Media Ownership
The media is owned by a small amount of companies, and an even smaller amount of people. These people/owners are responsible for what is put out onto media outlets and their beliefs are represented by their companies. These people, known as the hegemonic group, often consist of old, straight, white males. If fewer and fewer companies own the media, the beliefs that are portrayed/represented become more and more similar as there are no companies that are there to provide opposition to those beliefs. It may also lead to a lack of competition, as there are no longer needs to be innovation if a company owns the majority of products/market share, as they are safe and essentially have a monopoly.
A prime example of how the ownership of media affects the media produced would be the Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon, which is owned by Jeff Bezos. In 2019, when Bezos' affair with news anchor Lauren Sanchez was uncovered, a myriad of media organizations reported negatively on the scandal, calling Bezos a liar, cheater, etc. However, the Washington Posts article on the matter painted him in a far more positive light, asking whether or not it was Bezos' fault, and always used a positive vocabulary to describe him. This, was obviously because he himself owned it, and would not want his own company to paint a negative picture of himself.
Synergy is one of the most powerful tools media corporations can use for marketing. It is a symbiotic relationship between a media company and another company that benefits them both mutually, in terms of promotion, revenue, etc.
For example, Uniqlo x Weathering with you. Comix waves made a movie and partnered up with Uniqlo to produce apparel based on the movie, which benefits Uniqlo as they get to sell more shirts, and benefits weathering with you as they gain promotion for the film by people wearing shirts with scene and tag-lines from the movie.
When a media company produces a media text, and then produces it in other forms of media as well.
For example, Spiderman was originally a movie produced by Sony, but then was made into a video game, which is a different form of media that provides promotion as it appeals to a wider range of audiences, and leads to greater profits as more consumers now purchase the game as well.
New media
There are 2 forms of media. Traditional media and new media. Traditional media is media that has existed for a long time/in the old days, like TV shows, movies and radio, that had to be watched on TV and in Cinemas. Now, there are things like podcasts and video on demand sites like Netflix, as well as social media like the Internet, that allow consumers to consume media in a multitude of different ways. This is a byproduct of technological convergence as the continuously updating technologies allows for new media to further progress.
Two Step Flow
Two step flow states that audiences and consumers can no longer trust big media corporations and that what they propagate is unreliable. Thus audiences must look to opinion leaders like celebrities to form an opinion as they see them as more trustworthy than the media.
For example, if audiences no longer trust outlets like CNN, they will look to their role models and see what they believe to form their opinion as they believe they are more trustable.
Technological convergence
Technological convergence can be described as the process in which technologies come together and become more advanced, which changes the way we as audiences consume media. In traditional media, we had to go out to cinemas to watch movies and couldn't choose what programs to watch on TV. We also had to wait for days before we found out about International news. Now, this has all changed due to technological convergence as we have social media, and video on demand services.
Genre Theory - Steve Neale
Steve Neale states that when producing a media text, it has to be similar enough to its target genre and follow its genre conventions that audiences can instantly recognize it as such, but different enough that it remains unique and gives audience a reason to watch it as they are intrigued by the new developments they haven't seen before in a movie of such genre. This makes it easier for producers as it gives them a blueprint of what should be included, it lessens the risk for the corporation and its financials, and gives audiences expectations on what they're going to see when they watch the movie.
A prominent example of this would be the Amazon Prime Original superhero television series "The Boys", based off the comic series of the same name, written by Garth Ennis. The Boys would generally fall under the "Super Hero" genre, however the twist in the genre convention is that the superhero's in The Boys aren't portrayed as "goody-two-shoes world-saving good-guys", but instead are portrayed in a more realistic manner. Where superhero's, like any self absorbed privileged humans, fall under the temptations of corporate greed, corruption, and are in full gear to fulfill their supersized ego that comes along with the fame, money, and power. In a world where superhero movies have become saturated beyond belief, and monopolies like Marvel and DC follow the same genre tropes over and over again, it's a creative and brave decision to break the convention of hero's always being "perfect". This has led The Boys to be one of the highest rated superhero series' of all time, with an impressive 8.7 on IMDB and a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. Media consumers have given the show a humungous amount of praise for its writing and plot, which is why I believe The Boys is a perfect example of how media corporations may use Genre, and the conventions of genre theory to successfully target an audience. Pulling them in with the guise of a brand new superhero series, and hooking them in when they break conventions of your average super hero flick.
Desensitisation
Desensitisation states that after being exposed to the same gruesome/violent events over and over again, audiences start to care less and less as now after witnessing it so many times, it has become "normal"/"not surprising" enough for them to care.
