Dominant Signifier- Vin Diesel, known for his work in fast and furious, the movies main target demographic is men.
Fitness tips around Vin Diesel allude to the idea that if you follow the tips you can look like Vin Diesel
Hashtag possibly widens demographic to younger audience
Having Vin Diesel in the magazine can help make a constructed identity as he can be seen as an opinion leader so readers may value the advice/articles in this magazine more than they would if he wasn’t there.
Content
Article
Older man running marathon widens the demographic to an older audience
The fact the man has muscles and has a stern look on his face is an example of signification as it suggests that all men should look like this.
This magazine is reactionary as it confirms dominant ideas that all men should look like this.
The conventions of the product are indexical and are definitive of a typical magazine front cover
The dominant signifier of the man is positioned in the middle of the page to attract the audience to the magazine and encourages them to want to read it
The typography is in all different fonts, again to attract the audience’s eye
The fact that Vin Deisel is on the magazine is also attracting audiences as he is a well known celebrity
Constructed sign of reality
Media products are made from a heterosexual viewpoint
4th Oct
David Gauntlet:
Explored different types of identities
Fluidity of identity, constructed identity, collective identity, negotiated identity
He believes that while everyone is an individual, people tend to exist within larger groups who are similar to them
‘The school of life’ present a video called how to be a man. In it, they present the cool and warm man. While not an academic theory, it s possible to identify these two representations in men’s health.
Warm man– article page- man running- he’s got a smaller build and is half smiling/looking sort of proud. The photo looks like he’s not posing and it’s more of an action shot. Isn’t looking at the camera, keeping to himself.
Cool man– front page- man posing- specific lighting to enhance areas of the body and most likely photoshopped. Man looks serious and is looking at the camera (or audience).
5th Oct
Hearst communications
Hearst, is an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate based in Hearst tower in mid town Manhattan, New York City.
George Hearst– mining entrepreneur and U.S. senator
In 1887 George Hearst turned the Examiner over to his son, William Randolph Hearst, who that year founded the Hearst Corporation.
Hearst are the makers of Men’s health magazines
Hearst, owner of men’s publication Esquire, has agreed to acquire the magazine and book businesses of Rodale, a global health and wellness content company based in New York and Emmaus, Pennsylvania. The selling of Rodale to Hearst started happening in October 2017 but eventually it was bought in January 2018 for $225 million.
Rodale is a trustworthy magazine publishing company with a 4-star rating.
Hearst started doing memberships whereby for $20 a year, members get the web site, print magazine and newsletter, as well as various deals. Without a digital subscription, readers will be able to access four free articles a month.
Hearst magazines (men and women’s health) hire celebrity models to increase their audience capacity and to get them more popularity. Models include: Vin Diesel, Alexandra Daddario, Shay Mitchel, Chris Hemsworth, KSI and many more.
Women’s health gained approx. 7 thousand more buys than men’s health and is therefore more popular.
Dominant signifier (Vin Diesel), we know this because he is the main focus within the front cover, being the biggest and most outward object on the page.
The title “Men’s Health” – indexical to men’s health and the gender performance of the male gender.
The page is reactionary, as it can be argued to support the typical view of strong, independent men.
The syntagm of men’s gender performance and what men should be like. Suggests that men should be fit and strong with muscular developments. “Lose 8kg fast”, “127 ways to build a stronger core” “103 shortcuts to t-shirt arms”
The way he’s standing (stance) is a way as such to ‘flex’ / show off his biceps and triceps.
The font is in bold which can come across as stronger and more masculine.
Suggests to the target audience that if they read the magazine they can look like Vin Diesel
Contents Page
Contents page
Dominant signifier of Vin Diesel, however is significantly smaller than the front cover
Semantic pattern of physical power and strength
Repertoire of elements (men)
Shows a reactionary representation of exercise and fitness through links to articles. Shown through signifiers such as pictures of trainers and weights. This could be suggested to be creating an unrealistic view that to be considered a ‘real’ man you must be physically at top performance.
Radical representation through the use of men of different ages and races
MEDIA REPRESENATIONS
The school of life present a video called ‘How to be a Man’, in it they present the ‘cool man’ and the ‘warm man’, while not an academic theory, it is possible to identify these two representations in Men’s Health.
