the transformation of social interaction (audiences);
the transformation of individual identity (audiences and representation);
the transformation of institutional structures (industry); and the changes in textual content and structure (language).
The transformation of audience consumption
Media Theorists
Ferdinand de Saussure (Media Language) CS Pierce (Media Language) Roland Barthes (Media Language) Levi-Strauss (Media Language) Steve Neale (Media Language) Jean Baudrillard (Media Language)
Judith Butler (Media Representation) David Gauntlett (Media Representation) Paul Gilroy (Media Representation) Stuart Hall (Media Representation) Bell Hooks (Media Representation) Liesbet van Zoonen (Media Representation)
Parody – Imitating a previous work with irony and/or ridicule.
Bricolage – something constructed or created from a diverse range of things. (eg. a bricolage of games)
Intertextuality – a reference or parallel to another literary work, an extended discussion of a work, or the adoption of a style. (eg. The main plotline of Disney’s The Lion King is a take on Shakespeare’s Hamlet.)
Referential –
Surface and style over substance and content –
Metanarrative –
Hyperreality – where audiences cant tell the difference from reality and non-reality.
Simulation (sometimes termed by Baudrillard as ‘Simulacrum’) – Baudrillard suggests that we live in copies of copies of the real world (?) but not really ‘real’ and we see this in the film because there are so many layers of game
Consumerist Society – Being a consumer in society (eg. content and items) –
Fragmentary Identities –
Alienation – feeling withdrawn or ostracised within society.
Implosion – a sudden failure or collapse of an organization or system.
cultural appropriation –
Reflexivity –
From what I can see so far, Postmodernism is copying peoples others work and adapting it claiming it as their own iterating on it, and therefore nothing is truly original or new. Parody – “Despite being Scottish, had an optimistic view of life”, “Instead of using wired communications to tell soldiers to kill millions of Germans, they now used wireless communications to tell soldiers to kill millions of Germans.” Postmodernism works in the terms of reiteration, so in the example of The Love Box in your Living Room it is a reiteration of the documentary work by Adam Curtis. STYLE OVER SUBSTANCE. could be applied to both ghost town and letter to the free.
For our radio production, we will be going through the BBC’s history and identifying how it has both positively and negatively affected people in Britain. We will also be discussing some of the key broadcasts the BBC makes, such as Doctor Who and the World Cup in Qatar. We will be referring to Todorov’s theory of a beginning middle and end with the systematic structure of our program. We will do this by separating our key topics with music closely intertwined with the BBC e.g Gorillaz and Dizzie Rascals (British bands) to ensure we have breaks to figure out how to talk next. There will also be references to Levi-Strauss’ theory of binary oppositions, with Jayden often being the voice of reason and attempting to gather balanced opinions from the rest of our group, and Rohan and Ben often giving strong informed responses.
In evaluation, our program was not as focused on the BBC as we would have liked. Overall, this simply came down to not enough preparation being made for the show and running out of ideas to talk about. In addition, Kai and Xavier did not talk as much as the others, and if I were to do this again I would ensure we had a full plan ready and make sure everyone was involved as much as possible.
BBC, PSB, Government, BBC board of trustees ( ??) BBC multi-media / cross-media, transnational / transglobal, not a monopoly, concentration of ownership (i.e. small number of firms who own TV and Radio even though there are lots of different stations)
CBS, Private Company, Multi or cross media Conglomerate, concentration of ownership i.e. just a few companies own everything (oligopoly / cartel), vertical & horizontal integration (??)
HABERMAS
Transformation of the Public Sphere, media is constantly changing – BBC is adapting, BBC intention enshrined in their ethos. They put money back into programs, so Quality is important. I think this fits into Habermas’s transforming the public sphere. More paternalistic.
Private business, likely to prioritise making profit. I think they only care about making a profit and are less concerned about education compared to entertainment. Just for profit is a commercial ethos – not in the spirit of Habermas. Populism
CHOMSKY
Second filter (advertising) The BBC does not run ads in the UK
Second filter (advertising) CBS runs ads which helps them accrue profit.