For example, after seeing hundreds upon hundreds of school shootings being broadcasted on television in America, citizens now don't react as harshly as they used to because this horrific event has become normal, and the audiences have been desensitized.
Reception Theory - Stuart Hall
The producers of a media text encode their texts with meaning and it is left for the audience to decode it and form their opinion. Usually media corporations have ideas/beliefs that they try to portray within the text, and these ideas are then encoded using media language and left for the audience to interpret. The interpretation that the producers want the audience to see is called the preferred reading. The interpretation that goes against what the producers try to portray is called the oppositional reading, and somewhere in the middle is the negotiated reading.
For example, in The English Game, the aristocrats are shown of have high egos and thing lowly of regular working class citizens. The preferred reading of the audience that the producers want them to have in this situation is that the aristocrats/rich are bad people and we should not support them.
Cultivation Theory - George Gerbner
Cultivation theory states that consumers have inklings of their beliefs in their mind, and need the media to fully confirm/push that belief.
For example, a person may already have negative emotions towards Vladimir Putin, but once he's shown in the media to be a bad person, this pushes audiences over the edge and now they fully believe that they are a bad person because they trust the media.
5 Narrative Codes - Barthes
Roland Barthes believes that in a story, there are key codes/factors that drive the narrative forward. These are the hermeneutic code, the proairatec/action code, the symbolic code, the semantic code, and the cultural code. Hermeneutic code can be described as they mystery behind a character/event that hook the audience in and make them want to keep watching to find out. Proaretic code describes the actions that take place in the story that drive the plot forward, like a character being killed. Cultural code is shown when an event takes place in which it is a reference to something in pop culture/that the audience will need to know beforehand to understand the reference.
For example for cultural code, when Santa is shown in shows/movies, audiences will need to know who he is/what connotations follow his character before they can understand what the producers are trying to connote in the scene/text. For hermeneutic code, when a person is shown from behind/the audience is not shown their full face, they become intrigues and keep watching to find out who they are/why they are hidden.
Binary Opposites - Levi Strauss
In a media text/narrative, there must be a conflict that keeps the narrative moving. This conflict comes from an oppositional side to an original storyline, and whoever comes out as the winner in the end is often who producers support/side with.
For example, in The English Game, binary opposites are used to showcase the battle between the rich vs the poor. Connotations tell us which side is which like their clothes or demeanour, and are used to create conflict and make audiences follow along to see who wins in the end. If the poor win, it can be said that the producers want to push the message that just because someone is from a lower class background, doesn't mean they can't be good at soccer. However if the rich win, the message being pushed by producers is that being rich/having more money will affect how good you are at sports, and that rich people are better than than the poor in this case.
Globalisation
Globalization in the process by which countries in the world and their inhabitants become more connected, example would be international trade, communication, and more. Globalization has impacted the media in a myriad of ways, specifically though, global streaming services have been affected heavily. Some advantages and disadvantages of global streaming services include audiences having more choice on what to watch, democratization of the mass media which allows audiences to have more control over what is shown/produced by the media, and cultural impact, which leads to more people/cultures being represented in media as cultures around the world and more connected now than ever, and thus should be represented as well.
Social Learning - Albert Bandura
Bandura believes that what audiences consume in media will affect their actions in the real world. For example, if consumers are repeatedly exposed to violence in media texts like movies always showing people fighting and being violent towards each other, it will subconsciously make audiences become more violent as well as they see it happen on TV and in the movies all the time. Similar to hypodermic needle theory as it believes that audiences are like sponges, and will blatantly believe whatever is shown/told in the media without considering if it is good or bad.
Theory of Fandom - Henry Jenkins
Theory of fandom states that consumers can interact with other consumers and build groups that all share similar interests in specific media texts and genres. These consumers can then take part in activities like meet ups/gathering and do things like cosplay that fall under the category of enunciative productivity, which builds relationships with other fans/consumers.
Uses and Gratification Theory - Katz & Blumler
Katz and Blumler state that audiences consume media for reasons such as diversion, surveillance, personal identity, and social relationships.
Audiences look up to idols/role models and aim to be like them which develops their sense of personal identity and change their personality to be more like them.
Representation Theory - Stuart Hall
Stuart Hall believes that nothing we see in life inherently has any meaning at all. It is once they are shown in the media that meaning is gained/added to them.
For example a volcano exploding isn't bad or good, but once they are shown in the media to have killed people and are shown in a negative light, and they thus gain negative connotations.
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