Cool man– Vin Diesel (big, muscular, confident)
Warm man– Phillip Howells (compassionate, ‘your only limit is your self-belief’)
1.The emphasis on male beauty and grooming challenges some conventions of traditional stereotypes of masculinity
Changes in lighting on Vin Diesel’s biceps/triceps in front cover to enhance the definition suggesting that his male beauty has been emphasized as it is to fit the stereotypical view of a male (muscular, confident, strong, big)
2. How gender is represented through processes of selection and combination
3. Men as object of a homosexual and heterosexual gaze
Vin Diesel could be subject to male gaze from a homosexual or heterosexual view.
4. The reasons for the choices made in the representation of gender
MEDIA INDUSTRIES
WHAT WE KNOW
WHAT WE UNDERSTAND
Men’s Health magazine= joint ownership from 2012 – 2017 with Hearst and Rodale. From 2000 – 2011 Men’s Health was owned by Natmag Rodale. Hearst is the owner of Men’s Health, it is an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded by William Randolph Hearst on March 4 1887. They also own a gender opposite magazine named Woman’s Health= very similar style as Men’s Health although, there is use of stereotypical colours like pink to attract the target audience of women. The Woman’s Health magazine includes a dominant signifier of an attractive model= creates the same idea as Men’s Health of ‘if you read this magazine you will look like this’. Average age of consumers for Men’s Health have been displayed, showing the ages of the readers from April 2019 to March 2020: Most common age is adults aged 15+ 365,000 woman 708,000 men 519,000 adults aged 15-34 554,000 adults aged 35+ 391,000 readers with households with children Men’s Health has won these awards: James Beard Award for Cooking, Recipes, or Instruction
Hesmondhalgh argues that major cultural organisations create products for different industries in order to maximise chances of commercial success, for example Hearst (owner of Men’s Health) have different products for different target audiences, these products include Cosmopolitan, Women’s Health, Country Living and Inside Soap, which range in a variety of different interests such as women’s lifestyle, home interests and tv listings. Demographic graph shows that Men’s Health successfully reaches the target audience, however, there isn’t that much of a significant change between the number of women reading the magazine to the number of men reading the magazine.
Dominant signifier of a very masculine looking man on the front cover. Representation of masculinity, reactionary. Muscular, masculine posture and serious facial expression. Lighting used to highlight muscles, enhance using photoshop
Barthes myth of patriarchy
Lexical field of blast, demolish
Gender performance – Performing as a character, a masculine man. Toril Moi
Representation =
Iconic signs of muscles, reactionary and typical of a man’s health magazine
Colours of text are blue and black and in bold, typical masculine colours. Perpetuate the seriousness of the magazine as the man is posing with a serious facial expression, black is a serious colour
Genre –
Narrative – Roland Barthes Enigma code – ‘Blast body fat!’ Encourages audience to want to read the magazine to learn how to lose weight.
Dictation. The School of Life produced a video called ‘How to be a man’, while this is not an academic theory it nevertheless presents two version of masculinity the Warm man and the cool man. It is possible to identify these two versions in men’s health thus supporting Gauntlett’s notion of fluid, negotiated, constructive identity.
For example, on page 6 the cool man. Page 44 warm man.
Who ownership, audience, strategies of Men’s health and find out at least 10 significant factual (statistical) points.
Statistics: 708,000 men from April 2019 to March 2020 read the Men’s Health magazine each month in the UK. The second largest demographic group counted
In January-December 2021 there were 66,428 paid subscriptions to Men’s Health and 21,871 paid single copies. also 1,174 free copies These were mainly in the UK and the ROI. 74% of the copies (66, 734) were print copies and 23,077 were digital.
Hearst – ‘Is a leading, diversified information, services and media company with operations in 40 countries’.
It has ownership of 33 television stations, 24 daily and 52 weekly newspapers; digital service businesses, and almost 260 magazines in the world.
Also 200 websites around the world and owning more than 25 brands in the US.
Hearst Communications is the parent company of Men’s Health. A conglomerate.
Laswell’s hypodermic model: audience passively consumes the ideology that men have to be masculine, strong, serious. ‘This month’s specialists revolve to make 2017 your fittest year ti date’ suggests that men need to be in shape, using the personal pronoun ‘your’ to make the article about them and feel personal. ‘Good fats still make you fat’ there is a huge focus on health and fitness and being in shape to be more attractive. Makes the audience fearful that if they still eat healthy fats they can still gain weight and they won’t be a real man.
Lazarfeld. All I got for Christmas is a load of festive debt. Can you help? Information and education.