REGULATION
Ofcom, BBC charter governed by parliament, license fee regulates BBC, BBC Ethos – educate, inform and entertain (Reith)
Federal Communications Commission, regulates private business i.e. not necessarily in public interest.
AUDIENCE (ACTIVE / PASSIVE)
More active as they don’t run ads so people choose to listen.
Audience passively consumes CBS
AUDIENCE (LAZARSFELD)
2 step flow / opinion leaders how we gravitate to people who share the same ideas as ourselves. So the BBC is an unbiased, informed opinion leader (ie BBC Charter focus on impartiality, accurate, true)
The opinion leaders of CBS would be the presenters of the show as they are a lot less regulated than the BBC
AUDIENCE (HALL)
Preferred reading, young people will favour Newsbeat over alternatives as it is targeted more towards them.
Stuart Hall theorised how audiences decode messages, by accepting, negotiating or rejecting the sent message. This can be seen with ‘War of the Worlds’ as the people that listened to it decoded it and accepted it as being real, then ran outside of their houses in panic.
NEW TECHNOLOGY
New Technologies mean that the BBC is faced with more competition.
War of the Worlds is a drama, and it uses the codes and conventions of a news broadcast in order to make a made up explosion and invasion of aliens seem like a real world issue and crisis.
‘War Of The Worlds’ was a live broadcast which broadcasted on Columbia broadcasting systems (CBS) on October 30th 1938 8-9pm
Arguments
it was presented within the format of normal evening of radio programming– Can leave to confusion
There appears to be a routine report from the “Government Weather Bureau” about a “slight atmospheric disturbance” along the east coast of America. He presents the information in a way which would be believable at first listening, but when you start to really think about it and do research, you realise its not true. We are then “entertained by the music of Ramón Raquello and his orchestra”, another fictional character, who are playing a tango from the Park Plaza Hotel. Even the “special bulletin from the Intercontinental Radio News”, which interrupts the music, met the expectations of the contemporary audience.
the writers were warned against using the original names by the legal department at Columbia Broadcasting Company because they were worried about the threat of litigation. These changes are very subtle so most listeners would not be able to spot the difference. This blurring of boundaries between fact and fiction could be one of the reasons why members of audience believed aliens were attempting to destroy the human race.
Theorists:
The hypodermic needle theory suggests a media text can have a powerful and immediate effect on the passive audience. It would seem “The War of the Worlds” production supports this argument because so many terrified listeners, for example, “rushed out of their houses” to escape the “gas raid”.
Essay Questions:
Explain how Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds broadcast used the codes and conventions of radio to convince the audience Martians were invading New York.
How do the cultural and historical circumstances affect the audience’s interpretation of media texts? Refer to the Close Study Product War of the Worlds in your answer.
Discuss how and why audiences might respond to and interpret media texts differently depending on the social context they are consumed. Refer to the Close Study Product War of the Worlds in your answer.
“There is no doubt the media has a profound influence on the audience’s thoughts and behaviour.” To what extent does your analysis of the Close Study Product War of the Worlds support this view?
Uses news bulletins to make viewers believe its real (Mention time)
1. Talk about history and what people were like at time of creation and social contexts. 2. Reference the pay 3. Theorists 4. Talk about audiences and how they react to the news station
Industry: Newsbeat is the BBC’s radio news programme broadcast on Radio 1. Original Release – 10 September 1973 – present Radio broadcasting is regulated by Ofcom (office of communications)
Audience: Its remit to provide news tailored for a specifically younger audience of teenagers and early twentysomethings.
Presenters and reporters on Newsbeat have been told to steer clear of polysyllabic words and address listeners as if they were talking to a friend, the programme’s editor has revealed. – This shows that they know people are starting to not listen to radio as they feel the listeners don’t want to engage. Using smaller words requires less attention.
