UAL Media Unit 4: Structuralism - binary opposites, genre and narrative

1. Creative Media Production & Technology
Unit 4: Critical and Contextual Awareness
MEDIA
LANGUAGE

2. MEDIA LANGUAGE
RECAP TASK
• Media _________ refers to the way media texts are _________ to create meaning.
• Media texts are said to be made up of signs or _________
• These include elements such as camerawork, mise en scene and verbal communication
(words)
• The way that a code or sign creates meaning can be thought of in two parts: denotation
and connotation. This process is known as _________.
• _________ refers to the first level of meaning, simply describing what the code is. Eg the
colour blue, a low angle camera show, a military costume.
• _________ refers to the further meanings, associations and related ideas that a sign might
create. For instance, for the colour red it might mean love and passion, anger or danger.
Use the following words to complete the paragraph below:
Codes / Connotation / Constructed / Denotation / Language / Meaning / Signification

3. MEDIA LANGUAGE
RECAP TASK
• Media _________ refers to the way media texts are _________ to create meaning.
• Media texts are said to be made up of signs or _________
• These include elements such as camerawork, mise en scene and verbal communication
(words)
• The way that a code or sign creates meaning can be thought of in two parts: denotation
and connotation. This process is known as _________.
• _________ refers to the first level of meaning, simply describing what the code is. Eg the
colour blue, a low angle camera shot, a military costume.
• _________ refers to the further meanings, associations and related ideas that a sign might
create. For instance, for the colour red it might mean love and passion, anger or danger.
Use the following words to complete the paragraph below:
Codes / Connotation / Constructed / Denotation / Language / Signification

4. MEDIA LANGUAGE
RECAP
• Semiotics
• Structuralism
• Genre
• Narrative
• Postmodernism

5. MEDIA LANGUAGE
STRUCTURALISM
1) All human organisation is determined by
large social or psychological structures,
independent of human will or intention.
2) Meanings can only be understood within
these systematic structures

6. • So, to understand a media text, we have to
understand the structure it exists within and
the structures within it.
• In other words, media texts and the ideas
and meanings present within them cannot be
understood in isolation and therefore need to
be put into context.
• As the audience, we use structures to
interpret media texts.
MEDIA LANGUAGE
STRUCTURALISM

7. Claude Levi Strauss (nothing to do with denim!) later emphasised
the importance of Structuring Oppositions AKA Binary Oppositions
in language.
French Linguist Ferdinand De
Saussure applied this to the way that
language often produces meanings, by
defining things in terms of being the
opposite of something else: Good/Evil,
Black/White, Hot/Cold, Man/Woman,
etc…Can you think of any other Binary
Oppositions?
MEDIA LANGUAGE
STRUCTURALISM

8. Binary opposites are useful when analysing the content and themes of a media text to
determine how they produce meaning.
Watch the trailer for the film Titanic and write down the binary oppositions you observe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUm88F3MEbQ
MEDIA LANGUAGE
STRUCTURALISM: BINARY OPPOSITES

9. Binary opposites are useful when analysing the content and themes of a media text to
determine how they produce meaning.
Watch the trailer for the film Titanic and write down the binary oppositions you observe.
Young/Old
Upper Class/Lower Class
Upper Deck/Lower Deck
Past/Present
Man/Woman
American/European
Heroes/Villains
Freedom/Entrapment
Day/Night
Happiness/Distress
MEDIA LANGUAGE
STRUCTURALISM: BINARY OPPOSITES

10. Binary opposites are useful when analysing the content and themes of a media text to
determine how they produce meaning.
Watch the trailer for the film Titanic and write down the binary oppositions you observe.
Young/Old
Upper Class/Lower Class
Upper Deck/Lower Deck
Past/Present
Man/Woman
American/European
Heroes/Villains
Freedom/Entrapment
Day/Night
Happiness/Distress
A meaning is more easily recognised
and/or understood when presented in
contrast with its opposite. An elderly
character’s frailty will be more apparent
if presented with a young person’s
vigor. A villain’s greed is more
noticeable when compared with the
hero’s kindness.
MEDIA LANGUAGE
STRUCTURALISM: BINARY OPPOSITES