Stuart Hall theories
Page 2-3
Dominant reading – What you show off you attract.
Opposition theory – Who reads it, politics. That the person has to look a certain way to attract someone good looking. Or how the man is acting toward the woman, unhappy about it. Exploitation of females. Feminism.
Negotiation theory –
who owns it ownership institution conglomerates cross media ownership globalisation Hearst, examples what pages and contents, language how its made up what it means representation how it is how people interpret it audience theories. industry language representation audience
some shift toward challenging cultural CONTEXT Bur not a lot explain why…
can have quantative and qualitative data
Owned by Hearst publishing, a multinational conglomerate as well as a variety of other fashion and lifestyle magazines.
A commercial media institution which has the primary focus of print.
due to developments in technology, men’s health is now also in a print edition and
The front magazine page suggest that the anchorage which is the picture of the male figure is linked with the header as it means ‘MENS HEALTH’ a way to which help the male audience to tag along and read more on how to look like the front male figure on the page.
–
Semiotics
Representation – straight ‘alpha male’ men is reactionary. reinforces the idea that men need to be powerful and strong.
– Media language
“get back in shape special” Use of capital letters, exclamation points, colours blue and black stereotypically appealing to men, dialogue “true grit” of men’s wants and desires for their body – all are signifiers to men.
“Best fitness classes for men” – target audience is undoubtedly is for men.
”103 shortcuts to tee shirt arms”, this is a male ‘want’ to aspire to look like Vin Diesel, as his body type is typically what a dream body for a man is, alike skinny arms and a slim waist for women.
Steve Neal says that audience targeting that genres create an appeal for specific audience segments for example to attract the male audience they want something to be portrayed to make them seem powerful and strong to make all of their masculine traits come out.
onimatopia and alliteration.
David g- 4 personality types
constructed identity- words such as ”muscle, smash, demolish”, construct a typical male identity.
The school of life… thus supporting gauntlets notion of fluid, negotiated, constructive identity.
For example, on page 24 it displays a man topless doing exercise, he is seamlessly lifting weights without any struggle which a ‘warm man’ would display.
Hearst company (parent company) is a conglomerate- owns company’s such as:
–Hearst owns newspapers, magazines, television channels, and television stations, including the San Francisco Chronicle, the Houston Chronicle, Cosmopolitan and Esquire
-Men’s health
-ELLE
-country living
-cosmopolitan
-women’s health
-runners world
– Monthly reach of Men’s Health magazine in the United Kingdom from April 2019 to March 2020, by demographic group.
15+ –1,819
Men- 708
women- 365
adults 15-34- 519
adults 35+ –554
households with children- 391
Men’s Health magazine had an average monthly reach of around 1.8 million individuals in the United Kingdom from April 2019 to March 2020. Reach was lower among households with children, with 391 thousand readers from this demographic reached by the print title or its website during this period.
To feature in Men’s health:
full page- $205,065 dollars
2/3 page- $159,995
1/2 page- $127,145
1/3 page-$88,180
second cover- $246.080
third cover- $237,880
fourth cover- $268,640
Laswell’s model
–who(sender)
-Hearst communications (parent company)
-Morgan Rees
-says what(message)
-media pack (unique strategies men’s health use to get people to buy and read)
-”professional men to get control of their mental and physical lives”
-Channel(medium)
-print
-online (web portal)
-social media
-To whom(receiver)
-men interested in fitness and health
-Educated men
-family men
-college educated
–With What Effect.
-Making people more healthy
-more happy men in the country
key facts for exam:
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 reject the dominant message
Facts:
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.
what needs to be in the exam-
mainstreaming- guerbner said amount of company’s make the same products – feeding us the same info conglomerates0- concentration of owner ship.
Industry– Hearts communications (conglomerate), concentration of ownership (eg: other mag that heart owns), hesmandhale (risky buisness), cross media platforms( digital and print), role and prominence of advertising, profit, income, sales, online data.
Language– Use of colour, font, layout, image, semantic fields(words used), juxtaposition, semiotics, genre, narrative
Stuart hall (preferred reading) guerdner (cultivation theory, mainstreaming), lazerfeld( 2 step slow, opinion leader, audience profile\demographics-see men’s health media profile, psychographic profile- all ages)
The front magazine page suggest that the anchorage which is the picture of the male figure is linked with the header as it means ‘MENS HEALTH’ a way to which help the male audience to tag along and read more on how to look like the front male figure on the page.
