You can use these theories for Section B: Contemporary Media Issues (50 marks)
Keep in mind the Assessment Objectives for this section of the examination:
AO1: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of media concepts, contexts and critical debates, using terminology appropriately and with accurate and coherent written expression. (15% of your A Level)
AO2: Apply knowledge and understanding to show how meanings are created when analysing media products and evaluating their own practical work. (10% of your A Level)
Keep in mind the Assessment Objectives for this section of the examination:
AO1: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of media concepts, contexts and critical debates, using terminology appropriately and with accurate and coherent written expression. (15% of your A Level)
AO2: Apply knowledge and understanding to show how meanings are created when analysing media products and evaluating their own practical work. (10% of your A Level)
You must cover these three elements:
- Historical – dependent on the requirements of the topic, you must summarise the development of the way Women are represented in film in theoretical contexts.
- Contemporary – examples from five years before the examination.
- Future – you must demonstrate personal engagement with debates about the future of the way Women are represented / issues that the topic relates to.
In addition, you need to offer a balance of media theories, knowledge of texts and industries and personal engagement with issues and debates. For example, for British Cinema you should discuss theories of film representation and realism in relation to the history of British cinema, a range of British films from recent years, funding, Government and industry practices, and offer a critically informed point of view on how Women are represented to itself at the present time.
What you can say about the representation of women over time (from the website revisionworld.com)
Media representations of gender
KEY POINT - Almy et al. (1984) argue that media representations of gender are important because they enter the collective social conscience and reinforce culturally dominant (hegemonic) ideas about gender which represent males as dominant and females as subordinate. Sociologists argue that media representations not only stereotype masculinity and femininity into fairly limited forms of behaviour, but also provide gender role models that males and females are encouraged to aspire to.
However, Gauntlett (2008) points out that sociological analysis of media representations needs to be cautious, because of the sheer diversity of media in Britain.
Traditional media representations of femininity
- Women are generally represented in a narrow range of social roles by various types of media, whilst men are shown performing a full range of social and occupational roles. Tunstall (2000) argues that media representations emphasise women’s domestic, sexual, consumer and marital activities to the exclusion of all else. The media generally ignore the fact that a majority of British women go out to work. Men, on the other hand, are seldom presented nude or defined by their marital or family status.
- Working women are often portrayed as unfulfilled, unattractive, possibly unstable and unable to sustain relationships. It is often implied that working mothers, rather than working fathers, are guilty of the emotional neglect of their children.
- Tuchman et al. (1978) used the term symbolic annihilation to describe the way in which women’s achievements are often not reported, or are condemned or trivialised by the mass media. Often their achievements are presented as less important than their looks and sex appeal. Newbold’s research (2002) into television sport presentation shows that what little coverage of women’s sport there is tends to sexualise, trivialise and devalue women’s sporting accomplishments.
- Research into women’s magazines suggests that they strongly encourage women to conform to ideological patriarchal ideals that confirm their subordinate position compared with men.Ferguson (1983) conducted a content analysis of women’s magazines from between 1949 and 1974, and 1979 and 1980. She notes that such magazines are organised around a cult of femininity, which promotes a traditional ideal where excellence is achieved through caring for others, the family, marriage and appearance. However, Ferguson’s ideas were challenged byWinship (1987), who argued that women’s magazines generally play a supportive and positive role in the lives of women. Winship argues that such magazines present women with a broader range of options than ever before and that they tackle problems that have been largely ignored by the male-dominated media, such as domestic violence and child abuse.
- Wolf (1990) suggests that the images of women used by the media present women as sex objects to be consumed by what Mulvey calls the male gaze. According to Kilbourne (1995), this media representation presents women as mannequins: tall and thin, often US size zero, with very long legs, perfect teeth and hair, and skin without a blemish in sight. Wolf notes that the media encourage women to view their bodies as a project in constant need of improvement.
- Content analysis of teenage magazines in Britain indicates that almost 70% of the content and images focus on beauty and fashion, compared with only 12% focused on education or careers. Many encourage the idea that slimness=happiness and consequently Orbach (1991) suggests that such media imagery creates the potential for eating disorders.
The media as empowering women
KEY POINT
Sociologists have noted the increasing number of positive female roles emerging, especially in television drama and films. It is argued that these reflect the social and cultural changes that females have experienced in the last 25 years, especially the feminisation of the economy, which has meant that women are now more likely to have aspirational attitudes, a positive attitude towards education, careers and an independent income. Westwood claims that we are now seeing more transgressive (i.e. going beyond gendered expectations) female roles on British television as a result.
