Todorov – Beginning Middle and End
Propp – Stock Characters
Levi-Strauss – Binary oppositions
Barthes – Proairetic, Hermeneutic, Enigma code.
Chatman – Kernels = Key moments. Satellites = Developments or ‘fluff’
Freytag – Freytag’s Pyramid. Exposition, Climax, Denouement. Rising action, falling action
Linear, Chronological, Sequential, Circular, Narrative arc, foreshadowing,
Propp:
Freytag:
Todorov:
Peripeteia = The reversal of fortune
Anagnorisis = Recognition or discovery of fate
Catharsis = Emotional response from audience
Strauss:
Chatman:
Barthes:
Narrative:
POSTMODERNISM
There is no “whole” “real” “you”, just collections of fragments. “You” as a concept is unstable and “schizophrenic” (disrupted). This is a source of exhilaration as it allows you to be free to construct yourself, however it can be a source of anxiety as well as you do not know who you are on a fundamental level.
NARRATIVE THEORY
Peripeteia – an unexpected reversal of circumstances (the tables have turned)
Anagnorisis – a revelation of the protagonists identity or actions
Catharsis
Post Modern Theory
Many Films and Television Programmes exhibit postmodern traits. Descriptions of the most significant Postmodern themes in Television and Films are below:
pastiche is a work of art, drama, literature, music, or architecture that imitates the work of a previous artist
parody is a work or performance that imitates another work or performance with ridicule or irony
Jean Baudrillard (1929-2007) was a French sociologist, cultural theorist, author, political commentator. His best known theories involve hyperreality and simulation. Baudrillard described hyperreality as “the generation by models of a real without origin or reality”.
What is Baudrillard theory?
Baudrillard claims that our current society has replaced all reality and meaning with symbols and signs, and that human experience is a simulation of reality.
Hyperreality is an inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality, especially in advanced postmodern societies. Hyperreality is seen as a condition of what is real and what is fiction are blended together so there is no clear distinction to where one ends and the other begins.
What makes a text postmodernism
Criticism of metanarratives – postmodern texts usually try to distance themselves from traditional ways of making meaning, and will break the rules of existing metanarratives such as religion or science
Rejection of high culture – postmodern texts will often use a deliberately ‘trashy’ aesthetic
Breaking rules – postmodern texts often break fundamental rules of making media, for example by ‘breaking the fourth wall’
Intertextuality – postmodern texts often routinely make reference to other texts, cultures and times
Style over substance – surface meanings are seen as more important in a postmodern text than any deeper meaning
Peripeteia – a sudden reversal of fortune or change in circumstances.
Anagnorisis – where a character recognizes or discovers another character’s true identity or true nature.
Catharsis – the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.
Peripeteia – a sudden reversal of fortune or change in circumstances.
Anagnorisis – the point in a film in which a principal character recognizes or discovers another character’s true identity or the true nature of their own circumstances.
Catharsis – the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.
Action – the fact or process of doing something, typically to achieve an aim.
Place – a particular position, point, or area in space; a location.
Time – the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole.
Action – Place – Time
Exposition (Beginning) – Climax (Middle) – Denouement (End)
Peripeteia – The turning point in a drama after the plot moves steadily to its denouement. Anagnorisis – When you discover the true identity of the character, or true nature of the what they had planned. Catharsis – shows emotion of an audience through a character or characters.
Types of orders: Linear – In order of how they occur, how the story unfolds Chronological – Could include flashbacks as it doesn’t tell the story straight through from beginning to the end Sequential – When many moments connect to each other (location or time) forms a distinct narrative unit
Equilibrium – Everything is balanced Disruption – When the problem is happening New equilibrium – reaching a resolution
uses STOCK CHARACTERS to structure stories (e.g. hero, villain, helper, victim, false hero, princess, dispatcher)
Creates a dominant message (ideology) of a film. However, as mentioned previously, the way in which individual students / audience members decode specific texts, is also contingent on their own individual ideas, attitudes and beliefs
Proairetic code: action, movement, causation. Hermeneutic code: reflection, dialogue, character or thematic development. Enigma code: the way in which intrigue and ideas are raised – which encourage an audience to want more information.
Pastiche – it imitates an artistic style of another person’s work. Parody– when a performance imitates and is used for a comic effect. Bricolage – ‘do it yourself’ the creation of work from a diverse range of things that happen to be available. ‘involves the rearrangement and juxtaposition of previously unconnected signs to produce new codes of meaning’. Intertextuality – it seeks the connections between media texts and social life. It suggests signs only have meaning in reference to other signs and that meaning is therefore a complex process of decoding/encoding with individuals both taking and creating meaning in the process of reading texts. In other words. Hyperreality – This happens when you can distinguish reality from a simulation of reality. For example, in the movie we can not tell which is the movie or the game that is happening. Simulation (sometimes termed by Baudrillard as ‘Simulacrum’) – it is where the model mimics the operation of an existing system that provides evidence to make decisions for process changes. The simulation of total mediation without meaning. Their are many layers of the game so we can many different copies that is perpetrated from the real world. Alienation – when you reject a person’s position of former attachment / becomes isolated from their environment or from other people. A form of separation or distance.