The media naturalises ideas through repetition as there are many phrases that have similar meaning suggesting it has one overall meaning to portray.
Character oppositions can be found in real life world products as we can see in the magazine that it deploys the male audience to want to be like them and make them want to change to be more masculine.
It creates compelling narratives as as the audience are more likely to engage with a media product if they are presented with the promise of a narrative clash.
Steve Neal says that audience targeting that genres create an appeal for specific audience segments for example to attract the male audience they want something to be portrayed to make them seem powerful and strong to make all of their masculine traits come out.
Barthes says that imagery does not construct meaning by itself, it works alongside text-based components. Headers and taglines give meaning to photos while photos themselves provide an accompanying visual explanation for news copy.
You can apply David Gauntlet’s work into the men’s magazine as men are expected to assume stereotypically masculine identities to gain the role of the primary earner.
The school of life video how to be a man presents the cool man and the warm man. This links to Gauntlet’s 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 is men’s health.
For instance on page 8-9 it links to Gauntlet’s work as a huge diversity of identities is portrayed. Men are assumed to have masculine identities to portray the role of the primary earn.
Lasswell’s model
The sender is Hearst communication. The CEO is Steven Swartz
The message is to go out into psychological terms and make sure that social control is better in health.
To whom – Active people who are willing to listen. People who are willing and encouraged to do stuff, you can talk about people who have a stable relationship.
Channel – Print through lifestyle magazine, also online on their website.
With what effect – How much paper can they sell, they attract audiences to sell more. To promote it as well
Lazarfeld relates to Men’s health as we can see that Vin diesel (Male figure) in the picture is the dominant signifier making him the opinion leader making the audience want to passively seek out how to become like him although you could argue it can be active as the public is seeking out information to gain the knowledge on how to be like him. However, the concept has been a subject of growing criticism, leading to a decline in the popularity and attraction of the original concept which is taking away the idea of men’s health.
Uses and gratification can be seen to link with Men’s health in page 7 as that the idea of media audiences are active rather than passive, meaning they do not only receive information, but also unconsciously attempt to make sense of the message in their own context. This is because it is showing us a picture of cars where it is making the influencer want to have a motive to consume it. Their are many audience’s that may need new cars so therefore it is a good opportunity for the product to be sold. This could be seen as a sense of escapism as they may want to participate in the role of buying the product to make it enjoyable for them.
On page 48-49 we can link this to men’s health as it is suggesting that there is a various of ways that decoding can be interpreted as we can see a picture of a man in some sort of abandoned studio trying to reflect on how men could be like him all muscular and not fear anything. Stuart Hall suggest that media is represented through codes and be can be seen through imagery. Transcoding can refer to representation strategies that contest stereotypical assumptions.
-Positive and negative stereotypes/ reactionary and radical.
-Manufacturing consent, mass media filters e.g. we are the product of advertisement.
-Dominant ideologies – stereotypes.
-Identity through negotiation, constructed. Fluidity of identity.
-Audience position, misrepresentation links to representation.
-Key feminist thinking- Laura Mulvey the mail guys.
the school of life’s video “how to be be a man” presents the cool man and the warm man, this links to gauntlets notion that identity is fluid and negotiated. Although this isn’t a theory we can can see example of the cool man and the warm man in Men’s health
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
What meaning or understandings do you have of their ideas? How can you apply their ideas to the CSPs
Noam Chomsky
He came up with the theory called ‘propaganda theory’. He came up with the 5 filters: 1. media ownership, 2. role of advertising, 3. official sources, 4. flak, 5. common enemy
Chomsky’s theory can be applied to the newspaper for rules and regulation throughout the 5 filters of mass media. He argued that the mass media is used by the elite in society to ‘manufacture consent’ towards the dominant ideology.