11. Binary opposites are useful when analysing the content and themes of a media text to
determine how they produce meaning.
Watch the trailer for the film Titanic and write down the binary oppositions you observe.
Young/Old
Upper Class/Lower Class
Upper Deck/Lower Deck
Past/Present
Man/Woman
American/European
Heroes/Villains
Freedom/Entrapment
Day/Night
Happiness/Distress
MEDIA LANGUAGE
STRUCTURALISM: BINARY OPPOSITES

12. Media producers may structure binary opposites in their media products for the
following reasons
• To create conflict (which then needs to be resolved).
• To emphasise a certain quality by contrasting it with its opposite
• To simplify the narrative for audience and make it easier to understand.
Consider their use in the following examples (next slide)…
MEDIA LANGUAGE
STRUCTURALISM: BINARY OPPOSITES

13. MEDIA LANGUAGE
STRUCTURALISM: BINARY OPPOSITES

14. MEDIA LANGUAGE
STRUCTURALISM: GENRE
Texts that share similar codes can be categorised into genres.
These common codes are known as genre conventions.
For instance, the genre conventions of a horror film might include:
• Red and black colour palette, low key lighting
• Isolated location
• Themes of gore and death
• Sequences with fast paced editing
• Classical music in a minor key
– What others can you think of?

15. MEDIA LANGUAGE
STRUCTURALISM: GENRE
What genre film is this?
How can you tell?
What are your expectations of the
film? What do you expect to
happen?
Is it the kind of film you think you
would like to watch?
Can you think of any other films like
it that have already been successful?

16. MEDIA LANGUAGE
STRUCTURALISM: GENRE
Genre and Audience
Genre is a useful concept because it helps audiences choose and decide what media
products they want to consume
It also help set up audience’s expectations of what to expect from a media text. They
gain pleasure from having these expectations fulfilled and also may find it interesting
when their expectations are challenged.
Some texts are very conventional and easy to categorise. Others may ‘subvert’ genre
conventions, or mix conventions from different genres into a hybrid.

17. MEDIA LANGUAGE
STRUCTURALISM: GENRE
What kind of film is this?
Is it more than one genre?
How can you tell?
What are your expectations of the film?
What do you expect to happen?
Is it the kind of film you think you would like to
watch?
Can you think of any other films like it that have
already been successful?

18. MEDIA LANGUAGE
STRUCTURALISM: GENRE
Genre and Industry
Genre is useful to media industries too as it helps them market media products by
knowing who to aim them at.
It also helps them know what kind of media products are likely to be successful, but
looking at what genres have already been successful and replicating their conventions.
What genres can you think of that are popular at the moment?
Mainstream products that are expected to reach large audiences and make lots of
money tend to be very conventional.
Niche/Independent media products are more likely to be experimental and
subvert/challenge genre conventions. They are often harder to categorise.

19. MEDIA LANGUAGE
STRUCTURALISM: GENRE
What genre films are these?

20. AND THIS?

21. MEDIA LANGUAGE
STRUCTURALISM: GENRE
Summary (No Voiceover. Read through and check your understanding)
Media Products that share common characteristics are categorized into genres
These common characteristics are called genre conventions
Audiences will have expectations of a media product based upon its genre
Audiences use genre as an indicator of what media products they might like to consume
Media Industries use genre as a way of marketing media products to audiences
Media Industries use genre as a way of minimizing risk , by imitating the features of products
already known to be successful
Media products that share elements from different genres are called genre hybrids
Categories of texts within a genre might be called sub genres
Mainstream media products are usually more conventional and easier to categorise into genres.

23. MEDIA LANGUAGE
NARRATIVE
• Write down a one sentence definition of what you think
it means.

24. MEDIA LANGUAGE
NARRATIVE
• Write down a one sentence definition of what you think
it means.
• While the term ‘narrative’ certainly is not used as
commonly as ‘story’, most people know that it refers, in
some way, to stories; in fact stories are endemic to our
lives.

25. WHERE DO WE FIND
NARRATIVES?
Task: Make a list of what stories/narratives you have engaged with today.
• TV Programmes
• Novels or short stories
• Films
• Advertisements
• News stories in papers or on TV and radio
• Via the internet
• Through talk, ‘gossip’ and chat.

