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Postmodernism

Unseen CSP Postmodernism

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Hyperreality – Being unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality.

Simulation (sometimes termed by Baudrillard as ‘Simulacrum’) – Where events are played out as if they are real when in fact they are not.

Simulation – CSP has unrealistic connotations – dominate signifier has otherworldly physical features which would never be seen in reality – shows that our visions of reality are ever changing and uncontrollably morphing.

Hyperreality – Wondering if the games cover is reality in some form.

Postmodernism, Radio, Tomb Raider

Postmodernism Essay Prep

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2 CSPs I will compare = Tomb Raider and War of the Worlds.

Tomb Raider

Lara Croft – Main character and female partaking in violence – previously unheard of. The gameplay being as violent as it is with the main character being a woman could often confuse players who read into it even slightly – what is going on? Women running around with guns?

Despite this, Lara Croft is still dressed in very revealing clothing in order to appeal to heterosexual male audience – “Male Gaze”

This mix of such opposing elements is incredibly confusing and could even leave people wondering what kind of game they are playing – what culture and time period are we in where this type of product could succeed? How is the product helping individuals, societies or communities?

War of the Worlds

War of the Worlds was broadcast in 1938 and has been said to be a cause of over 7 million American people becoming terrified, and actually believing that aliens were invading the earth.

This was due to the fact that radio was still very new at the time, and it used 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.

CBS likely exaggerated impact of War of the Worlds for marketing and publicity purposes – people didn’t actually kill themselves and believe martians were invading – according to Jean Baudrillard’s theories around postmodernism. He states that “people lose the ability to distinguish between reality and fantasy”.

This links to the idea that the people who consumed War of the Worlds could not discern the fact that what played out in the broadcast was but a simulation and so did not occur in the real world. The idea of hyperreality is also relevant here because although aliens obviously do not exist, our world is so undefined and unfinished that change in this manner is not shot down immediately by humanity as a collective. The realm of possibility that mankind opens up by our own ways of thinking allow foreign and alien ideas to blossom, and this is what Baudrillard discusses and defines as a “postmodern” society. The fragmented truths and complications of our world can result in massive confusion, and this is evident in the outbreak of hysteria from War of the Worlds.

Narrative

Narrative Theory Recap

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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

Uncategorized

Postmodernism

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Postmodernism is a theory in which the differences between reality and fantasy are small and hard to distinguish.

  1. Pastiche – A serious method of producing art where another artists work is replicated and built off of.
  2. Parody – An imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
  3. Bricolage – Something constructed or created from a diverse range of things.
  4. Intertextuality
  5. Referential
  6. Surface and style over substance and content
  7. Metanarrative
  8. Hyperreality – Being unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality.
  9. Simulation (sometimes termed by Baudrillard as ‘Simulacrum’) – Where events are played out as if they are real when in fact they are not.
  10. Consumerist Society – A society where people buy unnecessary things and possessions are seen as power.
  11. Fragmentary Identities – Where identity of individuals is not fixed and can be reconstructed and the effect this has.
  12. Alienation – Disconnection from a group and turning against what you once stood for.
  13. Implosion
  14. cultural appropriation
  15. Reflexivity

I think that The Love Box in your Living Room is a parody because it presents factual elements of the BBC alongside codes and conventions one would usually find in a comedy product such as rude words, informal dialogue and lookalikes.

Pastiche
Parodythe film talks about the film at the end when different characters talk about their own characterisation, acting, role in the narrative etc
Bricolage
Intertextuality
Referentialthe film talking about the film is REFERENTIAL (ie it refers to itself), for example when they are passionate and Allegro tells (us?) what the function of this scene is.
Also at the end when each character analyses each character – motivation, script, narrative function etc
Surface and style over substance and content
Metanarrative
HyperrealityBaudrillard suggests we live in a world that is ‘real’ but not really ‘real’ we can see that in the film in that we are never quite sure what is the real world or the game world?
“Tell me the truth, are we still in the game?” – Shows an inability to discern reality from fantasy.
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
Fragmentary IdentitiesIn ExistenZ the characters have many fragmented identities between their “real” selves and their game characters
AlienationIn ExistenZ there is a denial from the waiter that the game is real and the alienation ha come to fruition.
ImplosionThe implosion begins in the film when the two players kill the designer.
cultural appropriation

Radio

BBC 100 Broadcast

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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 Disney 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.

