SUGGESTED THEORISTS

You have requested a shortlist of theorists for the Media Texts and Contexts exam.

You will also no doubt recall the lesson on theorists on 8 March on this blog.

By the time you sit the exam, you will have covered a unit on Media Ecology and studied additional theorists, which will be also be relevant to your AS exam work

Theories of Media Language:

·       Semiotics: Barthes  - (denotation, connotation), representation

·       narratology, including Todorov   

..      Propp - narrative theory 

        genre theory, including Neale.

·       structuralism, including Lévi-Strauss - binary opposition

Theories of Industries:

·       power and media industries, including Curran and Seaton.

·       theories of regulation including those of Livingstone and Lunt

·       theories of cultural industries including those of Hesmondhalgh.

 

Theories of Representation:

·       theories of representation, stereotyping including Hall

·       theories of identity including Gauntlett

L      the male gaze - Laura Mulvey

·

 Theories of Industries:

·       power and media industries, including Curran and Seaton.

·       theories of regulation including those of Livingstone and Lunt

·       theories of cultural industries including those of Hesmondhalgh.

 

Shirky -

argues that ‘everybody make media and that the industry is increasingly driven by audience feedback systems'

 

 

Theories of Audience:

·       media effects, including Gauntlett

·       cultivation theory, including Gerbner

·       reception theory, including Hall - (how audiences decode texts) - active / passive audiences

·       theories of fandom, including Jenkins

·       theories of ‘end of audience’, including Shirky 

      Blumler and Katz - audiences use media to gratify needs (= democratization / active audiences) 

Henry Jenkins - participatory culture Prosumers / prosumerism 

Dan Gillmor - the audience is now the producer.  We are a nation of Netizens and prosumers

 

 

 

 

 

Paper 2 Media Texts and Contexts

Section B: Media contexts Answer one question from Section B. You should make references to at least one case study in your answer. [June 2021]

EITHER 2 Analyse the ways in which technology is changing the way we consume media. [25]

• unpack what 'consume' could include
• explain that 'we' can refer to different kinds of audiences, various situations (including current trends and forthcoming changes) and various platforms, which you will discuss as you analyse film consumption 
• make a note of how your own personal consumption could be useful in illustrating your response
  
• planning: in your notes now, write down which case case studies you could use, starting with the Hollywood majors. Aim for at least 3 studios / film companies / films
  
• next to each film, make a note of the different technologies that audiences access, keeping in mind the actual question, so that each topic sentence (sentence that starts a paragraph) is expressed relevantly
• if you start with BP or CM, you can explain the different platforms that audiences use to watch the film but also the different technologies that they use to access trailers, information about the film, social media and so on
• proceed with other case studies; you could now analyse the ways in which Roma offered a range of different audience experiences
• what is the recent news about Netflix?
  
• Loach films: how did audiences consume information about IDB and SWMY?
• you can use any case study that you wish as long as you answer the question set
• can you refer to any theorists? See the post on theorists above
  
• have you used relevant terminology like convergence?

Examiner Report

Question 2 Analyse the ways in which technology is changing the ways in which we consume media. 

The question was clearly accessible to all candidates, as most had some first-hand experience to discuss, thus eliciting a wide range of answers. Most case studies tended to focus on the film and music industry resulting in some accomplished responses. The most interesting and engaging responses were from the games industry, as they were often quite personal and well supported with detailed and relevant case study knowledge. 

The strongest responses displayed direct engagement with the question, with comprehensive evidence from case studies and a diversity of texts and institutions offered. Weaker answers were merely a personal discussion of streaming services and the closure of cinemas during the pandemic, lacking any meaningfully detailed case study support, rather than evaluating the ubiquity (or not), of consumption, and deploying a limited technical vocabulary. More confident answers were able to discuss consumption of cross platform media, including the notions of an active/passive audience, prosumerism, democratisation and interactivity. In most cases, relevant media theory was largely ignored, resulting in the lack of any informed critical debate.