EITHER:
Media Language Questions
Analyse the way that Media Language is used to present social and cultural contexts in Source A (The Daily Mail) and Source B (The Guardian Online).
- Apply Barthes Theories about Semiotics in your answer.
- Apply Levi-Strauss theories about structuralism in your answer.
- Apply Todorov's theories about narratology in your answer.
- Apply Baudrillard's theories about Postmodernism.
- Apply Neale's theories about genre.
- Apply Hall's theories on representation in your answer. ***
- Apply Van Zoonen's theories on Feminist Representations in your answer. ***
- Apply Gilroy's Post-Colonial Theory in your answer.
- Apply bell hook's theories on Intersectionality in your answer.
- Apply Gauntlett's theories on Identity in your answer.
- Apply Butler's theories on Gender Performativity.
QUESTION CONTEXT:
On March 7th, 2021, Meghan Duchess of Sussex gave an Interview to Oprah Winfrey in which she accused the Royal Family of racism. This came just a few hours after the Queen's speech to the British Commonwealth in which she stressed the importance of duty.
SOURCE A: DAILY MAILCOVER MARCH 8th 2021
MEDIA LANGUAGE THEORISTS
Barthes theorises that meaning is communicated through signs, whereby the relationship between the signifier and the signified produces connotations that audiences read as natural and inevitable. He argues that these connotations function as myths, naturalising dominant values and ideologies by making socially constructed meanings appear to be simply common sense.
Lévi-Strauss theorises that narratives are structured around binary oppositions: pairs of conflicting forces such as good and evil, powerful and powerless, old and young etc. He argues that by identifying which side of each opposition is presented as dominant, it is possible to uncover the ideological messages and values that a text implicitly endorses or normalises.
Todorov theorises that narratives move through three distinct stages: an initial equilibrium representing everyday normality, a disruption to that equilibrium, and a resolution that establishes a new order. He argues that analysing what a narrative presents as normal and how it chooses to resolve conflict reveals the underlying values and ideological messages it communicates to its audience.
Baudrillard theorises that in contemporary culture, representations have become more powerful than reality itself; he calls this he calls hyperreality. He argues that media texts no longer reflect the real world but instead reference other representations, creating a system of signs that communicates ideology whilst concealing the fact that it has lost all connection to reality.
Neale theorises that genre is produced through the repetition of codes and conventions across media texts, and that audience expectations are shaped not only by the texts themselves but by marketing, reviews, and other forms of intertextual relay. He argues that genres are not fixed but evolve as producers subvert conventions or blend genres together in a process of hybridisation.
MEDIA REPRESENTATION THEORISTS
Hall theorises that Media producers attempt to fix a preferred meaning by manipulating what is present, what is absent, and what is different. He argues that these representations often reinforce dominant ideologies (hegemony) through the use of stereotypes and selective framing guiding audiences to accept certain values and beliefs or viewpoints and ideologies.
Van Zoonen theorises that media representations of women in patriarchal cultures rely on objectification, positioning women as objects of a male gaze rather than as subjects in their own right. Conversely, men are positioned as active subjects, shaping their environment. She argues that gender is socially and culturally constructed, meaning that newspapers both reflect and reinforce dominant ideological assumptions about gender roles, consistently serving patriarchal power structures.
Gilroy theorises that the legacy of colonialism continues to shape attitudes towards ethnicity in western societies, sustaining an assumption of white cultural superiority. He argues that media representations often reflect this postcolonial ideology by addressing a predominantly white audience and marginalising or rendering invisible the experiences of other ethnic groups.
hooks theorises that media representations actively reinforce a system of interlocking oppressions. Through her concept of intersectionality, she argues that gender, race, class, sexuality and disability interact within representation to reinforce a white supremacist capitalist patriarchal system, making structural inequality appear natural and inevitable.
Gauntlett theorises that media representations offer audiences a wide and often contradictory range of messages about identity, which audiences actively draw upon to explore and construct their own sense of self. He argues that identities, particularly those of gender and sexuality, are no longer seen as fixed, and that media plays a key role in reflecting and enabling this fluidity.
Butler theorises that gender identity is not something we are born with but something produced through the repeated performance of socially learned behaviours. She argues that by presenting certain performances of gender as natural and inevitable, media texts reinforce normative gender roles, whilst representations that deviate from those norms (she calls this calls gender trouble expose) the constructed and unstable nature of gender identity itself.
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