Radio

Newsbeat VS War of the Worlds

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Comparative Table

THEMENEWSBEATWAR OF THE WORLDS
OWNERSHIPBBC, PSB, Government, BBC board of trustees ?? DG (Lord Reith), BBC multi-media / cross-media, transnational / transglobal, not a monopoly, concentration of ownership (ie small number of firms who own TV and radio even though there are lots of different stations)

I think the BBC has a left wing libertarian ideology ???		CBS, Private company, Multi or cross media Conglomerate, transnational / transglobal (??), monopoly (???), it is an example of concentration of ownership ie just a few companies own everything (oligopoly ?? / cartel ??), vertical / horizontal integration ???
HABERMASTransformation of the public sphere – media is constantly changing BBC keeping up.
BBC intention enshrined in their ethos to inform, entertain and educate.
Not to make money or profit – they put money back into programmes so Quality is important.
I think this fits into Habermas notion of transforming the public
Therefore the BBC is more paternalistic – what you need not what you want (this is tricky)		Most private business are aimed at making a profit – I think private business don’t care about the public, I think they care about profit.
so they are more concerned with entertainment than education.
Just for profit is a commercial ethos – not in the spirit of Habermas
CHOMSKY
CURRANJames Curran writes about the ideas that underpin The Liberal Free Press, but much can apply to transformation of Public Sphere (Habermas) which in turn connects to ethos of PSBsome general ideas:
1. concerns about the commercial interest of big companies
(prioritising profits over social concerns)
2. concentration of ownership – although not monopolies, the small number of big companies is not good for
3. competition
4. Diverse range of voices (plurality)
5. audience choices
SEATONSeaton makes us aware of the power of the media in terms of big companies who own too much.
commercial Seaton also makes clear that broadcasters selling audiences to products NOT audiences to programmes (ie no adverts on BBC)
therefore BBC not chasing big exaggerated stories
Newsbeat seeking informed citizens who want knowledge

accountability – ie who looks after the BBC and makes sure it does what it is supposed to do: Annan Report 1980 “on balance the chain of accountability is adequate”
independence – ie keeping free from state control “without a commitment to public service, broadcasters are increasingly vulnerable to political interference”		Seaton talks about rise and inevitable need for competition with new technologies – which provides choice
Provides more entertainment for wider audiences ???
WoW targets mainstream entertainment seeking audiences

the allusion of Choice – “Choice, without positive direction is a myth, all too often the market will deliver more -but only more of the same”
REGULATIONOfcom, BBC Charter governed by Parliament, license fee regulates BBC as well. BBC / PSB ethos ‘to entertain, to inform and to educate’ (Reith)
New technologies mean BBC faced with more competition
NO advertising!		Federal Communications Commission as regulator for private business ie not necessarily in the public interest
AUDIENCE (ACTIVE / PASSIVE)Active – Newsbeat often gets people listening to participate and talk on the show. Younger people often are more engaged with the broadcast and are consuming it actively, thinking about what the broadcast is suggesting. It is also helped by the constant upbeat music played – helps concentration.Passive – War of the Worlds made the audience seem foolish and passive – not judging whether the message conveyed was correct or true in the first place.
AUDIENCE (LAZARSFELD)Two step flow – messages are taken in and given thought by consumers – happens with newsbeat a lot more than War of the Worlds.
People follow those with the same beliefs as you – BBC as an unbiased opinion leader, the public follow programs made from the BBC as they know it is not made to spread an agenda or make profit.		Not two step flow – Hyperdermic Needle theory? – Lasswell – messages aren’t given any thought, simply taken n board. War of the Worlds could e said to be so as people immediately believed that the broadcast was legitimate and martians were invading.
AUDIENCE (HALL)Dominant reading – enthusiasm about the program from young people.Stuart Hall – Preferred reading – Dominant reading would be to acknowledge the broadcast as not real and a work of fiction, while other people took it very seriously and it greatly affected their lives.
CE Hooper rating survey conducted 12 hours after the program went live found 98% of the people at the time weren’t listening. Of the 2%, no one took it as a legitimate news broadcast.
This shows that the dominant reading as depicted by Hall’s theory of preferred reading is that people treated it as fake.
NEW TECHNOLOGY
SPECIFIC TEXTUAL EXAMLESPrince William and Kate presenting a special newsbeat edition on mental health
Kanye article		blurred codes of drama and news. Programme starts with title music, announcer introduction ‘Mercury Theatre Company presents . . . ‘ followed by Orson Welles prologue to War of the Worlds .. .
Radio

