Most texts presented in media position audiences to support a particular viewpoint through simple conflicts that drive the narrative. Modern audiences have difficulty distinguishing reality from simulated versions due to immersion in media. While genres repeat ideas and themes, they also evolve over time. All narratives follow a basic structure of equilibrium, disruption of equilibrium, and restored equilibrium. Media texts use signs and codes to direct audience understanding and interpretation. Producers encode messages while audiences decode them as dominant, negotiated, or oppositional interpretations. Advances allow audiences to no longer be passive but influential in creating meaning.

1. MEDIA LANGUAGE MEDIA LANGUAGE
PUT SIMPLY:
Most texts can be considered as
simple conflicts (binary opposites)
which drive the narrative forward
and position the audience to
support a particular ideological
standpoint.
PUT SIMPLY:
Modern audiences are so
immersed in the media that
it is no longer possible to tell
reality from ‘simulacra’ (or
‘fake news’).

2. MEDIA LANGUAGE MEDIA LANGUAGE
PUT SIMPLY:
Genres may be dominated
by repetition of ideas,
images and themes, but
they also develop and
evolve.
PUT SIMPLY:
All narratives follow a similar
structure which, simplistically, is:
• equilibrium
• disequilibrium
• restored equilibrium.

3. MEDIA LANGUAGE
PUT SIMPLY:
All texts are made up of signs
(narrative codes) that direct the
audience in how to understand the
text. This is through denotation or
through a selection of signifiers which
can be interpreted through
connotation.

4. AUDIENCE THEORY AUDIENCE THEORY
PUT SIMPLY:
Producers encode a text,
audiences decode it in one of
three ways:
• Dominant
• Negotiated
• Oppositional
PUT SIMPLY:
‘Deviant’ behaviour
(violence / drug-taking etc.)
encourages copycat
behaviour in the viewer.

5. AUDIENCE THEORY AUDIENCE THEORY
PUT SIMPLY:
Due to technological
advances, audiences can no
longer be thought of as
passive consumers.
PUT SIMPLY:
Fandoms provide a sense of
identity for audiences.
Fans are increasingly influential
in the creation of textual
meaning.

6. REPRESENTATION THEORY
PUT SIMPLY:
Men and women are represented
in different ways by the media.
Female objectification is linked to
historical, patriarchal culture.
REPRESENTATION THEORY
PUT SIMPLY:
Men and women ‘perform’
their gender roles based on
concepts of cultural norms
which are reinforced by the
media.

7. REPRESENTATION THEORY
PUT SIMPLY:
We build our sense of identity
partly through media
representations.
Media representations are
becoming increasingly diverse.
REPRESENTATION THEORY
PUT SIMPLY:
Repeated representations in
the media lead people to
change the way they view
the world around them.

8. REPRESENTATION THEORY
PUT SIMPLY:
Modern ideas about race and ethnicity
are bound up in historical ideas of
colonialism.
Ethnicity and race is often represented
as being different or ‘other’.
REPRESENTATION THEORY
PUT SIMPLY:
Stereotypes are used in the
media, often to represent
minority groups.
The media creates stereotypes
through a system of signification.

9. *bell hooks (lower case) is the pen name for Gloria Jean Watkins
PUT SIMPLY:
Feminism is a political aim rather
than an individual lifestyle.
Gender, class and race determine
the extent to which individuals are
discriminated against.
REPRESENTATION THEORY

10. MEDIA INSTITUTIONSMEDIA INSTITUTIONS
PUT SIMPLY:
The media is owned and
controlled by a small
number of companies who
are driven by profit and
power.
PUT SIMPLY:
The largest media companies
use vertical and horizontal
integration across a range of
industries in order to increase
profits.

11. MEDIA INSTITUTIONSMEDIA INSTITUTIONS
PUT SIMPLY:
There is constant conflict
between the freedoms of
speech and expression and the
need to restrict views that
could incite hatred or violence.