying.
• She's failed as being a women as she burnt the dinner and she needs the male to make it better and to consolidate her.
• The male prefers the beer to the women, objectifying the women.
• Men are the beer drinkers and women are not.
• Women are in the kitchen - cultivation theory (Gerbner)
• Nurturing/maternal
• Dependant on man
• Filling a housewife and domestic role
• Romantic element

Advertising in Magazines

• Magazines generate revenue primarily through sales of copies (print and digital) and through advertising.
• Advertising accounts for approximately one third of total revenues across the industry. It is, therefore, vitally important that the magazine and advertising content target the same audience in order that the advertising brands benefit from increased sales as a result of advertising in the magazine.
• Andrew Green identifies the ways in which magazine advertising can benefit the advertisers in an article entitled 'ESSENTIALS: The Power of Magazine Advertising':
• High audience engagement.
• Less distraction likely from other activities.
• The ability to target niche audiences.
• High production values.
• Potential for placement in highly relevant editorial environment.
• Non-Intrusive - readers can turn the page.
• Long shelf life.

Representation - Advertising in Woman

• Main attraction is to the naked women, the font is extremely small so the first thing the audience will see is the naked woman, and they will then go on to read the advert to see what it is about.

• Because the women is heavily sexualised in this advert men will find her attractive and also women will want to be like her to be appealing to men so they're stuck with the ideologies that this soap will make the women look sexualised and appealing to males so they will buy it.

• Stereotypes is that women are thought to be sexy and that this soap will make them look even sexier.

• She looks like she's supposed to be sat in the bath but she's not actually in the bath as if she was then we wouldn't see her legs and her hair is all done up and her makeup is all done.

• The logo is also bigger than the text but smaller than the image so if either the primary or secondary audience decide to flip the page after seeing the naked women their attention will also go on the logo so when they see this soap they will always see the advert of the naked women and it will become memorable.

• The soap states to make you more attractive, more femininity and to be fresh, so it also has connotations of freshening your life so you dont have to worry about anything as this soap will make all your worries go away and will make your life sweet, kind and fresh again.

• The woman is being sexualised in this position as we can still see her cleavage and her legs, so it is an exceptionally racy advert for 1960's.

• Her body language is also extremely shy as her body is closed and makes her seem quite gentle although she is completely sexualised, and her body is saying that she's sexually unattainable, and makes her look as if she's empowering women as she's closing her body off away from men, which adds to the context as this happened when women started going to uni, so its a step in the right direction showing that they've changed how they used to be as this advert came out in mid 1960's.

• A preferred reading could be that women can smell, as she is now working and getting independence so it shows that women can get dirty and smelly too, so it breaks the conventions that women dont work and women are always clean and tidy, it shows that they need to maintain themselves no differently to how males need to.

• There is a binary opposition between clean and destruction.

• An oppositional response could be that through the choice of lexis and the use of 'darling' makes us feel quite flattered, whereas recently if someone said it there are assumptions that its creepy and condescending.

• The word 'freshness' comes back to the ideas of kitchens and women having to belong in the kitchen so if the women is fresh then so is her kitchen.

Magazine 1 - Lesson 2

Woman Magazine - Contents Page

• 'Makeup to work miracles' - makes the assumption that women are not very attractive when they are not wearing makeup, it is a form of hegemony, as the suggestion, 'if you're not wearing makeup you're unattractive.'

• Emphasises that women are supposed to be mothers as there are lot of 'back to school' articles not for the reader but more aimed towards mothers which is another form of hegemony that there purpose is to be mothers and if they're not they may be classed as a 'disappointment' but there is no law against not being a mother.

1960's 

• Form of objectification saying that wives are only good for cooking and that they're clinging onto the men's back, as he's off to work being smart yet she is being silly clinging onto his back and wearing a chef's hat so she does look extremely silly.

• In 1960's a lot more women were attending higher education, so the aspirations and the ideas of what women can achieve are changing and they can chose what they want to do.

• The advertising changed to be more empowering to women and suggests more women have more power, and that they're going to work so they have money so advertisers take the women's side to appeal more to them in hope that they will support their product and/or service.

David Gauntlet - Key Theories

• Theories of Identity
• Audience's are NOT passive, and media products allow the audience to construct their own identities.
• By way of example, what subcultures exist around;
• genre's of music
• certain genre's of TV show (eg sci-fi)
• certain genre's of video game's (eg MMORPGs?)