It uses Steve Neale’s genre theory whereby its a hybrid theory of Social Realism
Its well acted
use professional editing to create a mood that fits in with the genre and keeping the flow
Uses good cinematography
Uses a good story
Structured in a way where its easy to watch.
Broadcasting – For all Narrow Casting – Niche
Populism – What people want to do / see Paternalism – What people need to see
The BBC ethos – to act in the public interest, serving all audiences through the provision of impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services which inform, educate and entertain.
The BBC created space and time through the pips with a universal time being agreed one, whereas before media there was no way to connect each other so you couldn’t agree on one time which uses Habermas’s theory.
PSB – Jean Seaton
How it started – Public service, proved as creative commercially as it was innovative culturally.
Restriction – Until the 1980s, broadcasting in Britain was not fettered.
Interest – Broadcasters often failed to perceive public interest and been too acquiescent to political pressure
Enemy – Broadcasters have come to see the state as their enemy
Middle Ground – The ‘middle ground’ has now broken down because of things like reliance of professional broadcasters, or because of erosion of public service broadcasting.
Balance – Broadcasting is no longer balanced. Abandoned the idea of ‘public service’ and susceptible to bias.
Curran argues that media could be mass produced by those who could afford the expensive start-up costs.
Media Language Semiotics: CS Peirce, Ferdinand De sassure, Roland Bathes Narrative Genre: Steve Neale Countertype
Media Representation Feminist critical thinking hall bell hooks Van zoonen
Media Industries Niche audience Small company
Media Audiences Race ‘a genuinely alternative read for creative young women.’
Facts:
Average age of reader – 27 – with high disposable incomes (£5) The final issue was released in September 2021 100k on social media 25k readers per issue Owned by Iceberg Press – an independent media organisation that just has a few members of staff The absence of men as part of the representation of masculinity in Oh Comely magazine. Iceberg Press, a small London publisher which publishes only one other title.
Media Language The magazine front cover and specified content should be analysed in terms of the composition of the images, positioning, layout, typography, language
Key Notes:
dominant signifier – Vin diesel on the front cover of the magazine
dominant ideology – Body image
reactionary representation – A heterosexual man and what society expects on him.
negative stereotype – this creates a negative stereotype to men having to be seen as strong and loose weight
The blue background is associated with male stereotypes, a traditional boy colour
Laswell’s module:
Sender – Men’s health’s is one of the largest men’s magazine and is aimed mainly at “manly” men
Says What – The brand of the magazine called ‘Men’s Health’ aimed for active men who want a better control on their physique / appearance to impress society.
What Channel – Men’s health is a print lifestyle magazine and can also be accessed on their website and social media.
To Whom – Aimed at men who are ‘sporty’ or active. If a man wants motivation to get into shape then the magazine provides information on loosing weight to get that ‘perfect body’
What Effect– Selling the magazine to their target audience through shops, website or social media.
CS Peirce:
Iconic sign – The bold text tells you what you can find inside of this magazine issue. It all relates to loosing weight fast
Indexical signs – The only image is the dominant signifier placed right in the middle. The muscles relates to the text and the magazine.
Symbolic sign – The magazines colour theme is mostly blue which is seen as a stereotypical colour for men, influences them to buy the magazine. Big bold texts all about loosing weight “demolish junk food cravings” and “Blast body fat”. The dominant signifier, vin diesel, is positioned in the middle showing off his muscles.
Stuart hall – Hall provides a framework for decoding messages:
accept the dominant message negotiate the dominant message rejectthe dominant message
Laura Mulvey – The Male Gaze
PAGE 148 is an example of the male gaze as a strategy to appeal to the male audience. Shows women in the background of the dominant signifier, the man who’s wearing the Givenchy aftershave.
Steve Neale
What is the theory? Neale believes that films of a type (genre, like romance or horror) should include features that are similar, so the audience know it is a horror film or romance, but also include features that are different, to keep an audience interested. This is his theory of repetition and difference.
