Structuralism (disambiguation)– refers to the way a narrative
is told. As my product is a Local newspaper, this theory won’t apply to much to
my product, however I will be able to use theorists to help me construct my
articles. A key idea of structuralism is ‘taking a structuralist approach is to
move away from the interpretation of the individual text on its own and drive towards
understanding the layer, abstract structure which contain them’. This means
that if I use a structuralist theory for my articles, this will decrease the
ambiguity and help me achieve the preferred reading. Because of this,
structuralism wasn’t welcome in the UK and the USA by traditional critics who
liked to analyse texts. The basic structuralist theories will aid the
understanding of my product to the audience.
TODOROVS
THEORY OF NARRATIVE ORGANISATION.
For one of my articles, I will try and
construct it around Todorvs Theory of equilibrium > disruption phase >
second equilibrium to give it structure. I will use this theory for my Charity
Marathon article. It will start off on a positive tone where the person
involved will be recalling to the audience the happy memories she had with her
relative. The Disruption phase/ disequilibrium will be when the relative is
diagnosed with Alzheimer’s meaning the happiness in their lives was interrupted.
The second equilibrium will be the person running the marathon to raise money
for Alzheimer’s disease to help others suffering with it. This structure
follows a basic structure that is used in many films and plays. Audiences are
familiar with this plot and therefore will make the article easily digestible. It
also narrows down the way the article can be interpreted. The preferred reading
of this text is to represent teenagers in a good life, and being in the news
for doing something rewarding for a change. Another article I will use this for is my Main splash. At first there will be equilibrium- the cow at home with the farmers, then disruption phase, the cow going missing and then finally new equilibrium, the cow being returned safely home.
Because my product is a Local Newspaper, it
will be hard to apply all the Structuralism theory’s to my product. For
example, Vladimir Props theory of character types which stated that
within a narrative e find key characters such as the protagonist, antagonist,
heroine, helper, parental figure, donor and victim. The main goal of my product
is to produce something that represents reality as my product needs to provide
the locals of Sunderland with the latest news. By including characters in my
articles that have certain roles places a barrier between the real and the fake
and takes a way an element of reality. Also, when reading the articles, the
audience may register a familiar pattern when reading about the characters and
may get lost in the article. Furthermore if they distinguish that the people
within the article have character roles they may become too emotionally attached
with the article which would remove a sense of reality. Therefore, I will not
use this Structuralism theory in my product.
A theory,
however that I will include in my product is Claude Levi Strauss Binary
Opposite Theory. Strauss stated that narratives are usually structured around
binary opposites. The opposites take the form of significant contrasts used to create
a sense of difference or conflict. The opposites help the audience understand
the meaning of a product or a text, for example to understand a male, they
would have to register and understand a female, and the two genders are the
contrast. An example of when I would use this in my product would be the style
of articles that I produce. I intend to include one negative based article and
one happy uplifting article. Because the audience will be exposed to the
negative one, this will put more emphasis and understanding on the happy one
and make it stand out more. The
comparison helps the audiences understanding of the article. This will help my product be interpreted in the least possible way. This theory
will only be useful to some extent. Because I need my product to appeal to both
genders, it will be hard to adapt binary opposites in this way. My articles
need to be gender neutral, rather than having one article dedicated to males
and one to females. If I were doing this, this would be an example of a Binary opposite,
as one article would contain a lexical field of feminine language, and the
other article language that would appeal to males.
Hermeneutic
code- I will not be structuring my product around this theory, as it represents
the full truth being untold. My product has the main target of providing the
audience with the latest news of their town, and to deceive them is out of the
question. The code also aims to ‘keep audiences guessing until the final scenes
where all is revealed and closure is achieved’. I am unsure as to whether this
code could be adapted to my product, as I need to immediately catch the reader’s
attention in the ‘Kicker paragraph’ of my article. To seclude and withdraw a
vital piece of information till the end of the article isn’t a convention that
most newspaper articles stick too, as usually the main source of excitement
will be what the article is based around. Also if the key point is kept to the
last minute, some readers may get bored and lose interest in the article
altogether.
Proairetic
code- this code refers to an action or an event that indicates something else
is going to happen. This is a code I will not be including in my product as I don’t
think it can be efficiently adapted. Again, the main goal of my product is to
reflect real life and it would be hard to inject hints into articles as to what
is to come next. On the other hand, a key selection value used by journalists
is ‘Dramatization of news’. This is when journalists try their hardest to
emphasis certain points of a news story to make it sound more dramatic and
exciting. If I was to include a proairetic code for my product, it would add
drama to the article.
When we as a society look at a feature, we don’t question what we see, but
what it represents. We try to recreate the illusion of the representation, not
the actual thing. As a society, we forget that signs and symbols are actually,
just signs and symbols.
Semiotics is the theory that helps explain the use of the symbols.