War of the Worlds

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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.

Media Institutions

War of the Worlds was broadcast by Columbia Broadcasting Company – an institution still in existence

At the time, radio and broadcasting was seen as direct competition to newspapers.

The broadcast heavily shows that institutions are always looking for new styles of products to make to attract new audiences.

Regulation – radio broadcasting was regulated by the Federal Communications Commission and it investigated the broadcast to see if it had broken any laws.

The broadcast shows the effect of individual producers on media industries (known as ‘auteur theory’) 

Media Audiences

Stuart Hall – Preferred reading – Dominant reading would be to acknowledge the broadcast as not real and a work of fiction, while other people took it very seriously and it greatly affected their lives.

Cultivation theory – Gerbner stated that if enough content is produced with a certain agenda is produced, people will accept it as reality – Radio was growing so much in the 1930s, and so people were unclear whether radio itself could ever consist of lies.

CBS likely exaggerated impact of War of the Worlds for marketing and publicity purposes – people didn’t actually kill themselves and believe martians were invading – according to Jean Baudrillard’s theories around postmodernism. He states that “people lose the ability to distinguish between reality and fantasy.

CE Hooper rating survey conducted 12 hours after the program went live found 98% of the people at the time weren’t listening. Of the 2%, no one took it as a legitimate news broadcast.

This shows that the dominant reading as depicted by Hall’s theory of preferred reading is that people treated it as fake.

Radio

CSP 13: NewsBeat

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Industries

Newsbeat is a BBC News product with bulletins which are broadcast on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 1 Xtra and BBC Asian Network. Newsbeat- radio service from the BBC

The main focus is news towards teenagers and “twentysomethings”.

Funded by the tax from the government, hypothecated tax, money from a specific tax goes towards the BBC for education.

Launched on the 10th September 1973

What could be asked?

How do media companies use industrial strategies to target specific audiences?

Newsbeat has Twitter, YouTube and other social media accounts and features on the BBC’s website, reaching over 9 million people a week. This would not be possible without the addition of social media platforms, which demonstrates the strategies used by the BBC in order to mitigate risk – Hesmondhalgh.

Reporters on NewsBeat have been told to address listeners as if they were “talking to a friend” as described by the editor, Danielle Dwyer. This adds a friendly feel to the programme which helps to appeal to the younger audience which it is made for. They have also been told to steer clear of long, complicated words which allows for listeners to not have to pay as much attention when listening and also easy for younger people to digest and decode – Hall’s reception theory.

What could I argue?

I want to argue that the BBC uses many different industrial strategies in order to reduce the risks of the media industries and increase the appeal of their products.

Radio, Television

Public Service Broadcasting

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Broadcasting is to a mass audience.

Narrowcasting is to a niche audience.

What can constitute a quality broadcast?

  • Acting – good ways of conveying situations and what is happening.
  • Lighting – makes characters and the scenes nice to look at.
  • Storyline – Engages the audience and grips them to find out more.
  • Camerawork – Allows the audience to see wat is going on from many different angles and perspectives.
  • Editing – How well the story and program flows from one scene/shot to another.
  • Sound – How the soud gives a sense of realism and makes you feel like that situation in the program actually happened.
  • Props – Help to promote a sense of realism.
  • Characters – Relatable characters will give he audience role models to look to.

The BBC Charter is a royal charter setting out the arrangements for the governance of the British Broadcasting Corporation. An accompanying agreement recognises its editorial independence and sets out its public obligations in detail.