Sociologists have noted the increasing number of positive female roles emerging, especially in television drama and films. It is argued that these reflect the social and cultural changes that females have experienced in the last 25 years, especially the feminisation of the economy, which has meant that women are now more likely to have aspirational attitudes, a positive attitude towards education, careers and an independent income. Westwood claims that we are now seeing more transgressive (i.e. going beyond gendered expectations) female roles on British television as a result.
Gill (2008) argues that the depiction of women in advertising has changed from women as passive objects of the male gaze, to active, independent and sexually powerful agents. Gauntlett (2008) argues that magazines aimed at young women emphasise that women must do their own thing and be themselves, whilst female pop stars, like Lady Gaga, sing about financial and emotional independence. This set of media messages from a range of sources suggest that women can be tough and independent whilst being ‘sexy’.
Top Tips for Women in Film
Use contemporary examples and discuss the here and now. Refer to films that you have seen recently and to theorists that you have heard recently.
For example, Kathryn Bigelow was the first female director ever to win a Best Director Oscar (for 'The Hurt Locker' in 2009). This prompted a debate about the under-representation of women film directors - only five per cent of filmmakers were female in 2012. See the excellent article on how this affects the representation of women at http://theweek.com/article/index/242943/girls-on-film-of-course-we-need-more-female-directors. And also: http://theweek.com/article/index/243602/girls-on-film-the-danger-of-the-female-filmmaker-label.
Also BRILLIANT to quote the 2011 documentary 'Miss Representation' - see the website http://www.missrepresentation.org.
and watch the trailer:
Below is a summary of the sorts of theories you could include in your essay, beginning with some quotations to learn from some current theorists:
"Ce n’est pas un image juste, c’est juste un image"
Consider this aphorism from 1960s film director Jean-Luc Godard – badly translated as "It’s not a real image, it’s really an image."
According to Film Education, the emphasis here lies on the two words – real and image. This can be extended by a further Godard quotation –
"Film is not the reflection of reality but the reality of the reflection."
Combining these two ideas we arrive at the concept of the constructed image and the ways in which the viewer/reader is entwined within the understanding of the image. It's up to you, the audience, and media studies students, to consider how you read media texts in relationship to yourself and your own experiences, both of images and the relationship to your own life and expectations.
Key theorists to quote
1. David Gauntlett
"Identity is complicated - everybody thinks they've got one." - David Gauntlett - see his Media Theory website at http://www.theory.org.uk/ctr-iden.htm. Also, read the conclusion to his book, Media, Gender and Identity - An Introduction, 2001."People are increasingly curious about our own construction of identity, which is one of the reasons why people buy magazines and self-help books, and watch 'people shows' on TV, and also one of the reasons why people are interested to do courses in media or sociology or psychology." (Gauntlett, 2001)
"In Media, Gender and Identity I aim to show how people can make use of the work of Anthony Giddens (on how media products can be used as part of the construction of a 'lifestyle' and a 'narrative of the self'); and Michel Foucault (on how media may contribute to the cultivation of the self, and also lead people to monitor and police themselves and their projected identities); and Judith Butler (on the fluidity of identities); amongst others." (Gauntlett, 2001)
"Femininity is not typically a core value for women today. Instead, being 'feminine' is justone of the performances that women choose to employ in everyday life - perhaps for pleasure or to achieve a particular goal.' (from Media, Gender and Identity - An Introduction, Gauntlett, 2001)
"We should never confuse changes in the media with changes in real life. However I do think that popular media can take a leading role in this kind of social change. On its own, the media can't transform people's attitudes, but I think it can help to chip away at people's prejudices." (Gauntlett, 2001)
2. David Buckingham
"Identity is an ambiguous and slippery term." (David Buckingham, 2008)
3. Anthony Giddens
"What to do? How to act? Who to be? These are focal questions for everyone living in circumstances of late modernity - and ones which, on some level or another, all of us answer, either discursively or through day-to-day social behaviour." (Anthony Giddens, 1991).