A signifier is the item itself, the denotation, whereas the signified is
what is being represented, the connotations.
I intend to apply this to my product for example, for my ancillary poster
task I am going to have an image of a family, smiling reading the newspaper.
The signifier here is a group of people reading, however the signified is that
they are a happy family and are enjoying the newspaper they are reading. The
newspaper acts as a uniting point for the family, something they can all enjoy.
The proximity between the models in my image will be close, again implying that
the Newspaper is bringing them closer together as a family unit. This is the
signified, what the proximity is representing. The location for the image will
be in a family front room, with several props that strengthen the connotation
of a family unit, for example a high chair and some slippers. All these
concepts work together as a paradigm. The metonymy is that the Newspaper is for
a family audience and there is conventions within the paper that will appeal to
everyone.
The aim of this is that the signifiers with
in my images make the audience think of other conventions to do with family
life, for example the inclusion of a young teenage girl reading the paper next
to her a woman posing as her gran will represent that the paper is ideal for
all age ranges and family appropriate and is also the preffered reading of the text, what I want the audience to see. This will encourage my target audience
to purchase the product.
‘Encoding’- the information interpreted by the reader
‘Decoding’- The information interpreted by
the reader
The encoding of the image for my ancillary
task that my product is family friendly, a key mechanism to unite the family
due to its family intended audience. The decodingy for my product
will be that they understand it is for a family audience and suitable for all. By the use of this sign, it enables the audience to understand the product more as they will immediately register the target audience of the product.
Post modernism
A brief description of modernism. ‘In art,
music, literature and architecture, modernism challenged traditional material
and methods.
Post Modernism, for late nineteenth century
to early twentieth century.
It was still, however described as a ‘high piece
of art’.
High Culture- ‘Worthy, educated, important
artistic’
Low Culture- ‘Popular, trivial, mass
produced, commericial’.
Post modernism cheerfully mixes both these
cultures with an aim to not make distinguishes between them. Within Post
modernism, context and seriousness didn’t matter, meaning its main aim was
jokiness, irony, spectacle and surface.
When watching the Post Modernism film ‘Pulp
Fiction’, both low and high culture elements are present and again playfully
mixed.
High Culture:
The house styling and architecture is
artistic.
The sculptures and props in her garden
portray the characters being wealthy and important.
Low Culture:
‘Twist’ dance that occurs in the diner, a
popular dance in the 50’s.
The fast food restraunts, reference to mass
produced food.
Intertextuality is constantly present
within such texts, a delight of Post Modernism. Intertextuality refers to
mentioning one text in another. It creates a relationship with the audience and
compliments their knowledge if they recognise a certain bran or text. Using the
film ‘pulp fiction’, as an example, several intertextuality references are made.
In the 1950’s style diner scene, there is a Buddy Holly section and a Marilyn
Monroe section for example. Audiences watching will immediately recognise this
text link. This also brings in an element of low culture into the film
(celebrity status). Moreover another example of intertextuality would be when
John Travolta’s character orders a Vanilla Coke. He is referring to a real life
product, which is rewarding to the audience. It also adds a realism factor to
the film and reminds the audience they are only watching a film and stops them
getting sucked in.
Post modernism also has a mix of genres. A
good example of this for example would be Pulp Fiction. The genres within are: gangster,
crime, action, comedy, indie, thriller, Blaxploitation, musical, romance, art
house movie
MY PRODUCT IN RELATION TO POST MODERNISM
My product will have elements of post
modernism in. Just like Post Modernism aims to break generic rules, I am going
to do that with the target audience of my product. Where Local Newspapers are
usually targeted towards the working class and older people, I am going to
involve a lot more teenagers and increase a family audience. I will be
subverting existing conventions of local newspapers and breaking normal
conventions, just like Post Modernism.
However, where Post Modernism finds lack of
organisation exciting and revels in breaking the rules, I will not be able to
do this for my product. My local newspaper needs to be ordered reflecting my
target audience’s needs. It should take the standard layout of an existing
product which will maximise the successfulness of mine. A lack of organisation
in my product would make it unsuccessful and messy, audiences would mind it
hard to follow and this would therefore decrease sales.
- a Standard layout of a newspaper that I found from google images.
Post modernism enjoys revisiting the past
with irony; however it will be hard to apply this to my product. I have to take
into consideration sensitivity and revising the pat of some events may be
upsetting to some audiences.
For my product, style over substance is an
issue. Although I have to take style into consideration and it has to
compliment my articles, I have to remember the function of a local newspaper,
to provide the local community with crucial news. I will be injecting journalist
and treatment values into my articles such as ‘drama’ to make them seem more interesting;
however they have to be based on the truth. Therefore my product will not be
style of substance.