James Curran
Produced a book called media and cultural theory Involved with theory about power and media- A political economy approach to the media – arguing that patterns of ownership and control are the most significant factors in how the media operate Liberal free press
Jean Seaton
Jurgen Hubermas
Formed the ideas of public sphere which was ‘made up of private people gathered together as a public and articulating the needs of society with the state Private Sphere is regarding issues about an individual person in their own life. Author of ‘Theory of Communicative Action’ A member of the Frankfurt School
Can be applied throughout the regulation of newspapers as opinions are shown
SEMIOTICS
CS pierce, index – A sign with a link to its object icon– a sign which looks like its object symbol– a sign with a more random link to its object
sign– something that stands in for something else code– symbolic tools that are used to create meaning dominant signifier– the main representative anchorage– words that have an image to give context Ferdinand De Saussure signified– an idea which is summoned by the signifier signifier– something which stands in for something else Roland Barthes Myth– the most apparent quantity of signification which disfigures the meaning by validating arbitrary cultural assumptions in a similar way to the denotative sign. Radical– something which challenges dominant ideas. Reactionary– dominant ideas which are confirmed by something ideology– the reinforcement of codes which are congruent with structures of power denotation– literal or basic meaning of a sign connotation– the secondary cultural meaning of signs or “signifying signs,” which are then used as the signifiers for a secondary meaning. paradigm – A collection of similar signs. syntagm – The sequence which words have been put in to.
REPRESENTATION
AUDIENCE
Feminist critical thinking
Laura mulvey, 3rd wave feminism(barker and Jane)~ an emphasis on the differences among women due to race, ethnicity, class, nationality, religion individual and do-it-yourself (DIY) tactics fluid and multiple subject positions and identities cyberactivism the reappropriation of derogatory terms such as ‘slut’ for liberatory purposes sex positivity
1st wave feminism, 2nd wave feminism Feminist = a political position Female = a matter of biology Feminine = a set of culturally defined characteristics, Raunch culture -Butler -Tori Moi -Jean Kilbourne Feminist Frequency.
Postcolonialism
The slave trade, POSTCOLONIALISM operates a series of signs maintaining the European-Atlantic power over the Orient by creating ‘an accepted grid for filtering through the Orient into Western consciousness‘.
Narrative Theories
Seymour Chatman (Sattelites and Kernels) The idea that a story has two parts which are the important parts and the embellishments. Kernels (something that grows): Important part(s). The key parts of the film that make up the plot/narrative structure. If taken out the story or narrative would not work. Levi-Strauss texts can be seen to either support the dominant ideologies of a society, which would make it a reactionary text ,or to challenge, question or undermines the dominant ideologies of society, in which case it could be seen as a radical text. Roland Barthes Proairetic code: action, movement, causation Hermenuetic 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.
Can be applied to Blinding by the light, Capital and Deustchland, Letter to the free. Relates to letter to the free binary oppositions between black and white people, male and female.
Genre
Defined as a practical device, as of which helps produce consistently and efficiently and to relate its production to the expectations of its customers Steve Neale explains that Genre is a collection of structured repertoire of elements in which signify that a genre is a genre. Genre is of order and integration- Thomas Schatz, Only 2 Genres?
For example a typically horror movie will have a dark forest, moody lighting, and dark colours. Predictable Expectations predictable expectations – something that happens that you could guess reinforced – strengthen or support (an object or substance), especially with additional material. amplify – enlarge upon or add detail to (a story or statement). verisimilitude– the appearance of being true or real. realism – ealism, in the arts, the accurate, detailed, unembellished depiction of nature or of contemporary life. Realism rejects imaginative idealization in favour of a close observation of outward appearances. As such, realism in its broad sense has comprised many artistic currents in different civilizations. construction of reality – part of those observations and experiences come to us preconstructed by the media, with attitudes, interpretations, and conclusions already built in, then the media, rather than we ourselves, are constructing our reality. historically specific – something from the past that is recognisable. sub-genres – a subdivision of a genre of literature, music, film, etc. hybrid genres – A hybrid genre is a genre that blends themes and elements from two or more different genres. Hybrid genres are not new but a longstanding element in the fictional process Blinded by the light fits into integration.
Industry business ownership
Cultural Industries the notion of cultural industries generally includes textual, music, television, film production and publishing. Production the action of making or manufacturing from components or raw materials, or the process of being so manufactured. Distribution the methods by which media products are delivered to audiences, including the marketing campaign. Exhibition / Consumption sum of information and entertainment media taken in by an individual or group. Media Concentration a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media. Conglomerates a company that owns numerous companies involved in mass media enterprises. Globalisation the process in which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale. Cultural Imperialism states that Western nations dominate the media around the world which in return has a powerful effect on Third World Cultures by imposing n them Western views and therefore destroying their native culture. Vertical Integration when a Media Company owns different businesses in the same chain of production and distribution. Horizontal Integration a Media Company’s Ownership of several businesses of the same value. A Media Company can own a Magazine, Radio, Newspaper, Television and Books. Mergers an acquisition in which one or more of the undertakings involved carries on a media business in the Page 2 State and one or more of the undertakings involved carries on a media business elsewhere. Monopolies concentrated control of major mass communications within a society. Gatekeepers is a process by which information is filtered to the public through the media. Regulation a rule or directive made and maintained by an authority. Deregulation the removal of regulations or restrictions, especially in a particular industry. Free Market an economic system in which prices are determined by unrestricted competition between privately owned businesses. Commodification the act or fact of turning something into an item that can be bought and sold. Convergence involving the interconnection of information and communications technologies, computer networks, and media content. Diversity understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing individual differences. Innovation the process of not just an “invention” of a new value for journalism, but also the process of implementing this new value in a market or a social setting to make it sustainable.