The process of fragmentation is a key element of POSTMODERN CULTURE. The notion of separating, splitting up and dividing previously homogeneous groups such as, friends, the family, the neighbourhood, the local community, the town, the county, the country and importantly, is often linked to the process of fragmented identity construction.
‘in a postmodern world, surfaces and style become the most important defining features of the mass media and popular culture‘
the fragmentary, decentred nature of music videos that break up traditional understandings of time and space so that audiences are ‘no longer able to distinguish ‘fiction’ from ‘reality’, part of the postmodern condition’
There is no ‘real‘ – just a collection of fragments. We are free to construct ourselves.
There is not truth in history; memory cannot be relied upon as evidence for knowledge. People who claim to know the truth can’t be trusted.
The media makes everyone a consumer – audiences have a limited relationships with authentic meanings.
Authenticity is impossible to find or keep as the hyperreal world of modern media is so encompassing and so incessant, Baudrillard tells us the deluge of messages offered have limited significance. Cultural products in postmodernity construct throw-away messages, forgotten almost as instantly as they are consumed.
Media proliferation has resulted in an implosion of meaning through the simultaneous presentation of oppositional truths.
The postmodernism age is marked by the dominance of advertising as a media form. Baudrillard suggests that media blending has resulted in the construction of fictionalised reality.
As a result, contemporary media forms have blurred fact and fiction to the extent that, Baudrillard argues, audiences can no longer tell them apart.
a spoken or written account of connected events; a story.
Peripeteia – a sudden reversal of fortune or change in circumstances.
Anagnorisis – where a character recognizes or discovers another character’s true identity or true nature.
Catharsis – the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.
– Action: a tragedy should have one principal action
– Time: the action in a tragedy should occur over a period of no more than 24 hours.
– Place: a tragedy should exist in a single physical location.
Equilibrium – a state in which opposing forces or influences are balanced.
Disruption – disturbance or problems which interrupt the balance.
New Equilibrium – a new and possibly different state of balance.
first three lines – demonstrate that you know what postmodernism is
postmodernism is a shift in society in terms of culture and people
next few lines – knowledgeable that these two terms come from Jean Baudrillard – define
next half of a side – cherry pick some examples from the csp about what postmodernism is
end line – conclusive sentence on what you think of postmodernism
half a page on simulation / half a page of hyperreality
9 marks – 12 mins
Analyse Figure 1 using the following postmodern ideas:
• simulation
• hyperreality.
[9 marks]
Indicative content
This question assesses the ability to apply knowledge and understanding of
the theoretical framework of media language to analyse media products,
particularly focusing on:
• how the different modes and language associated with different media
forms communicate multiple meanings
• how the combination of elements of media language influence meaning
• how audiences respond to and interpret the above aspects of media
language.
Baudrillard’s ideas and theories on postmodernism:
• simulation
• hyperreality.
In the analysis of the video game cover for Gears of War students are
expected to apply ideas of simulation and hyperreality to analyse the meaning
of the images in the product.
Answers in the higher bands are likely to deal critically with the ideas in the
question whereas answers in the lower bands are likely to only offer
examples from the product. There is no requirement for students to deal with
both ideas equally.
The content below is not prescriptive and all valid points should be
credited. It is not expected that responses will include all of the points listed.
In their analysis of the Gears of War cover, students may discuss:
• the cover is an example of hyperreality constructed through a series of
simulations of armed forces
• the visual codes and construction as they relate to concepts of hyperreality
and simulation (mise-en-scène constructed of exaggerated human/robot
figures, war-torn setting, costumes and weaponry)
• the relationship between the title and the imagery – the dehumanising of
soldiers as gears, a simulation of the real world
• the blurring of the line between fantasy and reality is evident in the
representation of armed forces as machines, drawing on a mix of mediated
images (sci-fi) and reality (implosion)
• the human element of the soldier – foregrounded by the direct address to
the audience – contrasts with the robot-machine construction of the body.
Accept any other valid analytical responses. Answers must link to the focus
of the question.
There is no real You, only a collection of fragments.
You as a concept is unstable and schizophrenic.
You are an ongoing project.
Source of anxiety: we don’t know who we are on a fundamental level.
Source of Exhilaration : We are free to construct ourselves.
The rise of new media technologies:
Conflicting views of events problematise our notion of the truth. Who has the authority to tell us who we are?
Multitude of images from the media provide frames for organising our reality – we have too many possible selves to choose from.
There is no cohesive identity, no real you
there is no truth in history (personal or national); memory cannot be relied upon as evidence for knowledge.
Fiction and fact depend on each other to the point that they can’t be divided.
Knowledge doesn’t add up cohesively to truth, too many contradictory elements.
Rhizomatic thought — rhizomes are plant life that don’t follow the root-tree system e.g fungus or mould. There is no lesser or greater elements. if you destroy the centre of a mould the rest doesn’t die.
Gilles Deleuze philosopher and film critic, worked with a radical psychoanalyst called Felix Guattari to write some of the most impenetrable but insightful books attacking what we think of common sense.