This document provides an introduction to key media concepts for a media studies course. It discusses what media is and how the media mediates events and presents them to audiences. The media aims to present reality but often creates an artificial or heightened version of reality. Stereotypes are widely used in media as they allow audiences to easily understand representations, but they oversimplify groups and can promote prejudice. The document examines how media representations are constructed and how audiences make meaning from signs and symbols in media texts.

1. IInnttrroodduuccttiioonn ttoo AASS MMeeddiiaa
GG332222 KKeeyy MMeeddiiaa CCoonncceeppttss

2. WWhhaatt iiss ‘‘MMeeddiiaa’’??
• Spend 2 minutes with the person next to you and come
up with a list of everything you consider ‘‘MMeeddiiaa’’..
• Now try and come up with a definition of what you think
‘MMeeddiiaa’ is.

3. AASS MMeeddiiaa
What is the similarity between a fortune teller with a
crystal ball & the way the media world works?
(Clue: Think of what the verb “to mediate” means)
KEY WORDS:
Mediation: the
process by which an
institution or individual
or a technology comes
between events that
happen in the world and
the audience who
receive this re-presentation.

4. TThhee MMeeddiiaa::
The media tries to present what is real
(Versimilitude) but what tends to
happen is visual ‘refraction’.
A media theorist Jean Baudrillard calls
this ‘hyper reality’ in which the media
creates an artificial or heightened
reality.
KEY WORDS:
Verisimilitude:
the quality of seeming
like what is taken to be
the real world of a
particular text.
Decoding: the
understandings taken
from and brought to the
text by the audience, the
ways the text is
understood.
TThhee MMeeddiiaa hhaass bbeeeenn ‘‘ccoonnssttrruucctteedd’’ –– vveerryy ffeeww ccaann ddeeccooddee tthhee mmeessssaaggeess!!

6. RReeffrraaccttiioonn::
• I’ve taken what is a seemingly real
image of myself (versimilitude)
• However it is clear that this is an
artificially constructed image of
me (Baudrillard)
• This is a refracted version of
myself.

7. TTaasskk::
• In pairs Download the app – ‘Youcam perfect’ onto
one of your phones (girls you might want to add
‘YoucamMakeUp’).
• Take a picture of yourself and then use the app to
manipulate the image.
• Email to images to me – cd@westgate.slough.sch.uk

8. BBeeiinngg AAnnaallyyttiiccaall::
• PP -- ppooiinntt
• EE –– eevviiddeennccee
• TT –– tteerrmmiinnoollooggyy
• EE –– eexxppllaaiinn

9. CCrriittiiccaall OObbsseerrvveerrss
Through studying Media you will be able to...
• Analyse a media product.
• Understand why it has been constructed in this way.
• Understand how it may have been manipulated or biased
in some way & why.
• Question what you read/hear/see.

10. IInntteerrpprreettaattiioonn:

11. IInntteerrpprreettaattiioonn:
The word swastika came from the Sanskrit word svastika,
meaning any lucky or auspicious object, and in particular a
mark made on persons and things to denote
auspiciousness, or any piece of luck or well-being. It
is composed of su- meaning "good, well"
and asti "being". Suasti thus means "well-being."
KEY WORDS:
Ideology: The
opinions, beliefs and
ways of thinking
characteristics of a
particular person, group
or nation.
Polysemic:
Different individuals can
interpret different
meanings from the text.

12. LL..OO:: UUnnddeerrssttaanndd hhooww wwee ccrreeaattee mmeeaanniinngg
tthhrroouugghh tthhee ddeeccoonnssttrruuccttiioonn ooff mmeeddiiaa
tteexxttss.. GG332222 KKeeyy MMeeddiiaa CCoonncceeppttss

13. All media texts have 2 layers of meaning:
Signifier (aka Denotation):
What we actually see.
Signifies (aka Connotation):
What you associate with this image –
the deeper or hidden meanings and
associations.
KEY WORDS:
Semiology/
Semiotics: the study
of the meanings of signs
DDeeccooddiinngg::

14. HHooww DDoo WWee RReeaadd SSiiggnnss??
• Signifier (Denotation): Red rose with a green
stem.
• Signifies (Connotation): a symbol of passion and
love - this is what the rose represents.
KEY WORDS:
Roland Barthes
Deconstruction
Theory: French
literary theorist, critic
and philosopher who
applied semiotic analysis
to cultural and media
forms.

15. HHooww DDoo WWee RReeaadd SSiiggnnss?? KEY WORDS:
Roland Barthes
Deconstruction
Theory: French
literary theorist, critic
and philosopher who
applied semiotic analysis
to cultural and media
forms.
Facial Expressions:
• Shows the emotions /
mood connected with
the character or film

16. HHooww DDoo WWee RReeaadd SSiiggnnss?? KEY WORDS:
Roland Barthes
Deconstruction
Theory: French
literary theorist, critic
and philosopher who
applied semiotic analysis
to cultural and media
forms.
Body Language:
• Shows the emotions /
mood connected with
the character or film

17. HHooww DDoo WWee RReeaadd SSiiggnnss?? KEY WORDS:
Roland Barthes
Deconstruction
Theory: French
literary theorist, critic
and philosopher who
applied semiotic analysis
to cultural and media
forms.
Lighting:
• Lighting can create an
atmosphere, can
highlight certain
features, or make
something seem
special.

