Media Language Theory

- believes that males and females are shown in traditional gender roles within the media 

- males are shown to be aggressive, strong, the breadwinners and often involved in management 

- females are shown to be submissive, always the victims and as mothers and wives 

- audiences have to view different media texts from a heterosexual males point of view 

- the cameras are likely to linger on the curves of females - this is showing them as males possessions 

- opposites within the media are used to create conflict 

- some examples of opposites include the hero and villain 

- there are 5 stages to a successful narrative: 

1. equilibrium - everything is as it should be 

2.disruption - something happens to disturb the equilibruim 

3. recognition - the hero recognises that something is wrong 

4. attempt to repair - the hero tries to restore the equilibruim 

5. restoration - the equilibrium is restored or a new one is formed 

hermeneutic code - elements of the story that aren't fully explained to the audiences to keep them interested and make them want to continue watching 

proairetic code - it works with the hermeneutic code to increase the tension of the narrative keeping audiences interested 

- in a storyline there are elements which imply something will happen so the audiences try to guess the end of the story 

anachronic - flashbacks and flash forwards with no clear dominance of narrative thread - some of the scenes may be repeated directly or indirectly through the use of another perspective 

split screen - the screen is divided into two or more sections - juxtaposing events within the same screen 

forking path - contrasts alternate versions of the story, showing potential outcomes that may result in small changes - there may be multiple plotlines that contradict each other 

episodic - 'structures critically weaken or disbale casual connections of narrative' 

- abstract narrative - non-narrative systems are used which overlay organisation of elments in production 

- anthology narrative - narrative sectioned into shorter stories which appear to be disconnected but are connected 

restricted narratives- audiences only know as much as the characters - enables curiosity and surprise 

unrestricted narratives - audiences know more than the characters - this enables surprise 

genre can be defined by two things: 

semantic elements - eg blood, knives etc - elments that are easily identifiable 

syntactic elements - eg themes, plots etc - these elments are a lot harder to identify 

- what people do with the media rather than what the media does with people 

- the control that the audiences have on the media 

1. entertainment - personal pleasure 

2. identify - finding evidence and role models 

3. inform/educate - watching the news 

4. social interaction - basis of conversation 

- audiences interpret the message depending on their social background 

- the theory sees audiences as active 

- there are three types of reading: 

dominant reading - audiences see the messages in the same way 

oppositional reading - viewers disagree with the messages 

negotiated reading - some viewers sort of agree with the message 

- moment of encoding - when symbols, codes and conventions etc are used to construct a media text - this intentially or unintentionally puts a message across 

- moment of decoding - when the audiences view a text they interpet the encoded messages in their own way 

- audiences interpret the message depending on their social background 

- the theory sees audiences as active 

- there are three types of reading: 

dominant reading - audiences see the messages in the same way 

oppositional reading - viewers disagree with the messages 

negotiated reading - some viewers sort of agree with the message 

- moment of encoding - when symbols, codes and conventions etc are used to construct a media text - this intentially or unintentionally puts a message across 

- moment of decoding - when the audiences view a text they interpet the encoded messages in their own way