A-Level Syllabus

4 Media Concepts

Media Language, Media Audiences, Media Industries, Media Representation.

Media Language

https://www.aqa.org.uk/resources/media-studies/as-and-a-level/media-studies/a-level/subject-specific-vocabulary

Semiotics:
• Sign – something which can stand for something else – in other words, a sign is anything that can convey meaning
• Signifier – the thing, item, or code that we ‘read’ – so, a drawing, a word, a photo.
• Signified –  the concept behind the object that is being represented.
• Dominant signifier – main thing we see
• Icon – A sign that resembles what it represents.
• Index – A sign that works by a relationship to the object or concept it refers to for example an image of a ball can be indexical of sport.
• Code –
• Symbol –
• Anchorage –
• Ideology –
• Paradigm –
• Syntagm. –

Barthes’ ideas and theories on semiotics:
• Signification
• Denotation
• Connotation
• Myth.

Narratology:
• Narrative Codes
• Narration
• Diegesis
• Quest narrative
• ‘Character types’
• Causality
• Plot
• Masterplot.

Todorov’s ideas and theories on narratology:
• Narrative structure
• Equilibrium
• Disruption
• New equilibrium.

Genre theory as summarised by Neale
• Conventions and rules
• Sub-genre
• Hybridity
• Genres of order and integration
• ‘Genre as cultural category’.

Lévi-Strauss’ ideas and theories on structuralism:
• Binary oppositions
• Mytheme
• Cultural codes
• Ideological reading
• Deconstruction.

Postmodernism:
• Pastiche
• Bricolage
• Intertextuality
• Implosion.

Baudrillard’s ideas and theories on postmodernism:
• Simulacra
• Simulation
• Hyperreality.