4. Michael Foucault
"'Techniques of the self' or 'arts of existence' as 'those reflective and voluntary practices by which men not only set themselves rules of conduct, but seek to transform themselves, to change themselves in their singular being, and to make of their life into an oeuvre that carries certain aesthetic values and meets certain stylistic criteria" (Foucault, 1984))
See an explanation of Faucault at http://www.theory.org.uk/ctr-fouc.htm
Films you can write about in terms of Collective Identity - representation of Women:
Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
See an explanation of Faucault at http://www.theory.org.uk/ctr-fouc.htm
Films you can write about in terms of Collective Identity - representation of Women:
Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
Pride and Prejudice (Romance/Drama, Simon Langton, 1995)
East is East (Comedy/Drama, Damien O'Donnell, 1999)
Bend It Like Beckham (Comedy/Drama/Romance, Gurinder Chadha, 2002)
Wasp (Andrea Arnold, 2003 - Oscar-winner for short film)
East is East (Comedy/Drama, Damien O'Donnell, 1999)
Bend It Like Beckham (Comedy/Drama/Romance, Gurinder Chadha, 2002)
Wasp (Andrea Arnold, 2003 - Oscar-winner for short film)
Ae Fond Kiss (Drama/Romance, Ken Loach, 2004, who also directed 'Sweet Sixteen', Crime/Drama, 2002))
Children of Men (Adventure/Drama/Sci-fi set in 2027, Alfonso Cuaron, 2006)
This Is England (Crime/Drama, Shane Meadows, 2006)
CONTEMPORARY (WITHIN LAST 5 YEARS)
Children of Men (Adventure/Drama/Sci-fi set in 2027, Alfonso Cuaron, 2006)
This Is England (Crime/Drama, Shane Meadows, 2006)
Eden Lake (Horror/Thriller, James Watkins, 2008, also directed 'The Woman In Black', Drama/Horror/Thriller, 2011)
Slumdog Millionaire (Crime/Drama/Romance, Danny Boyle, 2008)
Fish Tank (Drama, Andrea Arnold, 2009)
Made in Dagenham (Biography/Comedy/Drama, Nigel Cole, 2010)
The King's Speech (Biography/Drama/History, Tom Hooper, 2010)
Made in Dagenham (Biography/Comedy/Drama, Nigel Cole, 2010)
The King's Speech (Biography/Drama/History, Tom Hooper, 2010)
CONTEMPORARY (WITHIN LAST 5 YEARS)
The Hunger Games (Gary Ross, 2012); Catching Fire (Francis Lawrence, 2013), Mockingjay - Part 1 (Francis Lawrence, 2014 & 2015)
Divergent (Neil Burger, 2014), Insurgent (Robert Schwentke, 2015)
Suffragette (Sarah Gavron, 2015)
Carol (Todd Haynes, 2015)
1. Representation Theory
This theory challenges the authenticity of the images that we receive through the media, focusing particularly on the presentation of individuals and social groups. The ways the media represents nationality can be indicative of the way we see ourselves, as well as the way we see others. The idea of a dominant culture, which sees that which is different as inherently 'other' and is therefore suspicious of it, is relevant here. There is a diverse and rich source of representations of British women (and especially English) in film and television. For example, 'East is East' and 'Bend it Like Beckham' both offer a representation of British people, but neither can be taken as a definitive account of nationality.
Think about the ways representation can be presented either from within a certain culture ('Fish Tank') or from afar ('Lost In Translation', 2003). This becomes complicated when a film is made specifically as an export providing a stylised and stereotypical view of a nation rather than a supposedly 'realistic' model - see Richard Curtis's 'Four Weddings and a Funeral (2004), Notting Hil (1999), and' Love Actually' (2003), which provide rather an idealised version that gives an international audience a vision of English/British identity which emphases such images of black cabs, Big Ben and Beefeaters, including stereotypical representations of British women.
The idea of representation is that viewers can be influenced to respond in certain ways to the people that are presented in the media. Positive and negative images can be shown on our screens, reinforcing or challenging stereotypes. Think about the representation of the 'chav', race, class, gender, sexual orientation. How does this reflect 'real' life?
Thinking about genre, representation and postmodernism, look at the way the British working-class woman is represented in these two videos: Madness 'Our House' from 1982
followed by Kid British 'Our House is Dadless' from 2009:
Over time, the way women have been represented has changed. Films about certain eras may not be regarded as the definitive representation of 'what we were like', but they do exist as products of their time. For example, the 1970s was not entirely populated by rabid racists, nor the 1980s with anarchic left-wingers, the 1990s with hedonistic socialites or the early 2000s with unhinged paper merchants (ie 'The Office'), but texts reflecting these values and ideologies do have a wider cultural relevance.