• Pick'n'Mix Theory
• Audiences can pick and mix which ideologies suit them, and completely ignore the elements of the product which they do not agree with.

Revising the Industry Theories

Revising the Industry Theories

• Power and Media Industries - Curran and Seaton
• The media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the logic of profit and domination.

• Regulation - Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt
• Transformations in the production, distribution and marketing of digital media, have placed traditional approaches to media restrictions at risk.

• Cultural Industries - David Hesmondhalgh
• Companies try to minimise risk and maximise audiences through vertical and horizontal integration.

• Cultural Capital
• The cultural resources of an individual.
• Form of hegemony.
• For example; knowledge, qualifications, art, customs and tastes.

How does the Daily Mirror speak to it's working class audience?

• The sans serif font is a typically informal font and appeals to more a working class audience.

• There is not a lot of text to read, it is mainly photo's which appeals to the working class audience as they're less highly educated readers, also they would probably lose interest quite quickly so by not having a lot of text makes it easier for them to keep focused on the story and engage with it.

• The type of writing is at GCSE level.

• The mode of address is direct, so makes the working class feel more popular.

• 'and what it means for you' - they may be unsure on politics but by telling them exactly what it means for them makes them feel more knowledgeable.

• If you tell someone they're stupid this will completely change the way in which someone sees themselves and see themselves in society.

• Using a restricted lexis is a form of control and anchorage, to keep the same audience buying their newspapers.

Key Theory - 'End of Audience' Theory - Clay Shirky

• Audiences are no longer passive: they interact with media products in an increasingly complex variety of ways.

Hegemony - The 'A Grade Concept'

Hegemony

• Dominant Ideology
• the unwritten rules that we follow as they're generally agreed norms.
• Hegemony
• the power that is exerted over us through consent and not through force.

Judith Butler - The Gender Theory

• Sex
• what your born as

• Gender
• a performance

Key Theory 8 - Feminist Theory - Lisbet Van Zoonen

• The idea that gender is constructed through discourse, and that its meaning varies according to cultural and historical context.

• The idea that the display of women's bodies as objects to be looked at is a core element of western patriarchal culture.

• The idea that in mainstream culture the visual and narrative codes that are the used to construct the male body as spectacle differ from those used to objectify the female body.

Introduction To The Film Industry

Introduction To The Film Industry

The purpose of a media product is purely to make money because if it didn't make money then the media products can't exist. Its also to entertain people but only because they want money. Media products can also enrich our lives. Media Products can also exist to influence the ideologies of the audience, but it all comes down to money, we need to be cynical when thinking about it.

Interesting facts on the birth of film;

• First film was to settle a scientific debate, made by Eadweard Muybridge in1878.
• Films in the 1890's were under a minute long.
• Sound wasn't introduced until 1927, the first film with sound was the Jazz Singer.
• Music was usually played live.
• The first film studio was built in 1987.
• Most early films and productions were ran by women as it was seen as a women's job, as its like arts and crafts, then it became profitable so men started getting involved it and now it is a pretty male dominated career.

• Classical Hollywood Narrative

• Spacial Continuity
• The audience always knows where they are at any time

• Temporal Continuity
• The audience always knows in what order the events have transpired, and any flashbacks and so forth will be clearly signposted.

• Realistic 
• Must be realistic and must not make reference to other filmic or popular texts.

• Ultimately, barring any deliberate enigmas, the spectator should be aware what is happening at all times, and should leave the cinema satisfied with the conclusion, and there should be no doubt as to the ideology or message of the film.

Key Words;

• Studio System
• 
  
• Distribution
• Getting the product out there.

• Conglomeration
• 
  
• Vertical/Horizontal Integration
• 
  
• Production 
• Making a media product.

• Regulation
• Rules and Restrictions followed by media products.

• Digital Technologies
• Technologies made possible through computers. 
• Computer, Camera, 

• Convergence
• Where two separate media industries come together
• Eg. Music Video (Film and Music)

• Exhibition
• The showing of media products
• In a cinema or through a TV, Youtube.

More digital technology has changed the way we watch films, we can get access to films online for free, you can also download films and watch them without wifi onto your phone, same with music. 