Narrative and Genre Consider the way the front cover creates a narrative about character and lifestyle in order to attract an audience
Men’s health magazine had an average monthly reach of around 1.8 million individuals in the UK between 2019 to 2020
The ages of people who buy this magazine between 2019 to 2020 were 15 years and above and could potentially be harmful for young teenagers because they feel this is how they should look like and that the magazine would help them with their goal to looking muscular.
The media chooses how people should look like. By adding a celebrity to the front page of their magazine it influences young people to buy and read it.
Mens health is owned by hearst who own 40 different companies founded in 1887.
Questions:
Essay:
In this essay I am going to discuss how print magazines have little appeal to the digital world, the CSP I will be talking about is men’s health. Men’s health is a magazine who is owned by Hearst who owns 40 different companies founded in 1887, making them a conglomerate. Men’s health, the print magazine rules out most of the potential audience due to the magazine being aimed mostly at Men who are trying to or are “professional men”. Some ways of identifying this is the dominant signifier, being Vin Diesel who is a famous celebrity and a reason for using him, is two things to make the appeal of magazines more significant, the first being is as he is a celebrity that will already increase the sales and minimize the risky business of owning a media company, another being that is can be seen as a sizeable man and creating a female gaze at the same time by being the cool man, he does this through showing no emotion with a cool stance and bulging muscles. Men’s health also tries to appeal to more audiences by it being a reactionary representation with society expecting a men’s health magazine to have a big strong man on it. However it can also have a negative stereotype and make people stray away from it by him suggesting the message that if you want to be a man you have to lose weight and been seen as strong.
I believe that Men’s Health does not challenge the social and cultural contexts in which they are created.
Postcolonialism is seen in Men’s health, this is seen with the dominant signifier on the first page being a white Caucasian male
Semiotics – The man who is in the front cover is the signifier as he is the largest object in the front cover, the signification of him is that he is strong and manly, he is also an icon as its not the real vin diesel. The man is connotating that if u want to look like him, you have to read the magazine.
Narrative –
Print Language – The magazine is reactionary because there is a strong guy which people typically accept as its a fitness magazine, the colours are also blue which indicates it to be a boys / mans magazine backed up by the masthead.
Genre – The genre this fits into would be what its like to be a Man and it includes similar features that relate to being a Man.
Representation – The dominant signifier seems to have a collective identity as he seems to represent the whole group of men.
The school of life video, how to be a man presents the ‘cool man’ and the ‘warm man’ this links to Gauntletts notion that identity is fluid and negotiated. Although this is not a theory we can see examples of the ‘cool man’ and the ‘warm man’ in men’s health
For instance, on page 1 you will see the cool man, who is vin diesel. And on page 101 you will see the warm man who seems to be a lot more frail and older than the first man
Lasswells Model –
Sender – Hearst Communications
Says what – Get greater health over your physical, mental and emotional lives of a man.
Stuart Hall (Representation) –
Dominant – is the fact that the audience accepts and decodes the message the way the producer intended it to be.
Negotiated – For example in GTA you may be willing to negotiate your identity by killing people in the game and robbing people, but do not agree with those morals in real life.
Opposition – you wouldn’t see a purpose of the men’s health magazine and wouldn’t sell to you.
The media chooses how things and people are represented, usually by the higher ups which reflect their values and identities. They do this through stereotyping and choosing whether they want to reflect what’s going on in a positive or negative way (eg. Brexit, one paper may say its good, the other bad)
George Gerbner – Found that heavy viewers of news were more likely to overestimate crime rates and risk of personal exposure to crime and underestimate the safety of their neighbourhoods which is called the World Mean Index. Mainstreaming – The more mainstream media that we consume the more “mainstream” we become.
Clay Shirky – Believes that Gerbners ideas are no longer applicable to contemporary models of media consumption