26. DEFINING NARRATIVE
• All media texts, fictional and non-fictional, moving image and still image
contain narratives. All media texts tell stories.
• Narratives – in any medium or genre, are ways of structuring and
representing
• Narrative is a temporal and spatial mode. In other words, a way of
organising both time and space in relation to each other.
• Narrative is defined as “a chain of events in a cause-effect relationship
occurring in time” (Bordwell & Thompson, Film Art, 1980). ADD TO
GLOSSARY
• Narrative is ‘a way of organising spatial and temporal events into a
cause-effect chain of events with a beginning, a middle, and end that
embodies a judgement about the nature of events’ (Branigan, 1992).

27. What’s the Story?
What’s happening?
Who is involved?
Where?
When?
How can you tell?
What might have
happened before?
What might happen
next?
WHAT’S THE STORY?

28. What’s the Story?
What’s happening?
Who is involved?
Where?
When?
How can you tell?
What might have
happened before?
What might happen
next?
WHAT’S THE STORY?

29. WHAT’S THE STORY?
What’s happening?
Who is involved?
Where?
When?
How can you tell?
What might have happened before?
What might happen next?

30. WHAT’S THE STORY?
What’s happening?
Who is involved?
Where?
When?
How can you tell?
What might have happened before?
What might happen next?

31. STORY? NARRATIVE? PLOT?
• In Media, NARRATIVE is the coherence/organisation
given to a series of pieces of information
• We need narrative to make sense of things and we
connect events and make interpretations based on those
connections.
• In everything we seek a beginning, a middle and an end.
• We understand and construct meaning using our
experience of reality and of previous texts.

32. STORY VS NARRATIVE
Story is the irreducible substance of a story
A meets B, something happens, order returns
…while narrative is the way that the story is told to the audience
Once upon a time, there was a princess…
• Key Concepts in Communication – Fiske et al (1983)

33. STORY VS NARRATIVE
Or..
THE STORY
a) Crime conceived
b) Crime planned
c) Crime committed
d) Crime discovered
e) Detective investigates
f) Detective identifies criminals

34. STORY VS NARRATIVE
Or..
THE STORY
a) Crime conceived
b) Crime planned
c) Crime committed
d) Crime discovered
e) Detective investigates
f) Detective identifies criminals
…may be told as
THE NARRATIVE
d) Crime discovered
e) Detective investigates
f) Detective identifies criminals
a) Crime conceived
b) Crime planned
c) Crime committed

35. STORY VS NARRATIVE
Or..
THE STORY
• Orphaned boy grows up in Indian
slums, enduring hardship and poverty.
• He meets and is separated from the
love of his life
• When older he decides to try and
contact her by appearing on a TV quiz
show
• His success on the show leads
authorities to believe he is cheating.
• Boy is interrogated and tortured
• Boy tells police officer his back story,
explaining how he knew answers and
his motive for appearing on the show
• Boy returns to show where he is
successful and makes telephone
contact with his sweetheart
…may be told as

36. STORY VS NARRATIVE
Or..
THE STORY
• Orphaned boy grows up in Indian
slums, enduring hardship and poverty.
• He meets and is separated from the
love of his life
• When older he decides to try and
contact her by appearing on a TV quiz
show
• His success on the show leads
authorities to believe he is cheating.
• Boy is interrogated and tortured
• Boy tells police officer his back story,
explaining how he knew answers and
his motive for appearing on the show
• Boy returns to show where he is
successful and makes telephone
contact with his sweetheart
…may be told as
THE NARRATIVE
• Boy is interrogated and tortured
• Boy tells police officer his back
story, explaining how he knew
answers and his motive for
appearing on the show
• His time growing up is shown
through a series of flashback
sequences depicting his childhood
and adolescence. In doing so, his
experiences that lead him to know
the answers are revealed in
parallel with his appearance on
the show.
• Boy returns to show where he is
successful and makes telephone
contact with his sweetheart

37. STORY VS NARRATIVE
Or..
THE STORY
• Orphaned boy grows up in Indian
slums, enduring hardship and poverty.
• He meets and is separated from the
love of his life
• When older he decides to try and
contact her by appearing on a TV quiz
show
• His success on the show leads
authorities to believe he is cheating.
• Boy is interrogated and tortured
• Boy tells police officer his back story,
explaining how he knew answers and
his motive for appearing on the show
• Boy returns to show where he is
successful and makes telephone
contact with his sweetheart
…may be told as
THE NARRATIVE
• Boy is interrogated and tortured
• Boy tells police officer his back
story, explaining how he knew
answers and his motive for
appearing on the show
• His time growing up is shown
through a series of flashback
sequences depicting his childhood
and adolescence. In doing so, his
experiences that lead him to no
the answers are revealed in
parallel with his appearance omn
the show.
• Boy returns to show where he is
successful and makes telephone
contact with his sweetheart

38. WHERE DO WE SEE/HEAR NARRATIVES?
Task: In pairs, pick an event that has happened to one of you today.
How could you tell this story differently for
1) An Action Film?
2) A News Report?
3) An E4 Reality TV Show?

