Evelina week 3

Week 3: theories  log

Week 3 was really important as we were learning the basic media theories; which we need to include in our portfolio and know for our exams. There are a few important people that have theories that have be used in films. The audience readings theory by Stuart Hall in 1980,  states that media texts are carefully chosen to create a ‘preferred reading’. according the Stuart Hall there are 3 different ways that the audience can understand a film; the 3 ways are: the preferred reading, negotiated reading, and oppositional reading. Other  theory are Representation theories which have 7 different concepts: class/status, gender, regional identity, age, physical ability/ disability, ethnicity, and sexuality. In the representation theory there are 3 theorists that have identified things that films focus on and which the audience do not realize, while watching the film/s.  The theorists have found stereotyping, male gaze, and ideal self/partner; this theories help the audience understand and build a image about the character and what they want in life. For example: ideal partner will be in a romance film that has a perfect man/husband that woman will start to think as the ‘perfect man’ because that is the image they have in their head.

Genre is what the media producers and the audience use to identify the type of film it will be and/or is. In 2001, Glen Creeber et al identified 12 TV Drama Genres; like soap operas to teen series to drama-documentaries.The narrative which is the structure of the story. The narrative structure has a equilibrium, disequilibrium, and resolution ; they do not have to be in order as in some films- which was found by Tzvetan Todorov’s in the 1960s. Also in 1969, Claude Levi-Strauss looked at Walter Lippmann stereotypes theory to see if there is anything else about it, Levi-Strauss found there are binary opposites. Binary opposites are like for example: on-off, black-white, up-down.