Mise-en-scene - can be used to represent a group positively or negatively. Clothing may indicated a specific stereotype associated with a particular social group. Think about how the women's strike in 'Made in Dagenham' was nicknamed 'The Revlon Revolution'.
Editing - A film may be edited to seem as if we are looking at the world through a character's eyes, which may make us feel closer to them as we experience their emotional reactions. Think of Mia in 'Fish Tank'. Sound may be used with a particular theme tune (Romeo in Baz Luhrmann's 'Romeo and Juliet') or a voiceover that makes the viewer naturally empathise with the speaker.
Related to Mediation theory 1 - In fictive texts such as films, filmmakers are deliberately manipulating an image or representation of something real in order to stamp their own artistic and creative seal upon it. For example, filmmakers can make a place seem inviting and pleasant by choosing to film it on a beautiful summer's day and lighting it in a certain way. Or they can make a place appear menacing by filming it as a dark, stormy place lit in such a way as to appear gloomy and full of shadows. Eden Lake, for example, begins as a peaceful idyll in the early summer sun then degrades into a much colder, bleaker forest, with the trees looking like prison bars.
Feminist film theory - the way women act and are treated in the media. This also provides the analytical tools to consider how class, race and nationality are represented in the media. The representation of women has been a key area of development in film theory.
Postmodernism - a difficult area because it encompasses so many ideas. Postmodernism encompasses architecture, literature, art, film, politics, economics and much more. It can even be considered as a mode of living (the postmodern condition) in the capitalist information age. Postmodern texts are best considered as cultural products that celebrate and draw attention to their 'false' nature. 1. They don't pretend to be wholly realistic, and often draw attention to the fact that they are fictitious - a character may stop the action and talk to the camera.
2. They deliberately mix genres, and will borrow from music videos, tv, animation and other forms.
3. They often refer to other films (a process called inter-textuality).
4. They often rearrange or disrupt strict linear narratives with a clear beginning and end, and prefer circular narratives and open ended narrative closure.
5. They sometimes contain stories within stories or films within films.
6. The often involve characters that feel disconnected or alienated from their environment, and distrust authorities.
Example - bricolage, a postmodern term applied to the mixing together of different genres, is used in 'This Is England' and 'Made In Dagenham' where we see a mixture of news footage at the beginning of the film.
Theorist Jean Baudrillard has been dubbed 'the prophet of postmodernism'. Baudrillard, in 'Simulacra and Simulation', examines the phenomena that in the postmodern world (post-1900), audiences are so saturated with representations that these now precede perceptions of the actual, subtly challenging them in the process. For example, victims of 9/11 frequently described their trauma as the twin towers collapsed as "...like a film..." As media products become increasingly sophisticated, people may choose to spend their lives in the predictable comfort of cyberspace rather than in the actual world of relationships, pain, mishaps and confusion! Think about the popular weekend activity of 'Larping' (live action roleplaying) and the film 'Role Models'. See 'The Matrix'.
Marxism
This theory has introduced the concept of political aspects into discussion about film. This involves the ideas of Marx and Engels on foregrounding the discussion of class and power. Many films have elements of class struggle and issues surrounding capitalist society. Films like 'Made In Dagenham' can be seen from a Marxist perspective because they depict characters struggling with monetary or class constraints.
Barthes - semiotics, enigma codes, 'steak and chips'
Barthes, a French media theorist writing from 1950s to 1970s, developed the theory of semiotics - where any text is a complex bundle of meaning which can be unravelled to create a whole range of different meanings. These threads are called narrative codes. Also, look back at Barthes' 'Steak and Chips' essay, where he theorises that certain foods can symbolise a national identity. As he was French, he cites steak and chips and red wine as examples. For Britain, it might be the roast dinner. Texts that can be read in a number of ways are polysemic texts. The handiest code to refer to in essays is the enigma code - found in all successful texts from 'Bob the Builder' to 'CSI'. These codes are constructed to attract and hold the attention of the audience, usually be creating a mystery or puzzle which the audience want to see solved - why has this man been murdered?
2. Audience Theory
Hypodermic syringe model –
the theory that the audience are passive receivers of media messages that they interpret uncritically. This theory is popular when there is a moral panic, such as the case of Jamie Bulger, a toddler who was brutally murdered by two other children. The two killers' defence rested on the fact that their young minds had been corrupted by 'video nasties' that showed horrible violence as fun (aberrant decoding).
