Media and IdeologyNpf561 – class 1

Media StudiesMedia studies is an academic discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history and effects of various media; in particular, the 'mass media'.

The subject varies greatly in theoretical and methodological focus, but may be broadly divided into three interrelated areas:

the critique of artistic styles and aesthetic forms (genre, narrative, and so on), the study of the production process (e.g. technologies and markets), and sociological analysis (of ideological effects, reception and consumption, etc.).

Media studies draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, and overlap in interests with related disciplines like mass communication, communication, communication sciences and communication studies.

Researchers develop and employ theories and methods from disciplines including cultural studies, rhetoric, philosophy, literary theory, psychology, political science, political economy, economics, sociology, anthropology, social theory, art history and criticism, film theory, and information theory.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_studies

Media Studies: Ideology

Activity: 10 mn

In groups of four provide me with your understanding of reading 1 defines as ideology and what role it has in media.

Ideological Analysis p. 161-162

Ideological analysis, therefore, is not simply reduced to political criticism, whereby the critic loudly denounces the “bad” ideas in the media(…) It may be interesting to ruminate over the underlying ideology of a popular movie such as Forrest Gump. (Is it a nostalgic valorization of white men in the days before multiculturalism, or a populist story of the feats of an underdog?)However, this inquiry will move from party conversation to serious analysis only if we think more carefully about the patterns of images in media texts, rather than analyzing one film in isolation. At its best, ideological analysis provides a window onto the broader ideological debates going on in society. It allows us to see what kinds of ideas circulate through media texts, how they are constructed, how they change over time, and when they are being challenged.

Ideology Analysis (20 mn)

Title/artist

Individual Behavior? Style? Values? Ideology?

Taking chances, Celine Dion

woman = Super modelMan= powerful and rich

Act existing standards of beauty, power, sexuality

SlickMilitary

Representation of MoneyPowerWar, surveillance

Plutocracy (Political ideologies)

Bird1Underworld

Ambiguous. Man is feminine?

Observe, become focused on details

Natural, experimental

Experience of awareness, nature

humanist(Epistemological ideologies)

Through you

Male Sharing, participate

collaborative

Sharing, music,

Ubuntu Philosophy

Gaia SystemJens Buchert

? Free flow Alternate

Connections amongst all living things

Gaia Philosophy

Give me 3 examples of behaviors and styles that represent one ideology that you are familiar with in a specific media. Here are examples:

Hegemony System p. 166

Croteau says:

Gramsci’s work suggests that power is wielded in a different arena—that of culture, in the realm of everyday life—where people essentially agree to current social arrangements.Hegemony, though, is not simply about ideological domination, whereby the ideas of one group are imposed on another. Instead, the process is far subtler. Hegemony operates at the level of common sense in the assumptions we make about social life and on the terrain of things that we accept as “natural” or “the way things are.” After all, what is common sense except for those things we think are so obvious that we need not critically evaluate them? Common sense is the way we describe things that “everybody knows,” or at least should know, because such knowledge represents deeply held cultural beliefs. In fact, when we employ the rhetoric of common sense, it is usually to dismiss alternative approaches that go against our basic assumptions about how things work. Gramsci (1971) reminds us that one of the most effective ways of ruling is through the shaping of commonsense assumptions. What we take for granted exists in a realm that is uncontested, where there is neither a need nor room for questioning assumptions (Gamson et al., 1992)

Mass Media (p. 168)Sociologist Stuart Hall, the leading voice of British cultural studies, has provided a sophisticated analysis of how mass media institutions fit into this conception of hegemony. He argues that mass media are one of the principal sites where the cultural leadership, the work of hegemony, is exercised. Media are involved in what Hall calls “the politics of signification,” in which the media produce images of the world that give events particular meanings. Media images do not simply reflect the world, they re-present it; instead of reproducing the “reality” of the world “out there,” the media engage in practices that define reality. As Hall (1982) puts it, “Representation is a very different notion from that of reflection. It implies the active work of selecting and presenting, of structuring and shaping; not merely the transmitting of an already- existing meaning, but the more active labour of making things mean” (p. 64).

News p. 170

With some oversimplification, it would be fair to say that the news supports the social order of public, business and professional, upper-middle-class, middle-aged, and white male sectors of society. . . . In short, when all other things are equal, the news pays most attention to and upholds the actions of elite individuals and elite institutions. (p. 61)

As we saw last week, networks start to change that social order.

Action-Adventure Films p.174

Gina Marchetti (1989) has argued that the key to the ideology of this genre is the typical construction of the main characters, the hero and the villain, which leads to specific stories about the nature of good and evil, strength and weakness, and courage and cowardice. One underlying theme of the action-adventure genre is the drawing of rigid lines between “us” and “them,” with the villain representing the dangers of difference.

Ultimately, the hero effectively eliminates the danger represented by “the other”—the difference embodied by the villain—usually by killing the villain in a sensational climactic scene. Metaphorically speaking, social order is restored by the reassertion of the boundaries between what is acceptable and what is not, with the unacceptable doomed to a well-deserved death. 

Promote war mentality

Cultural Wars example 1

The Dragon

The world Value Other Distribution

Fantasia The Other is scary

A war zone

Good and Evil

Unknown and must be killed

Disney

Wow The dragon is sometime with us, sometimes against us

A war zone

Good and Evil

Unknown and must be killed

Gaming

How to train your dragon

A friend and an enemy

A war zone Good and Evil and empathy

We need to open our heart and listen to find out

Dreamworks

Sintel A friend A man made war zone

Empathy A friend if we observe

Open Source

Cultural Wars example 2 dance

Dancer Man Values Other Distribution

Classic dancer

Technical Genius

Represents the classic dancer

Standards of dance, beauty and masculanity

Non existent

Ballet Institution

Ma Li Technical Genius

Performer., represents the dancer

Standards of dance, individuality in beauty

To be made the same

Ballet institution

Billy Elliot Freestyle Artist

Has emotion and can express them physically

Listening and empathy

To be discovered

Film

Bill Shannon

Freestyle Artist

Has emotion and can express them physically

Celebrates individuality

To be respected

Youtube

Media Studies: Cultural wars

Activity 1hour

In groups of four provide me with an example of cultural wars. Make sure you provide me with an ideology analysis that demonstrates the cultural war you are proposing.