Key Theory - The Cultural Industries - David Hesmondhalgh

• Horizontal Integration 
• Where a company buys "other companies in the same sector to reduce the competition for audiences"
• Eg. Disney bought Star Wars and Lucas Film, bought them for the money and a wider range of audience. 
• Disney also bought Marvel.
• Vertical Integration
• Where a company buys "up other companies involved in different stages of the production and circulation" 
• Completely Anti-Competition, new productions wouldn't be able to get shown in any cinemas. 
• Conglomeration
• A conglomerate is a corporation that consists of a group of businesses dealing in different products or services.
• Conglomeration is the process of a conglomerate being formed.
• Disney owns many different industries, Toys, Films, Video Games, Clothes, Theme Parks, TV, Record Labels. 

• Universal are distributions and Legendary produce the films, so theres a relationship between the two industries.

• Universal Studio's Facts
• Founded in 30th April 1912 in California US
• Have a Theme Park
• Florida theme park opened on 7th June 1990
• Jurassic World is the highest grossing film Universal have released

Key Theory - Power and Media Industries - Curran and Seaton

• The media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the profit and power.
• Media concentration limits variety, creativity and quality
• More socially diverse patterns of ownership can create more varied and adventurous media productions. 

Narrative

Narrative and Representation

• Narrative - How the story is told and portrayed. 

• Narrator - Tells the audience the story. 

Key Theory - Narratology - Tzvetan Todorov

Todorov's Theory of Narrative Equilibrium

Establishment of Equilibrium (State of balance, things dont change)

                      ↓

           Disequilibrium (process of making things unbalanced)

                      ↓

Partial Restoration of Equilibrium (things almost go back to normal)

• Liminality - A period of transition. 

• Narrative is moving from one state to equilibrium to another.

TV Show - Hannah Montana

Establishment of Equilibrium - Lilly is going to watch Hannah Montana live and really excited

                         ↓

            Disequilibrium - Lilly see's Hannah is actually Miley and they fall out.

                         ↓

Partial Restoration of Equilibrium - Lilly and Hannah make friends again.

Definitions;

• Single Strand Narrative
• Follows a single narrative
• Film

• Multi Strand Narrative
• Follows many isolated narrative
• Soap Opera

• Linear Narrative
• Purely Chronological order

• Non-Linear Narrative
• Non Chronological, backwards and forwards

Other building blocks of Narrative

• Genre Conventions
• Character Archetypes 
• Barthe's Semiotic Codes
• Mise-en-scene
• Strauss' Theory - Binary Oppositions

Advantages of Theory - Can be applied easily as it is so vague.

Disadvantages of Theory - Doesn't fit in all media texts. 

Media Hegemonic Ideologies

Media Hegemonic Ideologies

• Money Supermarket Advert; 
• Male wearing tight shorts is not something we normally see, it is a hegemonic idea of gender in the fact that a male wears jeans and shirt but he is breaking these hegemonic ideologies by wearing this.
• People were disgusted and outraged by this advert (homophobia)
• There is an example of binary opposition, his top half of clothing is a stereotypical man as he is wearing a suit whereas his bottom half is a stereotypical women with a big bum. 

• Adidas Advert - Arvida Bystrom;
• It is an expectation for women to not have hairy legs and if they do they cover it up but that woman had it out on show. 
• Men threatened to rape her, which could be that they are trying to reinforce the idea of a patriarchal society, as she is challenging their masculinity as she is doing something which is considered a norm for the male gender whereas not normal for the female.  

• Hegemony is important if we break them hegemonic ideologies then it will indeed be noticed. 

Key Theory - Stuart Hall - Reception Theory

• Audience Responses to WaterAid Advert;
• Uplifting
• Don't really care
• Positivity
• Happiness for the Zambian villages
• Annoyed (shows one place lot more places than one)
• Cynical (judgemental)
• Better than the average charity advert
• Cute
• Rewarding
• Frustration (wouldn't be singing in english / its all staged) 

• Audiences can respond in lots of different ways, this contradicts the ideas of Hypodermic Needle Theory that the audience believes the ideology by the producer, as we have proven that we all have different concepts of this advert from happiness to frustration. 
• 'By donating money you can help a vulnerable african child' - the producer's ideology, but we didn't all see that side of things. 

• Dominant Reading
• The audience agrees with the dominant values in the text, and agrees with the values and ideology it shows.
• Eg. Donating money to WaterAid as we feel sorry.

• Oppositional Reading
• The audience completely disagrees with what they see, and rejects the dominant reading.
• Eg. They dont trust WaterAid with their money
• Extreme Oppositional Reading Eg. They hate Africa and don't care, I'm British.

