Theory Summaries

 Curran and Seaton/power and media industries-

 patterns of ownership and control are important and how the media functions, media industry is a capitalist and aim to increase concentration of ownership, owners pursue profit at the expense of quality or creativity, impact of the Internet on the ownership of news is nominal and is still controlled by an oligarchy 

Hesmondhalgh/ Cultural industries

They follow a capitalist pattern of increasing concentration and interrogation so production is only controlled by a few conglomerates, risk is seen in terms of loss of money because production costs are high, companies rely on repetition to minimise risk and cover failure

Livingston and Lunt/ regulation

Consumers are individuals who seek private benefits from the media and require regulation to protect them from the damage of the media, regulation in the UK is under threat but increasingly globalised industries because of technological convergence 

Audiences 

Bandura/Media effects

The media influence people directly, or indirectly three related platforms such as social media  

Gerbner/Cultivation theory

Exposure to particular media forms genres or content over long periods of time can cultivate and shape our behaviour, repetition of negative media messages and values are likely to create mean world syndrome

Hall/ reception theory      

Including/decoding model explain the relationship between producer, media product an audience in creating meaning, media produces include product to the preferred meaning, dominant reading negotiated reading and oppositional reading

Jenkins/ Fandom

 New media have enabled participatory culture where audiences are active, participatory audiences create online communities using the media for me to develop or influence how media is consumed    

Shirky/ End of audience

Traditional media are shaped by centralised producers, audience were seen as a mass of people with predictable behaviours, audience behaviour is now variable, user generated content creates emotional connection

Media Language 

Barthes/ semiology

Demonstrations can signify quality shins, they are organised into maps, myths create an ideological meaning and help ideology feel natural real and acceptable

Todorov/narratology

Narratives can be seen to move from state of equilibrium to disequilibrium, The narrative structure the characters we see within it and the role they play help to reinforce ideological values

Neale/ Genre theory

Do you wanna exchange a decline in popularity, there is a process through which generic codes and conventions are shared by produces in audiences, genres aren’t fixed but are constantly evolving

Levi- Strauss/ structuralism

This is the study of hidden roles that shape the structure to communicate ideology or myths, understand the world and our place within it based on binary oppositions

Baudrillard/ post modernism

Post modern society is concerned with hyperreal simulations play with signs of images, social distinctions are no longer rigid

Representation 

Hall/representation       

Through stereotyping and communication ideology those in power tried to fix the meaning of representation, many meanings of representation can generate super third readings can’t be contested, meaning is created by representation, stereotypes in the way they are constructed should be pulled apart and deconstructed

Gauntlett/ identity 

The media have an important but complex relationship with identities, many diverse and contradictory messages that individuals can use to think through their identity

Van Zoonen/ feminist theory

Women’s bodies are represented as objects, ideas of femininity and masculinity are constructed in our performances, gender is what we do rather than who we are and changes meaning depending on cultural and historical contexts

Bell hooks/feminist theory

Into sick she analogy refers to the coming together of gender race class and sexuality to create a white supremacist it’s media representation, women should develop an oppositional gaze that refuses  identify with characters that reinforce patriarchal ideology and politicises the gaze

Butler/ gender performativity                            

Gender is created in response to a performance of gender roles, we learn how to perform gender roles through repetition and ritual that becomes naturalised

Gilroy/ethnicity and post colonialism

The black Atlantic is a transatlantic culture that is simultaneously African-American Caribbean and British, Britain has failed to mourn its loss of empire creating post colonial melancholia leading to a version of British colonial history that criminalises immigrants, representations support a  belief in the inherent superiority of white western civilisation.

House Of Cards

 Directed by David Finche and was broadcasted online by Netflix in January 2013, produced by the studio Media Studio Rights Capital in which it purchased the right to HOC with intent to create an original Netflix series of episodes. Netflix agreed to contribute $100 million to the cost of producing the show for 2 seasons.

Production- Netflix produced and streamed the series for 26 episodes which was two seasons, it had no traditional programme structure. The show wasn’t reliant on artificial cliffhangers unlike UK soap operas where it shows on a regular basis through the year with cliffhangers to hook audiences to watch the next episode. HOC represented the first show made for Netflix, signposted Netflix’s clear desire to be a producer of content and not a distributor. It is an unique example of how long form tv drama has developed along with releasing all the episodes at the same time for one season. This illustrates the changing nature of media ownership and distribution.

Audience- An example of how audience has changed in the online age, The attitudes to watching this type of long form TV drama illustrates the way in which the consumer subscribes to it in order to discuss and share the content, The engagement highlights the need for producers to understand the reception of online dramas in more depth, adaptations in the way that it is watched. As Netflix has viewers who subscribe this results in more freedom to watch and download according to individual choice meaning that the House of Cards had more freedom to develop and invest in the long form drama as there wasn’t constant constraints of building a brand or maintaining a Conservative programme content. They also offer something that cable networkers cannot called asynchronous viewing giving the audience to total control over when and where they watch it which challenges media theory and carries implications for how audiences consume media texts.

Gerbner’s cultivation theory – examines long term effects of television, The primary proposition is of this theory is that the more time people spend living in a television world the more likely they are to believe the social reality alliance of the reality portrayed on TV, but if the traditional TV audience is changing because of subscription channels then the effect of these channels on new viewing patterns cannot be measured. The audience for House of Cards is more male and female given the nature and tone of the program the typical interest in political thrillers and the payments that the subscription potentially has the demographic of ABC1 

Netflix is biggest challenge was to create an episode of House of Cards that could be used to establish seriality when all episodes are available at once, narratives the functions to maintain a revenue stream, helps ensure that the audiences tune in daily to advertisers messages.

It is Netflix is willingness to give the audience control over serial viewing at challenges assumptions that the best way to control program consists of stretchout episodes overtime measuring demand then to raise and lower other advertising prices.

Audience control the pace of narrative consumption which will affect social media communities, also challenges synchronous viewing as a business model based on the limitations of legacy technologies rather than inherent quality of seriality, they expand offerings on commercial programming to attract new subscribers.

Representation- it reflects the reality between politicians and the media, One of the episodes represents the media and the government as to opposing forces with the media city and oppose of the wrongdoing this suggests the theme of corruption in public life as a preferred reading of the text, House of Cards indicates the audience in creating its meaning and power in deciding who are key influences with the episode, we see power represented not only in its typical political settings but also in its domestic settings and themes, two of the characters Frank and his wife Claire are represented a stronger than any single individual and as a power couple typically a reference to people the circumcision of power and authority. It is through such stereotypes of the audience is in courage to negotiate meanings in this text.

As it interweave the themes of the male politician and the female reporter were there being a professional journalist she contrasts with Claire who is defined by being franks wife as part of a couple , this assumes that the relationships with males ultimately have the most important in this women’s life is a feature of Van Zoonen which is described as a patriarchal society. The journalists actions can be interpreted as unprofessional and unethical The representation of women in the episode needs to be understood in relation to Franks actions as women are represented as serving his needs.

As the Van Zoonens concept of the representation of women and in the media suggest gender is performative or ideas of femininity and masculinity are constructed in the performance of these roles.