Year 12 AS – Key Concepts MIGRAIN

Media Language

Institution

Genre

Representation

Audience

Ideology

Narrative

Encoding and Decoding

• In it’s simplest form it this term describes the

process of meaning making in media texts.

• The idea is that producers encode texts with a

preferred reading or meaning through anchors

( captioning/ cropping/ voice over)

• The audience then decode this meaning and if

the anchors have been used correctly we will

decode the text in the desired way

How does all this relate to signs

and semiotics?

• All signs carry meanings

The denotative meaning – 1st level of signification. What is obviously there.

The connotative meaning – 2nd level of signification. What meanings it invokes.

The ideological/ mythical meaning – 3rd level of signification. Analysis of how these meanings relate to wider issues in society.

Representation

• How the subject is re-presented in the media text

• The idea that the text is constructed, decisions have been made about a number of signs that serve to anchor the meanings in the text

• The text therefore might be considered bias – in media we might categorise it as one of the following – stereotype or ideology or myth

• They all relate to an idea called hegemony

• It is important that we understand the links and differences between them

How is teaching represented in

the following clips?

Watch this clip from ‘Fat Friends’

What is signified by the signifiers for each

character?

What signs are used?

How does this affect the audience response/

representation of the character?

Stereotype

• “ An oversimplified or exaggerated

representation of people, places or issues

giving a narrow set of attributes or

characteristics. Stereotypes are frequently

thought of as entirely negative but this is

not necessarily the case”

Stereotypes in Body Farm

Make a list of stereotypes about

• Age

• Ethnicity

• Regions

Ideology

• Originally, ideology was a term used in political

and economic debate to describe a set of beliefs

or principles e.g. socialism or capitalism. Its

meaning has gradually been extended to other

academic fields and it is a concept increasingly

called upon in Media and Film Studies. Basically

ideology refers to the values/viewpoints and

meanings/messages that a media text might be

communicated to the viewer about the world.

( see the ‘Some definitions on Ideology’ sheet)

Ideology in the media

• What Ideologies about gender exist in

these clips?

Myth

• A Roland Barthes term – an idea or a story that’s

not true but one which, nevertheless, members

of a culture tend to believe in or at least accept

as a long running joke or quick short hand to

convey an idea. Sometimes it is more

appropriate to use myth in place of stereotype.

For example, it is myth that Scotland is mystical

and bathed in tradition, it is a myth to say that

Marlboro cigarettes are more rugged than

others, it is a myth to say goths a miserable and

suicidal.

Ideology and Myths

Are any of your statements that you wrote

as a stereotype actually one of these?

• Ideology - usually political/ serves the

interests of ‘institutions’ in society

• Myth – usually social, used in media texts

to quickly establish story/ setting

Oppositional Reading

• Texts being texts, however, audiences can choose to

read them any way they please. Often, if a text is approached by an audience that it was not originally targeted at (teenage boys reading teenage girls' magazines, for example) they will decode it in an entirely different way to the original intentions of the producers, perhaps deriving humour from something that was meant to be serious. The audience may have a very different cultural or social experience from the producer, and may connect signifiers to completely different signifieds.

Going for an English

Kids Cartoons are often read in

an oppositional way

Why could these texts be

considered as representing

counter ideology

Why could these texts be

considered as representing

counter ideology

Why could these texts be

considered as representing

counter ideology

Why could these texts be

considered as representing

counter ideology

Where is the link?

“Media Language helps us to analyse the representations in a text and therefore the messages and values that appear as natural and obvious but have been carefully constructed”

How can I look for it and

comment on it in my analysis? Consider the following when analysing texts:

• What values am I being asked to share or reject?

• How are my feelings being manipulated to prefer one viewpoint over

another?

(Camera placement/movement and editing are particularly important

here)