• Negotiated Reading
• The audience generally agrees with what they see, but they may disagree with certain aspects.
• Eg. I admire what WaterAid does but I can't stand children singing. 

• Factors which affect audiences responses;
• Moral Beliefs
• Personal Issues
• Financial Situations
• Class Structure
• Religion
• Ethnicity
• Age
• Sexuality
• Location
• Gender (identity)

Audience Manipulation

Audience Manipulation

The importance behind the audience; 

• Without an audience there is no point in a media product.
• There is always a target audience
• There is a primary target audience and a secondary target audience
• Its the audience who decide the success the of the media product.
• There are different types of demographics and psychographic types of audiences.

Key Theory - Albert Bandura - Media Effects

• What happens if you watch too much TV/Youtube/Video Games?
• Alters your perceptions on things, makes you understand biased ideologies. (Stereotypical Characters) 
• Changes your personality, if you watch a show you could try to be the character and 'if you watch too many horror films you're more likely to kill someone'
• If you play too many video games then you may not take life so seriously, example; Call of Duty will make you enjoy kill people online so it could reflect that into real life. 

• The effects model - AKA The hypodermic needle model.
• We as the audience are being brainwashed by the producers ideology which they're putting into the media product, and we cannot do anything about it as we are watching it and we are taking it into account. 

• Mass media is media that can be spread to mass audiences quickly and easily. 

• Advantages of this theory;
• Assuming that is true it can get important messages across. (propaganda)
• Educating people on what's going around them.
• Its very simple and easier to blame the video games rather than sociological issues. 

• Disadvantages of this theory;
• The theory doesn't work in the majority, we can watch shooting games and horror movie's and not kill someone, if you kill someone then its probably because there is something wrong and they are ill. 

Key Theory - George Gerbner - Cultivation Theory

Cultivation Theory is the idea that prolonged and heavy exposure to TV cultivates as in grows or develops in audiences a view of the world consistent with the dominant or majority view expounded by television

• Outline of Cultivation Theory;
• Television (and by extension other tools of mass media distributions) present a mainstream view of culture, ignoring everything else.
• In doing so, television distorts reality
• Heavy television users are therefore more likely to accept this edited and distorted view of reality.

• Advantages of this theory;
• 
  
• Disadvantages of this theory;
• Not everyone's the same and may be less influenced.
• It is so simplistic as it doesn't take in the idea of the complex human mind.
• We are now watching so much different types of channels, so there are so many more conflicting ideologies so we can't just focus on one ideology and be influenced by it. 
• Its distressingly similar to the effects model. 

Applying Cultivation Theory To Advertising 

• Women do the washing we see this through the women hugging the washing powder, and women should do the cleaning as there is no men seen in the advert at all, this is an ideology that is cultivated as we are not born with this ideology. 
• She is an archetypal housewife.
• Another ideology that has been cultivated is the fact that women want to clean and like to clean through the use of mise-en-scene we see this as she is smiling, there is also a romantic love between the housewife and cleaning. 

Hegemony

• Where one group wields power over another, not through domination, but through coercion and consent.
• Examples;
• Queuing
• Homework
• Stopping at a red light
• Letting others get off the train before you get on
• Putting disabled people before yourself (seat on the train)
• The school system
• We dont do drugs in public as we would get judged
• Wearing clothes 
• Patriarchal Hegemony
• Cultural Hegemony
• Hegemonic structures of class
• Political Hegemony 

• Hegemonic Power VS Non-Hegemonic Power 

Applying Cultivation Theory & Hegemony to Advertising

• Its presenting that slim women are beautiful and can wear what they want and do what they want.
• Being able to sit on a private terrace so they can be seen as rich and wealthy
• If these women were overweight the message of the advert would change completely and it would be a body message instead, they're attractive as they're thin/blonde, we know these women are sexually attractive because of how they look and by what they're wearing. 
• Showing coke is a seasonal drink that can be drunk in summer as it cools you down and gives you a feeling of relaxation, the image codes this sense of relaxation as both the women are laying down and chilling not having to worry about anything, the colour's are also light which connotates the purity and innocence of this sexualised image. 
• Attractive, young women who may be financially successful drink coke. 

Key Theory - David Gauntlet - Theories of Identity

David Gauntlet - Theories of Identity

Gauntlet believes that despite many negative perceptions of the Media, audiences are capable of constructing their own identities through what they see on television. Additionally, he wrote there are now many more representations of gender than the traditional 'gender binary'.