Uses and gratifications model
Uses and gratifications model
Media theorists Blumler and Katz put forward the idea that audiences put media texts to their own uses, instead of being manipulated by them. Here are four distinct uses to which audiences put texts:
1. To reinforce personal identity: texts can be used to judge how to behave in reality.
2. To find companionship and meaning by being part of a group: going to the cinema and discussing the latest movie with friends would be a good example of this. Watching soap operas is another example where people actually feel part of Walford or Emmerdale, if their own lives are rather lonely.
3. People also use media texts to find out about current affairs, news and weather and how they should respond to changes taking place. For example, many people read the Financial Times in order to discover stock prices and company fortunes.
4. Finally, people use the media to communicate with each other. The Internet is of course the biggest way this is done, it is a medium that is increasingly being used by advertisers. Interactive TV is also taking off, with millions of people pressing the red button on their remote control to vote on who should be removed from the Big Brother house, or who should be crowned Queen of the Jungle!
Roland Barthes
Marx
Freud
Behaviourism
Moral panics - Stanley Cohen (chavs)
Hegemony
Gauntlett argues against the hypodermic syringe model, saying "making is connecting", suggesting that contemporary audiences use Web 2.0 to engage with the world by creating their own media products. See his four-minute "making is connecting" lecture here
3. Narrative Theory
Narrative is one of the main ways that characters and their characteristics are relayed to the viewer. Narrative also dominates and affects other aspects of film such as editing. For example, if a film centres on the story of a particular character (Shaun in 'This Is England' (2006); Rita O'Grady in 'Made In Dagenham (2002), Jenny and Steve in 'Eden Lake' (2008)), it needs to be filmed and edited to privilege their point of view.
Levi-Strauss and binary opposition – Claude Levi-Strauss identified a narrative system of 'binary opposites' in which symbols and ideas exist in relation to their opposites, with which they are in conflict. The theory is that this helps us draw meanings from a text, such as the need to side with a character who is 'good'. Typical binary oppositions are Good v Evil; Male v Female; Us v Them (Think 'Eden Lake', 'Ae Fond Kiss').
Also involves:
Representation Theory
Postmodernism (Baudrillard)
Semiotics (Barthes)
Enigma codes (Barthes)
4. Genre Theory
"Genre is a type" (Chandler, 2001)
The study of genre has often focused on film, where certain codes and conventions have been identified. These are recurrent character, narrative and visual tropes (patterns) that can be identified over a series of films. For example, if we consider the horror genre, we can identify key components that tell us we are viewing that type of film. For example, use of the supernatural, gory scenes, shots from behind objects, through windows, at odd angles, use of a vulnerable female character, music to add tension, sometimes an 'unhappy' tragic ending.
David Buckingham, Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Loughborough University, argues that 'genre is not... simply "given" by the culture: rather, it is in a constant process of negotiation and change' (Buckingham 1993, 137).
Ideology is important here: ( see http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/alevel.php)
Simply put, ideology is the ideas behind a media text, the secret (or sometimes not-so secret) agenda of its producers. It is important to be able to identify the different ideological discourses that may be present in even an apparently simple photograph.
In sociological terms, ideology is a body of ideas or set of beliefs that underpins a process or institution and leads to social relations. These sets of beliefs are those held by groups within society, and the prevalent ones are those held by the ruling/dominant groups.
Hegemony
In any society the accepted and agreed beliefs are those of the ruling class, i.e. the class which is the ruling material (with all the money) force is at the same time its ruling intellectual (with all the ideas) force. Christianity is the main historical example (think of how many legal systems take Christian moral values as their basis)- are there any modern day equivalents? Football currently has hegemonic status in the UK - glance through the sports pages and see what coverage other sports get - and everyone is expected to understand and accept its national importance.
Hegemony is not a forced political movement, however. To use the previous example, no one is forced to watch/listen to/read about football. It's just sometimes it seems that there are few alternatives. This is how hegemonies take hold: a majority decide to 'fit in' with the cultural values and ideas of their time and place and the minority keep their objections quiet. Hegemony is about consent, and one of the things it consents to is inequality - us and them.
What part does the media have to play in developing and maintaining a hegemony?
- Institutions, language, news/information, arbiting taste, regulating output, representations, ownership, authorship
What part does the media have to play in opposing/altering the hegemony?