18. HHooww DDoo WWee RReeaadd SSiiggnnss?? KEY WORDS:
Roland Barthes
Deconstruction
Theory: French
literary theorist, critic
and philosopher who
applied semiotic analysis
to cultural and media
forms.
Lighting:
• Size, style and colour of the words gives
meaning to the product

19. SSttuuaarrtt HHaallll –– RReecceeppttiivvee TThheeoorryy
• Dominant (or 'hegemonic') reading: the reader fully shares the
text's code and accepts and reproduces the preferred reading.
• Negotiated reading: the reader partly shares the text's code and
broadly accepts the preferred reading, but sometimes resists
and modifies it in a way which reflects their own position,
experiences and interests.
• Oppositional ('counter-hegemonic') reading: the reader, whose
social situation places them in a directly oppositional relation to
the dominant code, understands the preferred reading but does
not share the text's code and rejects this reading, bringing to
bear an alternative frame of reference (radical, feminist etc.)

21. RReeaaddiinngg MMeeaanniinngg::
Change the
anchorage…
• How does this
change the
meaning?

22. RReeaaddiinngg MMeeaanniinngg::
Media texts can be
POLYSEMIC in
nature.
(Different individuals
can interpret different
meanings from the
text).

23. RReeaaddiinngg MMeeaanniinngg:: KEY WORDS:
• What are the signifier’s?
• What does this signify?
• What anchorage is used? – How does this
effect the meaning?
• Is there any polysemic interpretations
you could get from the texts?
Enigma Code: –
Signs in a media text
raise questions to the
audience which
encourages us to keep
on watching because we
want to find out if we
will get the answers to
those questions during
the programme/series.

24. LL..OO:: TToo bbee aabbllee ttoo uunnddeerrssttaanndd tthhee
cchhaarraacctteerriissttiiccss ooff SStteerreeoottyyppiinngg..
GG332222 KKeeyy MMeeddiiaa CCoonncceeppttss

25. SStteerreeoottyyppeess
In pairs see if you
can work out the
different
stereotypes in this
picture. Try to link
them to a specific
group of people.
I.E – Hippy

26. RReepprreesseennttaattiioonn KEY WORDS:
• A media representation is not 100% accurate. It is a RE-PRESENTATION
that has been CONSTRUCTED.
(Refraction)
Verisimilitude:
the quality of seeming
like what is taken to be
the real world of a
particular text.

27. SStteerreeoottyyppeess:: KEY WORDS:
• The media gives us ways of imagining particular groups/
identities/situations
• We become familiar with these groups.
• Stereotypes are widely circulated ideas or assumptions –
this can be quite derogative as it limits our understanding
and can lead to prejudice.
Branston and
Stafford: These
theorists said
‘stereotypes are widely
circulated ideas or
assumptions about
particular groups.

28. SStteerreeoottyyppee DDeeffiinniittiioonnss::
• Stereotypes
Media Institutions use stereotypes because the audience will
instantly understand them. Think of stereotypes as a ‘visual
shortcut’. They’re repeated so often that we assume they are
normal or ‘true’.
• Task – Think of a stereotypical representation of Scotland or
O.A.P’s
• Archetypes
This is the ‘ultimate’ stereotype. For example, the white stiletto
wearing, big busted, brainless blonde bimbo
• Countertype
A representation that challenges tradition stereotypical
associations of groups, people or places
KEY WORDS:
Cultivation
Theory: George
Gerbner believed that
the more time people
spend ‘living’ in the
television, the more they
are to believe social
reality portrayed on
television. The
Cultivation Theory leaves
people with a
misconstrued perception
of what is true in our
world.

29. Stereotype Characteristics:
1. Categorises and evaluates a group
2. Grasps the perceived features and suggest they
are the cause for their position (i.e. women are
not equal to men because they are weak and
emotional.
3. Often (though not always) negative
KEY WORDS:
Framing: The
media’s way of
categorising groups like
an image. It only ever
represents the ‘real’
world at a distant and in
a particular way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZB6q_RLHRU#t=441

30. Categorises and evaluates a group
Grasps the perceived features and suggest they are the cause for their position

31. Categorises and evaluates a group
Grasps the perceived features and suggest they are the cause for their position

32. Categorises and evaluates a group
Grasps the perceived features and suggest they are the cause for their position

33. Categorises and evaluates a group
Grasps the perceived features and suggest they are the cause for their position

34. Categorises and evaluates a group
Grasps the perceived features and suggest they are the cause for their position

35. Categorises and evaluates a group
Grasps the perceived features and suggest they are the cause for their position

36. Categorises and evaluates a group
Grasps the perceived features and suggest they are the cause for their position

37. TThhee RReepprreesseennttaattiioonn ooff SStteerreeoottyyppeess::
1. What view of people or issues is conveyed to audiences? –
positive/negative?
2. How is that view conveyed?
3. How far are audiences positioned to take up a preferred
view (and how far might audiences adopt oppositional or
negotiated interpretations)?
4. How far do the representations establish a framework for
people’s values, attitudes and beliefs?