• Budweiser Advertisement;
• The women are represented as sexualised through the outfits they're wearing, they're wearing tight swimming costumes and Budweiser is commonly a males drink so they are thinking that if they get this drink then they will get a girl like that as they will be drawn into the advertisement due to the image used and then they will get the false hope that you will receive this attention from buying and drinking this drink.

• Atra Advert
• The advert in this is trying to show that if you males shave using Atra then you will get the girl aswell, calling her as an 'advantage' so she comes with the razor, so giving the male a bit of false hope that if he shaves using this then he gets a girl aswell. 

• Action  Jeans Advert
• This advert is trying to say that if males purchase these jeans then they will be able to compete well in sports, as males are represented as the more sporty gender ecspecially in things such as martial arts which is being shown in this advertisement.

Key Theory - Steve Neale - Theories Around Genre

Key Theory - Steve Neale - Theories Around Genre

• Why does genre exist?
• To set categories in between media texts. 
• To know your target audience.
• To get building blocks and make the media product that the audience expects.
• 
  

• Who benefits from generic classification?
• The media product maker would be benefited from this as they would have set roles to follow so they have conventions to follow so it is easier. 

• What are the advantages of genre?
• Allows audiences to classify films.
• Allows audiences to easily find films they enjoy.
• Gives audiences expectations.
• Producer has a route to follow, it gets films and tv shows made, utopia had no set genre so not a lot of people watched it which ended up in it being cancelled. 
• Allows you to completely rule out certain genre's if you know for a fact you will not like it. 

• What are some disadvantages?
• Gives audiences expectations which could be let down due to its set genre.
• False expectations.
• People can still make terrible films and name it in a certain genre so people will still watch it but be disappointed from this poor quality.

Steve Neale's - Theory

Neale believes that genre is essentially instances of 'repetition and difference'. He suggested that texts need to conform to some generic paradigms to be identified within a certain genre - but must also subvert these conventions in order to not appear identical.

Key Theory - Stuart Hall - Theories of Representation

Key Theory - Stuart Hall - Theories of Representation

Representation - The way in which a media product (eg. the producer of the media product) constructs the world and aspects in it, including social groups, individuals, issues and events.

Lindt Lindor - 'Do you dream in chocolate?' 

• Sound - Women's Voice - Well spoken middle class women, connotations of luxurious and classy, so makes us think that the chocolate is high end and classy and will taste like luxury as this middle class women is talking about it in a very calmly way. The chocolate is represented as a luxury. 

•  Shot Types - close up of melted chocolate, the connotations of this is that it makes the audience want it and emphasises the smooth texture which makes us think its pure, clean and luxurious. 

• Shot Types - close up of women's face represents the sexualised nature of the video, and she is also in bed, which makes it more sexualised so then the representation of this is that its a luxurious item and replacing this man figure with chocolate, as chocolate can fill their needs. 

• Shot Types - Transitions in editing, rather than a hard cut, there is some kind of movement, this represents the chocolate as soft flowing and reflects the smoothness of the chocolate compared to the editing, it also adds to the sexual nature aswell and also adds to the calming vibes of the chocolate. 

• We've got a representation of chocolate, as its saying if we have this chocolate then we can lounge around on these cream chairs and lay in bed and be in this luxurious state that everyone else is in. 

Superbowl Commercial Break 2015 

• Disabled people are being represented, they are being represented in a positive way saying how you cannot stop them and that they are trying their best to do what they could normally do. 

• In the first advert we had a very clear representation of America, through the hard and empowering music and the big american truck, portraying america as empowering and hard. 

• The american revolution was portrayed and its a cultural code so us as British people do not understand it, the assumption in this is that you should know the American history, and the American viewers would be expected to know so it shows that they know their history.

• A women reckless driver is funny as it goes against a stereotype of women being caring mothers and worrying about their children with strangers, while this women is telling a little boy to get in her car. 

Stereotypes

Definition - A commonly held belief about a certain group of people. 

Richard Dyer - The Role of Stereotypes

• An ordering process
• A short cut (for producers)
• A reference point (for audiences)
• An expression of dominant societal values.

Key Theory - Claude Levi-Strauss - Structuralism

Key Theory - Claude Levi-Strauss - Structuralism

Binary Oppositions - Where two concepts, messages or values are presented in direct opposition with one another. Levi-Strauss suggested that our perception of the world is based on binary oppositions.

Binary Oppositions are an element of narrative, as they can quickly tell a story, and establish characters and archetypes.