UNSEEN ANALYSIS: GLOSSARY (PART ONE

Media Studies Glossary (Unseen Analysis)

Part One:

The first section of the glossary contains a range of terms that you could include in your essays. Using this kind of terminology is what I mean when I say that you need to 'sound' like a Media Studies student.

Denotation – The literal or obvious meaning of a sign (e.g., a red rose denotes a flower).
Connotation – The associated or suggested meanings of a sign (e.g., a red rose connotes love or passion).
Signifier – The physical form of the sign (word, image, sound).
Signified – The concept or meaning that the signifier refers to.
Myth – A culturally shared set of meanings or ideas that seem 'natural' but are socially constructed (Barthes).
Ideology – A system of beliefs or values that are promoted through media, often reflecting dominant societal views.
Anchorage – When text or other elements help to fix the meaning of an image or sign (e.g., a caption guiding interpretation).
Polysemy – When a sign or text has multiple possible meanings depending on the audience.
Representation – How people, places, events, and ideas are constructed and shown in media texts.
Stereotype – An oversimplified and often exaggerated portrayal of a group.
Archetype – A typical character or story pattern found across texts and cultures (e.g., the hero, the villain).
Binary Opposition – A pair of contrasting ideas used to create meaning (e.g., good vs evil, male vs female – from Levi-Strauss).
Audience Positioning – The way a media text encourages the audience to adopt a particular perspective or attitude.
Preferred Reading – The intended or dominant interpretation of a text that aligns with its ideology (Stuart Hall).
Oppositional Reading – When an audience rejects the intended meaning or challenges the ideology of the text.
Intertextuality – When a media text references another, adding layers of meaning through cultural or textual connections.
Cultural Codes – Shared understandings within a culture that influence how signs are read (e.g., colours, gestures, references).
Narrative – The structure or story in a media text (Todorov’s theory of equilibrium often applies here).
Enigma Code – A mystery or question in the narrative that creates intrigue (Barthes).
Action Code – Elements that suggest or lead to further narrative action (Barthes).
Media Language – The technical codes and conventions (e.g., camera, sound, editing, mise-en-scène) used to communicate meaning.
Mise-en-scène – Everything in the frame (setting, costume, lighting, actors' performance) that conveys meaning.
Institution – The media company or organisation that produces and distributes a text.
Hegemony – The dominance of one ideology or worldview over others, often presented as ‘normal’ (Gramsci).
Power – The ability of media producers or ideologies to influence or control audiences or representations.
Encoding – The process by which producers create meaning in a media text (Hall).
Decoding – The way audiences interpret the meaning of a text, which may differ from the intended meaning.
Genre Conventions – Common features or rules associated with a particular genre.
Hybrid Genre – A mix of two or more genres to appeal to wider or niche audiences.
Mode of Address – How a media text ‘speaks’ to its audience (e.g., formal, direct, humorous).
Historical Specificity – The importance of understanding when a text was made and how that affects its meaning.
Socio-political Climate – The broader social and political environment at the time of a text's production or reception.