Applied to Blinded by the light: production by Bend it films, distributed by new line cinema
Public service broadcasting
consists of television and radio programmes supplied by an official or government organization, rather than by a commercial company. Such programmes often provide information or education, as well as entertainment. The public service broadcasters are those providing Channel 3 services, Channel 4, Channel 5, S4C and the BBC. While all BBC public service television channels are PSB channels, only the main channels of each of the other public service broadcasters have this status. The TV license is paid by the general public, financing all of the general public broadcasters.
Can be applied to Capital and Deutschland which is broadcasted on the BBC channel.
Gauntlett
Fluidity of identity Negotiated identity Constructed identity Collective identity
Collective identity refers to our sense of belonging to group Negotiated help us establish our own identity Fluidity- Gauntlett commented on the changing representation of men and women in mainstream media- ‘The depiction of the passive housewife throughout the twentieth century was increasingly being replaced by images of assertive women taking control of their lives, epitomised by the “girl power” endorsed by the Spice Girls’ INTERNET REFERENCE The representation of men being active and confident was giving way to a more introspective and emotionally-aware version of masculinity. “Men’s Health” magazine and its focus on wellbeing, which Gauntlett cited as a great example of this shift, was first published in 1986.
Lasswell
Component of Lasswell’s communication model- the message flow in a multicultural society with multiple audiences Who? Says what? Channel? To whom? With what effect? Wrote propaganda during first world war- hypodermic needle theory
Applies to advertisement eg That Boss Life and Men’s Health eg Hearst, We want to give men greater control over their physical, mental and emotional lives, Print Lifestyle Magazine Social Media Website
Lazarfeld
Two step flow of communication- first introduced by sociologist in 1944 Austrian-American sociologist
Number of people are not directly influenced by mass media, but instead form their opinions based on opinion leaders who interpret media messages and put them into context.
Links to his theory as with the front page of the magazine, there is an opinion leader on the front, Vin Diesel, who people will agree with as they actively choose to follow and listen to people who have the same ideas and morels of them and so people who agree with what he is presenting in the magazine are more likely to read the magazine.
Uses and Gratification
Active consumption Recognises the decision making processes of the audience themselves, rather than being influenced by opinion leaders or the source itself
He defines the different pleasures that media audiences try to extract from the content they engage with:
1. Information 2. Identity 3. Social interaction 4. Entertainment 5. Escapism
Explains how people use the media for their own need and get satisfied when their needs are fulfilled.
Suggests that media users play an active role in choosing and using the media Have an audience of successful professional men who want greater control over their physical, mental and emotional wellbeing so they will play off this and show ads which are related to the kind of things they have an interest in and will more likely spend money on products as they are tailored to what they have an interest in.
Stuart Hall
Jamaican born, Moved to Britain before studying English at Oxford University. Worked at the Open University for a number of years, as a professor of sociology Suggested that audience actually decode and interpret messages in different ways, which he calls the THEORY OF PREFERRED READING States that the audience should interrogate the media.
What we see is simply a ‘re-presentation’ of what producers want us to see. Representation theory comes in three separate parts, the first part is that the Media often use stereotypes Stuart Hall believes that stereotypes tend to come about when there are people in power who are from the dominant hegemonic groups within society, stereotypically white, upper class wealthy males Three parts: A DOMINANT READING) or they reject the dominant reading of a text (AN OPPOSITIONAL READING), or they take up a reading somewhere in between (A NEGOTIATED READING).
Gerbner
Cultivation theory says that high frequency consumers of media texts are more susceptible to media messages and the belief that they are valid Presented two main concepts of media: media texts cultivate a heightened sense of fear in society (mean world syndrome) media consumption leads audiences to accept mainstream ideologies (what is most commonly presented in media is what changes an audiences perspective) Cultivation theory holds that long-term exposure to media shapes how the consumers of media perceive the world and conduct themselves.