39. WHERE DO WE SEE/HEAR NARRATIVES?
Task: In pairs, pick an event that has happened to one of you today.
How could you tell this story differently for
1) An Action Film?
2) A News Report?
3) An E4 Reality TV Show?

40. NARRATIVE STRUCTURE
When we look at narrative and narrative structure we can
start to see patterns that repeat. When location and
character names are removed, many stories begin to look
the same…

43. NARRATIVE STRUCTURES:
TODOROV
Franco-Bulgarian philosopher Tsvetan Todorov observed that conventional stories
start in a state of equilibrium, which is then disrupted, setting in a motion a chain of
events. The resolution of the story is the creation of a new/different equilibrium.
Disequilibrium
Equilibrium
New
Equilibrium

44. NARRATIVE STRUCTURES:
TODOROV
Tsvetan Todorov suggested that narratives are led by events in
a ‘cause and effect’ format.
The narrative starts with an equilibrium
An action / character disrupts the equilibrium
A quest to restore the equilibrium ensues
The narrative moves to a confrontation/climax
Resolution / equilibrium is restored

45. Can you apply this theory to 2-3 films you have watched
Film Name How it applies to Todorov’s theory
Titanic Rose is engaged Rose then leaves
her fiancee for
Jack; Jack then
dies
Rose continues
her life as an
independent
woman

46. NARRATIVE STRUCTURES:
TODOROV
Texts that conform the audience’s expectations by following this pattern can be
described as ‘ideologically conservative’. They are ‘safe’, do not challenge the
audience and are ‘comforting’. Most mainstream texts are like this.
Other texts may challenge the viewer by not ending with a ‘return to
equilibrium’ and end with the characters in a different, possibly worse situation
situation than the start. These may be described as ‘ideologically progressive’.
as they promote a change in attitudes.
Some media texts seek to challenge audience expectations by leaving open-
ended or ambiguous narratives that leave the audience to interpret what they
understand by the ending. Narratives that only have one possible interpretation
are said to be ‘closed’.

47. LINEAR VS NON LINEAR
NARRATIVES
Narratives that ‘go in a straight line’ from beginning to end are said to be linear.
However, many films play with this and jumble the order of events into a non-linear
structure.
e.g.:
Can you think of any examples?
A B C D
A BC D

48. NON-LINEAR NARRATIVES: PULP FICTION
If the seven sequences were ordered chronologically, they would run:
4a, 2, 6, 1, 7, 3, 4b, 5.
Sequences 1 and 7 partially overlap and are presented from different points of view; the same is true of sequences 2 and 6.
1.Prologue—The Diner (i)
2.Prelude to "Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife"
3."Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife"
4.Prelude to "The Gold Watch" (a—flashback, b—present)
5."The Gold Watch"
6."The Bonnie Situation"
7.Epilogue—The Diner (ii)

49. CIRCULAR NARRATIVES
Narratives that begin and end at the same point are said to
be circular narratives.
Beginning
Middle
End
These are often used in films/programmes
that start at a climactic event then flashback
to the events building up to it.
It is also common in sitcoms and TV series
where stories do not continue through an
entire series so that audiences can ‘join in’ at
any point (e.g. The Simpsons).

50. NARRATIVES AND MANIPULATING
TIME
In the case of Pulp fiction and other similar texts, the chronology of the story has
been reordered to make the film more interesting and stimulating for the
audience – like a puzzle.
There are several other ways, besides reordering, that narrative manipulates time.
•Flashbacks show events from the past
•Flash-forwards show events from the future
•Ellipsis An ellipsis in media narrative leaves out a portion of the story. This can
be used to condense time, or as a stylistic method to allow the reader to fill in
the missing portions of the narrative with their imagination