-Challenging all of the above by presenting the alternatives in a positive light OR reconfirming them.
British Social Realism
Directors such as Ken Loach may choose to follow aesthetic principles that define the tone and content of the texts. These films have a 'gritty' aesthetic that befits the crime-ridden landscape they depict. They may also work against some dominant ideologies about the ways people should behave, as opposed to Hollywood films which have clear ideological rules about heroic individuals who go through testing and struggle and eventually winb through against all odds. This raises the term 'discourse' - a set of hidden, 'agreed' rules about what is acceptable. This leads on to the idea of 'political correctness' where the media widely practices self-censorship where certain ideologies are considered dangerous, such as views on race or gender.
Christian Metz - four-phase process
Metz identified four phases in the audience: the initial phase, the classical phase, the declining phase and finally the parody phase. The disaster genre is a good example with 'The Towering Inferno' in the classical phase and 'Airplane!' as the final parody. To survive, genres must mutate and join with others to form hybrid genres.
Postmodernism - see above
The study of genre has often focused on film, where certain codes and conventions have been identified. These are recurrent character, narrative and visual tropes (patterns) that can be identified over a series of films. For example, if we consider the horror genre, we can identify key components that tell us we are viewing that type of film. For example, use of the supernatural, gory scenes, shots from behind objects, through windows, at odd angles, use of a vulnerable female character, music to add tension, sometimes an 'unhappy' tragic ending.
David Buckingham, Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Loughborough University, argues that 'genre is not... simply "given" by the culture: rather, it is in a constant process of negotiation and change' (Buckingham 1993, 137).
Ideology is important here: ( see http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/alevel.php)
Simply put, ideology is the ideas behind a media text, the secret (or sometimes not-so secret) agenda of its producers. It is important to be able to identify the different ideological discourses that may be present in even an apparently simple photograph.
In sociological terms, ideology is a body of ideas or set of beliefs that underpins a process or institution and leads to social relations. These sets of beliefs are those held by groups within society, and the prevalent ones are those held by the ruling/dominant groups.
Hegemony
In any society the accepted and agreed beliefs are those of the ruling class, i.e. the class which is the ruling material (with all the money) force is at the same time its ruling intellectual (with all the ideas) force. Christianity is the main historical example (think of how many legal systems take Christian moral values as their basis)- are there any modern day equivalents? Football currently has hegemonic status in the UK - glance through the sports pages and see what coverage other sports get - and everyone is expected to understand and accept its national importance.
Hegemony is not a forced political movement, however. To use the previous example, no one is forced to watch/listen to/read about football. It's just sometimes it seems that there are few alternatives. This is how hegemonies take hold: a majority decide to 'fit in' with the cultural values and ideas of their time and place and the minority keep their objections quiet. Hegemony is about consent, and one of the things it consents to is inequality - us and them.
What part does the media have to play in developing and maintaining a hegemony?
- Institutions, language, news/information, arbiting taste, regulating output, representations, ownership, authorship
What part does the media have to play in opposing/altering the hegemony?
-Challenging all of the above by presenting the alternatives in a positive light OR reconfirming them.
British Social Realism
Directors such as Ken Loach may choose to follow aesthetic principles that define the tone and content of the texts. These films have a 'gritty' aesthetic that befits the crime-ridden landscape they depict. They may also work against some dominant ideologies about the ways people should behave, as opposed to Hollywood films which have clear ideological rules about heroic individuals who go through testing and struggle and eventually winb through against all odds. This raises the term 'discourse' - a set of hidden, 'agreed' rules about what is acceptable. This leads on to the idea of 'political correctness' where the media widely practices self-censorship where certain ideologies are considered dangerous, such as views on race or gender.
Metz identified four phases in the audience: the initial phase, the classical phase, the declining phase and finally the parody phase. The disaster genre is a good example with 'The Towering Inferno' in the classical phase and 'Airplane!' as the final parody. To survive, genres must mutate and join with others to form hybrid genres.
Postmodernism - see above
Media Language
Film is a language all its own, a way of communicating using images which is understood around the globe. Like any other language it has rules and conventions which can be deconstructed, and, through deconstruction, understood.
Mention Barthes - semiotics, enigma codes, 'steak and chips'
Binary oppositions
Baudrillard - postmodernism and bricolage
Binary oppositions
Baudrillard - postmodernism and bricolage
Useful reference for definitions you may want to check up on:
http://www.mediaknowall.com/as_alevel/alevel.php