For example, heavy viewers of news were more likely to overestimate crime rates and risk of personal exposure to crime and underestimate the safety of their neighborhoods.
In Men’s Health any pages show the stereotypical white, straight, rich, able male which can change an audiences view.
David Gauntlett (opposition)
Argues that audience actively pick media products through engagement with them and engage with specific parts that connect to themself
They are active as times have changed suggesting we are more intelligent
Five filters, mass media. (Structures of ownership, The role of advertising, Links with establishment, Diversionary tactics- flak, Uniting against a ‘common enemy’.
He argued that the mass media is used by the elite in society to manufacture consent towards dominant ideology.
James Curran
Jean Seaton
Jurgen Habermas
Public sphere, private sphere, critical theory and pragmatism.
The notion of the “public sphere” began evolving during the Renaissance in Western Europe. In The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, Habermas showed how modern European salons, cafés, and literary groups contain the resources for democratizing the public sphere.
Semiotics
CS pierce, index – A sign with a link to its object icon– a sign which looks like its object symbol– a sign with a more random link to its object
sign– something that stands in for something else code– symbolic tools that are used to create meaning dominant signifier– the main representative anchorage– words that have an image to give context Ferdinand De Saussure signified– an idea which is summoned by the signifier signifier– something which stands in for something else Roland Barthes Myth– the most apparent quantity of signification which disfigures the meaning by validating arbitrary cultural assumptions in a similar way to the denotative sign. Radical– something which challenges dominant ideas. Reactionary– dominant ideas which are confirmed by something ideology– the reinforcement of codes which are congruent with structures of power denotation– literal or basic meaning of a sign connotation– the secondary cultural meaning of signs or “signifying signs,” which are then used as the signifiers for a secondary meaning. paradigm – A collection of similar signs. syntagm – The sequence which words have been put in to.
Feminist critical thinking
Laura mulvey, 3rd wave feminism(barker and Jane)~ an emphasis on the differences among women due to race, ethnicity, class, nationality, religion individual and do-it-yourself (DIY) tactics fluid and multiple subject positions and identities cyberactivism the reappropriation of derogatory terms such as ‘slut’ and ‘bitch’ for liberatory purposes sex positivity
1st wave feminism, 2nd wave feminism Feminist = a political position Female = a matter of biology Feminine = a set of culturally defined characteristics, Raunch culture -Butler -Tori Moi -Jean Kilbourne Feminist Frequency.
Post-colonialism
The slave trade, POSTCOLONIALISM operates a series of signs maintaining the European-Atlantic power over the Orient by creating ‘an accepted grid for filtering through the Orient into Western consciousness‘.
postcolonial criticism challenges the assumption of a universal claim, Jacques Lacan- The “other”
Lasswell
Model of communication
describes an act of communication by defining who said it, what was said, in what channel it was said, to whom it was said, and with what effect it was said. Notion of brainwashing, active is the opposite of passive.
Lazarfeld
Two-step flow of communication (interpersonal interaction has a far stronger effect on shaping public opinion than mass media outlets), spiral of science.
The two-step model says that most people are not directly influenced by mass media, and instead form their opinions based on opinion leaders who interpret media messages and put them into context. Opinion leaders are those initially exposed to a specific media content, and who interpret it based on their own opinion. They then begin to infiltrate these opinions through the general public who become “opinion followers”.
Men’s health- men aren’t sufficiently influenced by this magazine it is their opinions which depend on whether they are influenced or not, it is more societal standards that are influenced by this i.e general public.
Uses and Gratifications
Bulmar and Katz, information and education, entertainment, personal identity, integration and social interaction, escapism.
Suggests media users play an active role in choosing and using the media. Bulmer and Katz believed that the user seeks out the media source that best fulfils their needs. Pleasure needs uses gratifications
Stuart Hall
He was an outsider, studied at oxford and grew up in Jamaica. Reception Theory, Encoding/Decoding.
Media texts contain a variety of messages that are encoded (made/inserted) by producers and then decoded (understood) by audiences. Therefore what we see is simply a ‘re-presentation’ of what producers want us to see. Mens health(2-3)- if you wear the fragrance you will be like that or be with her/him. Touching her inappropriately, racism, wealth.