Low culture element will appear in my
product more than high culture. For example, I will be including features for
bowling and vouchers for Staples, something mass produced. Although
it may be challenging to include elements of high culture, for my Seafront
article I will be making a reference to the funding of the renovation. As it is
a lump sum, this could be classed as high culture. Also the artistic design of
the product could again, relate to high culture. The fact my product can playfully
mix both elements makes it shows elements of post modernism. There will be lots more elements of low culture in my product, for example in my main splash. This is about the Highland cow that was found wandering Morrison's car park. Morrison's is a national supermarket that has mass produced products. Here this article will also include elements of high culture as I shall be making reference to the farm house and the old fashioned style design.
For Post Modernism, context and seriousness
are not the key to success, however for my product it is. If there is a sad
article or something with distressing news, I have to make a sensitive approach
to make sure I would not upset readers, which would be unprofessional. I can
therefore not stick to this Post Modernism convention.
My product will include intertextuality and
make references to other products. The aim of my product is to provide news, and
although it to some extent is to entertain, I need to make sure my audience
don’t get lost in my product and see it as a story. Therefore these
intertextual references acknowledge to the audience that this is real life, and
brings them back to reality. For example, in my article based on a granddad
being run over, I have mentioned the car brand than ran him over (BMW).
Furthermore, my adverts will be intertextuality. My advert will be for
stationary shop ‘staples’, intended for the Teenage part of the audience. Again
this can be rewarding for the audience and also reminds them of the product
they are reading.
Mixing of genres- My Newspaper has one main
genre, local. Because this is so specific it will be hard to draw in other
genres, for example I cannot include worldwide or national news unless it may affect
the locals of Sunderland. This therefore makes it hard for my product to mix
genres. Unlike other media texts such as books or films, it is hard to use
conventions of other genres. Films may have romance, gangster, indie, comedy
and action conventions within the narrative. I could however, have these
featured in certain articles. For example, one article based on a romance story
of a couple just being married, or own on a crime that has just happened. I
will take this into account because the variety of news means there will be
more potential to appeal to a wider target audience.
FEMINISM
Laura Mulvey (1975) argues that the dominant view in
cinema was male gaze, especially where women are concerned. The female body is
filmed for male gaze to provide erotic pleasure as well as being voyeuristic.
She is rendered a passive object.
The objectification of woman’s bodies has
been a constant theme in critical analyses of woman’s representation. Looking
at women within the media, they are normally sexualised for the male gaze and
to benefit the male audience. It is hard to find a female actor in a film with
a main protagonist role that isn’t pretty or that can be found attractive for
males. Directors and producers make sure that there are desirable, well known
female actors in the films to attract and persuade the males to go to the film,
a bit of eye candy to supplement with the action. For example, in the Dark
Knight Returns, Catwoman is played by Anne Hathaway, a 30 year old beautiful
actress with a slim figure, clearly appealing to the male target audience of a
film. Similar patterns are found in lots of Hollywood films, for example the
Bond girls are always slim and pretty and desirable towards a male audience. It
is clear to see that when a media text is constructed, the male gaze is taken
into consideration.
This is when we look from the male
perspective to put things in a film/magazine that will successfully sell to the
male audience. This is mostly sexually attractive young women, either with a
superior status or being portrayed as the damsel in distress. This can also be
known as REGRESSIVE. This is noticeable mostly in action adventure films that
have a main target audience of males. If woman are above 30/35, their role in
films becomes motherly, or Propps character type ‘The Helper’. For example, ‘M ‘in
James Bond, who is played by Dame Judy Dench. The actress is 78 year old and
although she is a successful and popular actress, her age and the fact she is
no long attractive hinders her being a leading Lady, strengthening the fact
Woman are represented regressively in media texts and are objectified or used
as a sexual object. Again, it is hard to find a leading lady in a film that is
unattractive and old. For my product, it is important that a make a fair
representation of Sunderland’s population, therefore I cannot base the
newsworthiness of my articles around the age of the female and whether they are
attractive towards to males. It will be hard to have a male gaze on images
included in my newspaper because my target audience is gender neutral, and feminists
may be offended by the way I have represented women. Although in some national
newspapers, they have features to appeal directly to men, e.g. the Sun with
page 3 girls; it would be out of the question to include a feature like this. I
am aiming to make this newspaper suitable for family reading, so therefore this
male gaze will not be met as it will not be appropriate for the younger
readers. Although I will have women in my article, for example my marathon
article will be based on an older teenage girl, sexualizing or portraying her
as a passive object to appeal for the male gaze is out of the question. She
needs to be shown as just running a marathon and will be very sweaty and red.
