Unit 1 Media Theory 

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Laura Mulvey

Audience positioning:    Click here for link
 

• representations as a construction to be seen from a certain vantage point (the ‘gaze’)

• audience and spectator positioning (to identify or alienate)

• assumed identity of the audience

• voyeurism and exhibitionism

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Stuart Hall

Re-presenting:     Click here for link
 

• Media products ( media texts) have preferred readings (dominant - the majority or the main influence)

• The audience may not read them as intended by the producer.

• Cultural and social differences can influence how the audience read products

• Challenging and accepting representations (challenging the norm)

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Richard Dyer

Stereotyping:     
 

• positive and negative representations

• categorisation and hierarchy

• oversimplification (homogeny) of people and social groups constructed through the use of a few immediately recognisable and defining traits

• used as shorthand and shortcuts to meaning

• challenging and evolving stereotypes

• how identities are constructed, communicated and negotiated

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George Gerbner

Cultivation Theory:      Click here for link
 

• Effects of media exposure - over time with shape viewer's perception of reality

• Mean World Syndrome - violence-related content in television and film makes viewers believe that the world is more dangerous than it actually is

• Repeated exposure to television over time can subtly ‘cultivates’ viewers’ perceptions of reality

• TV is a medium of the socialisation of most people into standardised roles and behaviours

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hypodermic needle theory:     Click here for link

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• the idea that the media can ‘inject’ ideas and messages straight into the passive audience.
   

• This passive audience is immediately affected by these messages.
   

• Used in advertising and propoganda, led to moral panics about effect of violent video and computer games.
  
   

 

 

Uses and Gratification theory:      Click here for link
 

• ideas about how people use the media and what gratification they get from it. The people decide what they want to consume.
   

• It assumes that members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives.