1. Decide three theories you're going to use in your case study answer.
Barthes, Roland used the term Myth in order to refer to a second order of signification with a chain of concepts widely accepted throughout a culture and used to understand an experience. Our myth of the countryside, for example, refers to a chain of concepts such as: it is good; it is natural; it is peaceful; it is beautiful; it is a place for leisure and recuperation. Then there is the traditional myth about the British policeman which includes concepts of friendliness, helpfulness and non-aggressiveness.
Fiske J. (1987 Television Culture)
Fiske describes television news bulletins as high-status texts because of their agenda-setting role in the political and social life of our culture. Broadcasters themselves attach high status to news bulletins as can be seen by their positioning at fixed points in the schedules. They are rarely displaced and other programmes must fit around them, sometimes actually being divided into two sections. See Studying The Media P106.
Katz, E (1959 ‘Mass Communications Research and the Study of Popular Culture Studies in Public Communication, vol. 2. See ‘Investigating Mass Media, Trowler 1996). Katz is one of the originators of the gratifications model which suggests that different people use the media in different ways in order to get different sorts of pleasure or fulfil different types of needs. They may get different gratifications from the same programme. The gratifications model stresses the importance of what people do with the media rather than what it does to them. Compare with Herbert Marcuse.
Marx, Karl (1818-1883), German political philosopher and revolutionist, cofounder with Friedrich Engels of scientific socialism (modern communism), and, as such, one of the most influential thinkers of all times. Communism, is a concept or system of society in which the major resources and means of production are owned by the community rather than by individuals. In theory, such societies provide for equal sharing of all work, according to ability, and all benefits, according to need. Some conceptions of communist societies assume that, ultimately, coercive government would be unnecessary and therefore that such a society would be without rulers. Until the ultimate stages are reached, however, communism involves the abolition of private property by a revolutionary movement; responsibility for meeting public needs is then vested in the state.
Maslow. The American psychologist Abraham Maslow devised a six-level hierarchy of motives that, according to his theory, determine human behaviour. Maslow ranks human needs as follows: (1) physiological; (2) security and safety; (3) love and feelings of belonging; (4) competence, prestige, and esteem; (5) self-fulfilment; and (6) curiosity and the need to understand. No single theory of motivation has been universally accepted, but a direction is evident. Formerly, many psychologists stressed the reduction of stimulation to its lowest possible level. An organism was thought to pursue that behaviour most likely to bring about this desired state of no stimulation. Many human physiological systems do in fact operate in this manner. Recent cognitive theories of motivation, however, portray humans seeking to optimise rather than minimise stimulation and are thus better able to account for exploratory behaviour, the need for variety, aesthetic reactions, and curiosity. His theories have been adapted by Media critics and theorists and they are applicable to the topics of Audience and Advertising & Marketing.
Propp, Vladimir. In ‘Morphology of the Folk Tale’ Propp analysed folk tales as a basis for his 32 character types all of whom perform some kind of function in the way a narrative is organised and developed. Amongst these types are to be found the Hero, the Heroine, the Villain and the Donor, the latter, for example, providing advice, magic or a talisman to help the Hero. This type of analysis is useful when considering simple texts - especially formulaic popular cinema. More complex art is beyond Propp’s system. See also, Joseph Campbell and Christopher Vogler.
Todorov, Tzvetvan argued that narratives begin with a state of equilibrium, where there is harmony and balance between characters and their environment/situation. Then comes some form of disruption which sets in motion a train of events. At the end of the narrative a new equilibrium is reached. Note how this model is particularly applicable to sitcoms where, however, the equilibrium achieved at the end is usually identical to that which began the narrative.
John Berger – The Male Gaze. Writing in 1972, Berger insisted that women were still ‘depicted in a different way to men - because the "ideal" spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him’ (ibid., 64). In 1996 Jib Fowles still felt able to insist that ‘in advertising males gaze, and females are gazed at’ (Fowles 1996, 204). And Paul Messaris notes that female models in ads addressed to women ‘treat the lens as a substitute for the eye of an imaginary male onlooker,’ adding that ‘it could be argued that when women look at these ads, they are actually seeing themselves as a man might see them’ (Messaris 1997, 41). Such ads ‘appear to imply a male point of view, even though the intended viewer is often a woman. So the women who look at these ads are being invited to identify both with the person being viewed and with an implicit, opposite-sex viewer’ (ibid., 44).
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