Looking at males- Whereas females are
objectified as sexual objects within media texts, males aren’t. Conventional
approaches to looking at males subjects tend to be limited to acceptable
contexts in which traditional masculinity in not threatened. In other words it
is common to view a mans masculinity within media products. For example, within
TV sports, we are provided with a lot of close up shots of male bodies but are
not given any sexual legitimacy by the camera work or commentary. This
highlights the different way the genders are portrayed. For my local newspaper,
if I was constructing the full product and not just the first two pages, it
would have a sports summary in the back, which would no doubt include close up
of the male body to highlight important moves. However, this would be for MALE
benefit, rather than FEMALE.
When looking at media products, it’s
important to consider the sexual orientation of the gender. For example, what a
female finds attractive in a man will be different to what a gay man finds
attractive in a man. It would be presumptuous to assume they like the same
type. It is therefore important to look at an image and think ‘Is this targeted
to a male or a lesbian? A female or a gay man?’
It was only in gay culture that an open display & objectification of
the male body is for sexual pleasure.
For my product, it will be hard to look at
my product from the male gaze and the female gaze and please both. I have to
take into consideration that the main target audience is for both females and
males and a generalisation of Sunderland’s population. To include things from
the male gaze such as sexualisation of women and making them look desirable
will not appeal to female audiences of feminists.
It is hard to argue whether or not my
product will have feminism in it. As I have stated previously, my target audience
is gender neutral, and therefore I don’t intend to include a lot of it in order
to keep the male audience intrigued and appealed by my product. However some
conventions I have to take into account will have traces of feminism in.
FEMINISTS THEORY
Radical Feminist theories-Argues that
women’s oppression is the result of the system of Patriarchy, a system of
domination in which men as a group have power over women. They aim to challenge
and overthrow the opposing
standard gender roles and oppression of women and calls for a radical
reordering of society. I will not be representing or
supporting this theory in my product as the target audience in gender neutral
and I may lose popularity if it is preaching feminism. Also they purpose of
this product is to provide locals with news of the local community. They don’t
want to be reading an article with connotation of feminism with in it.
Furthermore to support this theory would mean having a lot of features directed
to this target audience. For my product I need to provide a fair representation
of news to my audience and include a range of news values to them. Again by
using this feminist theory would mean a lack of variety and repetition which
isn’t an existing variety within a local newspaper. Where my product may
include some small elements of ‘Radical Feminists’ will be because it won’t
include degrading images of women, or them being portrayed as an object of
lust. As a female editor, I will ensure this and take images portraying them as
appealing and happy, however not a sexual object. This will have elements of feminism;
however it can be more related to the target audience including family members.
This relates to this quote “The majority of work focuses on how different media
texts have different meanings according to the sex of the producer/audience”.
If my product was targeted to women, it may have more elements of feminism
within. For example, my article may be totally based on the successfulness of
women in media and business and focusing less on males. It also may have
articles based on stay at home fathers, where the masculine stereotype is
challenged. Further conventions could be negative talk of patriarchy and the
challenging off it.
Queer theory- this offers the views that
all identities are social constructions, the idea that sexuality in not rigidly
defined and can be remade. With regards to this, I will not be supporting this
in my product either.
Post Modern feminism- believes that it is
but out dated to be discussing gender inequality and discuss uniqueness. This
theory here is influenced by whether I want to include elements of Post
Modernism in my product. To some extent, this theory will apply. As my target
audience is gender neutral, I generally intend not to make too much reference
to feminism in my product. Whilst I will not be displaying derogating images of
female or portraying them ‘progressive’, I will not be preaching feminism
within my articles. I aim to keep gender dominance neutral to avoid upsetting
readers. However for my Seafront renovation article I will be making reference
to the mayor of Sunderland and his financial decision to expand the seafront. This
here can reflect a male’s superior status in society. To prevent this I will put
a quote in about a female councillor to balance it out.
Liberal-
believe the problem is male prejudice against women’, embodied in law or
expressed in the exclusion of women from particular areas of life. Liberal
feminists argue that our society holds false beliefs that women are less
intellectually and physically capable than men. For my product, readers could interpret
one of my articles as having elements of liberal feminism in it. For example,
my marathon article, based on a teenage girl who ran the Sunderland marathon
and finished 4th place. Here this article describes her physical
fitness and promotes how her training helped her finish 4th. However
a point that could overlook that it is Liberal Feminism is that the article is
more based on the fact she ran it for her gran who has Alzheimer’s, and focuses
more on their relationship. Where some Liberal feminists may be annoyed at one
of my articles would again be my Seafront renovation one, where it makes
reference to the fact the Mayor (male) has announced and decided the renovation
and is high place in society has allowed him to do it. Where I am trying to
counter balance this, as before mentioned is to include quotes by female
councillors and explaining their input in the decisions.
Third wave –less emphasis on the battle
equality and more emphasis on the positive nature of ambiguity and difference.
This is a theory that will be included in my product as the fundamental
audience for my product is gender neutral. My articles will not be based on
battles for equality or have much focus on a gender divide. They will be gender
neutral so that they can appeal to both male and females.
Johnston Press
