2. Hand in your assignments!
Assignment submission:
• Assignment #1 due. Please hand in your papers at the front of the room at the END of
class.
• Your paper was also due on Blackboard at 4:00 pm
• See syllabus for information on late papers: penalties, late submission procedures, etc.
Looking ahead in this course:
• Midterm exam is in three weeks today, October 23
• It will take place in this room and Told 204 (details soon about which room you’ll be
writing in)
• Further information/advice will be included in next week’s lecture
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8. Signs and semiotics
• We make meaning through signs.
• Semiotics is the so-called “science of signs” and offers a more rigorous
way to think about representation.
• Two components of a sign:
• Signifier = the aspect of the sign we experience.
• Signified = the idea or mental concept drawn from the signifier.
• Example of a traffic light as a sign:
• Signifier = red light.
• Signified = mental concept “stop.”
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11. Indeterminacy of representation, intertextuality
• A sign can have different meanings, especially at the connotative level.
• Conversely, there are an “indeterminable” number of ways of representing an
object, person, or event. Chloe Cushman’s cartoons:
• The above cartoons also exemplify the concept of intertextuality.
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12. “Perspectives” on media content
• The remainder of today’s lecture will apply perspectives from pages
98-107 of the textbook, including literary criticism, content analysis, and
critical political economy analysis.
• While the textbook refers to these as “perspectives,” they can also be
considered “methods” or “approaches” to studying media content.
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13. Literary criticism
• A broad approach to studying media.
• Treating media as “texts” open to a deep, interpretive analysis.
• Considers intentions of author/creator.
• Considers interpreting the text as a product of larger social forces and
“structures.” Texts reveal something about cultural and social forces.
• Invites comparison to see similar themes, etc. across multiple texts.
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14. Literary criticism and Jeep advertisement
• Advertising and branding addressed later in chapter 4.
• We need to consider advertising not as marketing, but instead as a
dominant cultural storyteller.
• Example: Jeep’s fall 2016 “Free to Be.”
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18. Content analysis and Canadian political television
www.canadalandshow.com/political-tv-and-women-unsurprising-stats/
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19. Reality television history
• Until the early 2000s, the most important shows on prime-time television
were dramas and sitcoms (e.g., Friends and Seinfeld).
• Then, starting with American Idol and Survivor, reality shows took over.
• Reality television encompasses “competition” shows, as well as pseudo-
documentaries.
• Television networks struggling with finances by 2000s.
• Reality television took over because it made financial sense: minimizing
cost and minimizing risk.
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20. Reality television background
First, reality television minimizes costs:
• Lack of crew and reliance on so-called “ordinary people” allows
production to side-step unions. Cheaper labour.
• Avoid script writers, and keep other production costs (location, set design,
costume) low.
• Pay for “stars” also comparatively low.
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vs.
21. Reality television background
Second, reality television minimizes risk:
• Shows can be renewed/repeated/spun-off with little effort and little risk.
• Every season of Hell’s Kitchen, The Voice, or The Bachelor are essentially
the same. Unlike scripted shows, no plots or characters to develop.
• Risk-free international spin-offs. For example, Canadian spin-offs of many
successful American shows.
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25. Critical political economy analysis
• My interpretation of Hell’s Kitchen is consistent with what the textbook
refers to as a critical political economy analysis.
• System of capitalism reaches “down to structure not only the ways in
which the media operate [reality TV labour cost cutting] but also in the
ways they represent the world to us [capitalist ideology]”
(page 105 of textbook).
• This is also consistent with a Marxist understanding of media.
• Marxism is an example of social theory.
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26. Key concepts, examples, names
Concepts:
• Content analysis
• Critical political economy analysis
• Denotative/connotative
• Indeterminacy of representation
• Intertextuality
• Literary criticism
• Representation
• Semiotics (signifier, signified)
• Social theory
Examples:
• Jeep “Free to Be,” and advertising/branding in
general
• Hell’s Kitchen show, and reality television in
general
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