Session 1: Thursday 30th January 2020 (Introduction)

This session was a general introduction into the module. This particular module focuses on the key concepts of media and communications. We learned about how contexts refer to everything that happens around a text and that there are many different types of contexts that can affect how texts are perceived by people.  In essence we have to focus on “How does the creation of the Media link to the Context?”. It was definitely an interesting session as we watched lemonade by Beyonce, and studied the different ways in which it was perceived by different audiences and types of people.

After this we were given a  post session task about two different music videos that were stylised and created in similar ways to that of Beyonce’s lemonade. These two videos were of America and dirty computers. Both of these texts highlight the issues that occur within the black community and the ways in which stereotypes can hinder people’s success in the world. These are all issues that everyone is aware of but they are generally never discussed or are held behind. Having said this, America tends to talk about issues that require  statistics and research to understand as it discusses gun crime and black males being tied to that, whereas the issues highlighted in dirty computers are more easily understood and are easier to relate too about race, gender inequalities and sexuality. both of the music videos don’t really have an ending, adding to the idea that these are ongoing issues that need to be addressed properly. 

Session 2: Thursday 6th February 2020 (Semiotics)

Today’s session was all about the use of Semiotics. The session started off explaining te formal meaning of the word ‘text’ which refers to anything you can draw meaning from. We derive meaning from these texts by pondering how words and images create meaning together.

The next part was actually trying to understand what Semiotics is. In essence it is the ‘The theory of signs’. There were many different people who created more in depth meanings to this word, some which are listed below:

Ferdinand de Saussure (FDS):

• Swiss linguist- influential
• 1857-1913
• The link between words and their meanings (Signifiers)

SIGNIFIER + SIGNIFIED = SIGN

WORD + CONCEPT = SIGN

AFFECTED BY DIFFERENCES IN CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL CONTEXTS

Example:

Word= dog

Concept= four-legged canine creature

When we make the connection we are reading a sign!

TWO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS RULE:

• Onomatopoeic words- words that sound like the thing they are describing
• Words that are made up of smaller words- where the concepts are made from smaller concepts (Keyboard, Carwash)

Ronald Barthes:

• Took the principles of FDS and applied it to visual signs
• denotation= the literal meaning of an image, what is in it
• connotation= the wider meaning based on audience interpretations 
• Anchorage= in the form of the text= enables us to make a clearer connection between the signifier and the signified

Charles Sanders Pierce (CS Pierce):

• Argues that there are three different types of sign
• Icon (iconic sign) – looks like the thing it represents
• Symbol (symbolic sign) – references cultural conventions- similar to FDS
• Index (indexical sign) – direct, physical relationship to what it represents – getting beat up and having blood
• OR A COMBINATION OF THE ABOVE

Using this knowledge we were provided with a series of images from which we had to derive meanings from using our knowledge about connotations and denotations. It was really interesting to put this into practice and see how it matched up with the media world. With that, I looked at a range of different images in my spare time, and tried to analyse them using semiotics, to try and understand how it can be applied to different types of texts.

Session 3: Thursday 13th February 2020 (Ideology: Power and Manipulation)

This session was all about the power of ideology. But really, what is ideology? Well it comes down to a number of different things, but really ideology is the way we view the world. That could be based on; Political and social issues, as well as Video, audio and images. but really its the study into how ideas and values can be manipulated and formed. It was really interesting as it taught us how life can be full of false perceptions, which may lead to certain social norms being created and sustained, whether they are good or bad.

Karl Marx was someone who continued to study into these ideas. He stated that:

• Those who were in control of society create and define the dominant ideology
• E.g. capitalist society has capitalist ideology
• Wrote this around the industrial revolution

Karl Marx’s perspective is quite interesting as it explains how certain practices within the world, that are generally things that do not seem to work, yet they remain to benefit those in power and those in control.

Capitalism is a well known system that tends to be i mist societies. it can be explained in many different ways:

• An economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and the operation of these means of production to make a profit.
• Capitalism needs rich and poor
• Economic stricture/ set of laws and institutions
• Social, economic, demographic

What the most interesting about this session was, is that how images can be manipulated by a context. It was quite almost perplexing as to how this concept of “normal” doesn’t exist. There are many different important terms that we had to learn, such as:

• Proletariat: Working Class, sell their labour to make money
• Bourgeoise: those who own the means of production and take the profits from other people’s labour. 
• False consciousness: we don’t question people who can influence our lives
• Hegemony: we are kept in a state of false consciousness about the way things are. The ruling class does the least work and owns the most. We are convinced that this is normal. The state controls and maintains hegemony.

The Repressive State Apparatus (RSA) is a theory that I applied to the Indian Government. This is the physical way in which this are controlled and social norms are sustained, such as the military, police and reserve forces. The fascist government in India, uses there RSA to ensure the to ensure that protests of any sort can not take place whilst the use of there Ideological State Apparatus (ISA), such as the media, laws and the education system to stop people from having rebellious ideas in the first place.

Session 4: Thursday 20th February 2020 (Representations)

This session was quite an interesting one, as it revolved around the idea of representations. In essence, representations is the study of how people are perceived by other people and how people view themselves. To represent something is to describe or depict to call it up in the mind by description portrayal or imagination. 

To understand this better we were showed the practitioner Stuart Hall. His theory on representation stated that it is one of the central practices which reduce culture and links to identity, production, consumption, regulation. By doing this we are able to sell a representation of a particular lifestyle.

Furthermore, representations inform our outlook on various groups and cultures:

• Representing as an equivalence or a correspondence- looks like the thing it portrays

• The idea of something or someone acting as a proxy or a substitute for someone else

• Typify or epitomize particular qualities- Beyonce as the ultimate diva

• The idea of representation, to present again. Telling us what’s going on again in a “realistic way”- change the way reality is represented

Really there were two main terms that we had to learn, one for which was stereotyping. This is a process involving the expression of an exaggerated belief about a group that serves to qualify or justify the conduct towards the specific group. 

The other term was archetype. This is the idea that a perfect or idealized person or thing that exhibits core values or identities that offer a model or pattern for the way in which cultures are viewed.

This was a really interesting concept within media as there are many instances were stereotypes are played upon for comedy reasons, and yet on the extreme side, people that will try and convey this idea that there is an idealized version of things, such as a certain personality or way of life.

Session 5: Thursday 27th February 2020 (Narrative)

Stories are everywhere! Like literally everywhere. You can make a story from the most simplistic of ideas. Whether its religious texts or random events in our life, we can derive a story from the events that take place. They have been around for years, whether its folk tales or even morality tales.

Every story needs a…

• Narrator
• Audience
• Event
• Characters
• Narrative order

There are loads of different theories behind how how narrative works, and how a story is built up. One of the main is theories is Todorov’s equilibrium theory which states that:

1. There is a state of equilibrium
2. The equilibrium is breached
3. Something is done to repair the equilibrium
4. Recreate or return to the equilibrium

Another is this idea of Causality; a cause and effect relationship. When something happens there will be some sort of response to in within a story.

Classic narrative is also another important one. This states that:

• Chronological order (linear narrative)
• Causality
• Characters
• Resolution (or implied resolution)

This was quite a simple session but the ideas definitely made you think about how certain films and stories can be viewed.