Summary Media Studies Key Terms

Semiotics
● Sign
● Signifier
● Signified
● Dominant signifier
● Icon
● Index
● Code - hermeneutic (enigma) and proatic (action)
● Symbol
● Anchorage - men's health and oh comely and score advert
● Ideology
● Paradigm
● Syntagm



Barthes’ ideas and theories on semiotics
● Signification
● Denotation -what you see
● Connotation
● Myth - what you believe



Narratology
● Narrative codes
● Narration
● Diegesis - story telling
● Quest narrative
● Character types - Proppian archetypes
● Causality - the way in which the events, usually driven by the desires and motivations of
the characters and the events that impact on them, drive the logic of a narrative forwards
● Plot
● Master plot



Todorov’s ideas and theories on narratology
● Narrative structure
● Equilibrium
● Disruption
● New equilibrium



Neale
● Conventions and rules
● Sub-genre

, ● Hybridity
● Genre of order and integration
● Genre as a cultural category



Levi Strauss’ ideas and theories on structuralism
● Binary oppositions
● Mytheme
● Cultural codes
● Ideological reading
● Deconstruction



Postmodernism
● Pastiche - borrowing a style/genre to create one’s own genre
● Bricolage - taking different elements and putting them together
● Intertextuality - referencing older styles i.e ghost town using 16 mm film reminiscent of
old popular crime show the sweeney and the professionals
● Implosion -



Beaudrillard’s ideas and theories on postmodernism
● Simulacra
● Simulation
● Hyperreality



Theories of representation
● Positive and negative stereotypes
● Countertypes
● Misrepresentation
● Selective representation
● Dominant ideology
● Constructed reality
● Hegemony - dominance
● Audience positioning



Hall’s ideas and theories on representations
● Encoding/decoding



Gauntlett
● Fluidity of identity