BBC Ethos – To inform, entertain and educate.

Populism – a political approach that strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups.

Paternalism – The policy or practice on the part of people in authority of restricting the freedom and responsibilities of those subordinate to or otherwise dependent on them in their supposed interest.

Lord Reath was a key leader of the BBC when it first came around in the 1920s, and he didn’t even know what broadcasting was. His founding principles are still the framework and ethos of the BBC today.

29 million people watched the queen’s funeral – BBC remains the central point of our mediated life – social cement

Transformation of public sphere – Habermas – BBC can link public and private spheres.

James Curran – Power and Responsibility – BBC has a lot of power and control – must use it for the greater good.

The Frankfurt School talk about culture industries and how we need to use our leisure time productively instead of using it for mainly recreational entertainment. This was suggested by Theodore Adorno.

Habermas – Transformation of the Public Sphere – BBC

  • The BBC allowed people from hundreds of miles away to experience other places in real time e.g Football Commentary
  • The BBC educate people on matters that they wouldn’t have otherwise been able to receive counsel for e.g “For Deaf Children” in 1955.

Jean Seaton – The Concept of Public Service Broadcasting

“Broadcasting in Britain – monopoly or duopoly – always depended on an assumption of commitment to an undivided public good” – if you are going to be a part of a broadcast or help to bring one into fruition you would be expected to put the public’s interests, wellbeing and thought processes before anything else.

Exam Prep, Oh!

Oh Comely Essay Prep

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Institution

Owned by Iceberg press (small company) – Went bankrupt during COVID- didn’t make digital copies of the magazine because of their intense views towards print dying – goes against Hesmondhalgh.

Radical magazine – goes with Curran and Seaton saying massive companies make repetitive products to make money. They don’t appeal to a large audience, as demonstrated by a study which revealed 98% of their readers were female and the average age of their readers was 27. This means that they have to secure that audience with repetitive ideas in order to sell their products.

Language

Barthes – Enigma code on front cover as the dominant signifier is posing for the camera, however is not sexualised or appeals to “Male Gaze” by Mulvey as the model is wearing natural makeup and has short hair. Could confuse the reader and build a sense of anticipation so the people buy it and read on.

Oh Comely features wildly varying design choices, with many photographs heavily deferring from traditional magazine designs. Neale depicts genre as a “corpus” or repertoire of both innovative and predictable elements. When I apply these ideas to Oh Comely I see a plethora of innovative elements which do not follow common conventions of magazines, such as small text with big gaps and indexical images of women portrayed in a very humble and self-aware manner.

Levi-Strauss’ theory of binary opposition can be linked to the CSP in that a clear distinction between the magazine’s view on women and men – males are not even mentioned or shown in any way which shows the nature of their product and makes it abundantly clear that men have no place intervening in the ideas given from Oh Comely.

Representation

Refers to women in a positive, powerful and independent fashion with words like “strong”, “wisdom” which heavily links to the idea of gender performance by Butler and the work of Van Zoonen, who both say that gender is not a matter of biology and can be played out and negotiated, with Butler creating the idea of gender performance. This links heavily to the extract containing a body positivity blogger, who is dressed in revealing clothes however is not using this portrayal to appeal to men, but to empower women, suggesting that their bodies are their own. This heavily contrasts Men’s Health in that it strongly suggests that if you are a man, you need to follow the conventions laid out in the magazine.

Audience

Gerbner – Cultivation theory – Accepting media – fuelled viewpoints as the norm – allows opinion leaders and powerful people who control the media to spread their agenda, often about cultural minorities. Not in this magazine – as there is a page which gives a positive representation of African/Middle Eastern women campaigning about FGM that is not to do with poverty, terrorism, war.

Stuart Hall’s theory of preferred reading goes against Oh Comely in my opinion, as the messages conveyed in the magazine are so wildly different when compared with the vast amount of magazines out there, to the point that I don’t even think there is a definite dominant reading for people to accept or reject. This heavily contrasts Men’s Health in that in the other CSP a dominant reading is incredibly easy to establish and compare your own views to.