Lecture Notes, Lectures 1-12 - Professor: Brian Ott PDF

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Professor: Brian Ott ...

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MCOM 2330  Research participation/extra credit info: o [email protected] o http://ttucomc.sona-systems.com  “Request Account”  User ID = [email protected]  Courses  Make sure to select MCOM 2330  View Available Studies o Can do up to 3 hours of credit o Due May 11th (dead day) Chapter 1: Introducing Critical Media Studies I. Some preliminary notes A. Lectures 1. Structured outline a. Key concepts – new key concepts will be italicized b. Examples – I am responsible for all examples 2. Acts of classification: all acts of classification ARE arbitrary* B. The course 1. Our objective: to foster media literacy a. Socialization – the process by which we come to learn 2. Our orientation: critical theory a. Theory – a way of seeing C. Key Critical Theories 1. Industries a. Marxist b. Organizational c. Pragmatic 2. Messages a. Rhetorical b. Cultural c. Psychoanalytic d. Feminist 3. Audiences a. Reception b. Sociological c. Erotic d. Ecological II. Critical Media Studies A. What is CMS? 1. A multidisciplinary field that employs critical theory to foster media literacy and to promote critical thinking about the role of media in society and in our lives B. Key characteristics of CMS

1. Attitude: skeptical 2. Approach: humanistic 3. Assessment: political 4. Ambition: social justice C. Object of CMS 1. How we know/learn a. Somatically b. Symbolically – to know something through something else  Someone tells you/read it from something/saw it somewhere 2. Classifying media a. Print media b. Film and sound recording c. Broadcast media d. New media D. Context of CMS: Postmodernity – historical epic 1. The historical epoch that began to emerge in the 1960s as the economic mode of production in most Western societies gradually shifted from commodity-based manufacturing to information-based services E. Key characteristics of postmodernity 1. Convergence 2. Mobility 3. Fragmentation 4. Globalization 5. Simulation – generation by models of a real without basis in origin or reality

Chapter 2: Marxist Analysis I. Marxist analysis A. Key concepts in Marxism 1. Method: historical materialism – in order to understand the world’s thoughts, you must look at the materialistic objects around in that point of time; born into these conditions 2. Model: a. Base – what makes up society; explanatory force; dominant mode of production in society b. Superstructure – family, religion, politics, education, arts, media, etc. 3. Mode of production: a. Forces/means of production – land, natural resources, labor power, technologies that allow people to do their jobs; you have them or you don’t b. Relations of production – working practices within society, ownership (of property, company shares, and modes of distribution) 4. Logic of capital: profit-motive – you should always try to increase profits B. Patterns of media ownership 1. Concentration a. Oligopoly – dominate companies but aren’t competing 2. Conglomeration – a dominating company has lots and lots of companies doing things under it a. Walt Disney b. Time Warner c. News Corp d. Viacom e. CBS Corporation f. Comcast 3. Integration a. Vertical – control holdings within multiple industries b. Horizontal – control holdings across multiple industries 4. Multinationalism – global companies C. Strategies of profit maximization 1. Synergy – capacity to bring together multiple arms of conglomerate to make as much money as possible a. Writing a book  turn into movie  sound track to movie b. Comics  films  heroes  video games  theme parks 2. Planned obsolescence – making something of a generation on purpose a. Technological  VHS tapes  DVD  blu-ray  digital copy b. Psychological

News is on at the same time, every day, no matter what happens 3. Logic of safety – nothing succeeds like success a. Same story told twice  American Idol X 15, The Voice, ect.  Fast & Furious X 6 4. Celebrity and spectacle a. If someone is famous, they will find anything to make money off of them (train-wrecks)  Kim Kardashian’s sex tape  Keeping up with the Kardashians  spin-off shows  her marriage  her divorce  pregnant  new marriage  magazines 5. Joint ventures a. Mitigate risk by sharing financial risks in new ventures  Disney, News Corporation, and Comcast all equally own Hulu and its risks D. Advertising 1. Types of advertising a. Traditional paid ad – in magazines and newspapers b. Product placement – putting products in TV shows c. Product tie-ins – unrelated companies advertise (shows advertised at restaurants, on chip bags, makeup lines, ect.) d. Product as ad – making a product the advertisement of the actual product (Lego Movie advertises Legos) 2. Niche marketing – increasingly target narrower demographics a. Doesn’t matter the size of audience; there is a network for virtually every demographic  Horse Illustrated magazine E. Consequences 1. Reduces diversity  All pop music pretty much sounds the same b. Gatekeeping – what is included?  Media has full control over what we are exposed to c. Agenda-setting – what do we care about?  Media put out things on their agenda that will make them more money  What sets the agenda for the day d. Framing – how is it treated?  ??? 2. Restricts democracy 3. Fuels cultural imperialism 

Chapter 3: Organizational Analysis I. EXAMPLE: The Martian (2015) A. Marxist analysis 1. Media conglomerates: a. Based on Andy Weir’s 2011 novel: Crown Publishing (Bertelsmann b. Distributed by 20th Century Fox (News Corp) 2. Logic of safety: space calamity 3. Celebrity: Matt Damon B. Organizational analysis 1. Director: Ridley Scott a. 3 time Oscar nominee 2. Editor: Pietro Scalia a. Oscar winner for JFK (1991) 3. Visual effects: Chris Lawrence a. Oscar winner for Gravity (2013) I. Organizational analysis A. Organizations – a system or network of ordered relationships and coordinated activities directed toward specific goals 1. Structure – framework a. Hierarchy – not every position is equal; levels b. Differentiation & specialization – how the work is set/split up c. Formalization – how formal/rigid structure is; “can rules be bent?” 2. Process – substance B. Culture – the environment that emerges as a result of both members’ communicative practices and the prevailing conventions 1. Performances – acts that employees carry out each day; can be individual or structural 2. Narratives – employees chat; the stories that are told/accepted reflect reputation of job 3. Texts – what gets published 4. Management – organizational structure; who you go to for what 5. Technology – work done in email, over the phone, ect. kept records; use wisely C. Conventions – norms that govern the technical and creative choices made by workers in the execution of their duties, art, or craft; routines/norms 1. Motivated – not arbitrary; arise for some reason/pragmatic 2. Shared – only conventions because they are collective 3. Naturalized – normalized so we don’t even know they exist 4. Resilient – difficult to change 5. Directive – have you behave one way rather than the other; behaviors in “only" one particular way D. Professionalization – the socialization of workers to do their work in certain ways and to produce certain kinds of products 1. Training – taught how to do something in a particular way

2. Hiring – if you were really good in training (followed rules EXACTLY)  whoever trained you will write you a recommendation (kinda weeds out creative people who didn’t follow rules EXACTLY) 3. Evaluation & promotion – continue to do a good job the way you were trained to do 4. Recognition & awards – if reeeeally good at it, you begin to win awards 5. Professional societies – retrain you over time to do the same thing in the newest ways E. Three case studies 1. Photographic conventions a. Advertising image  Characteristics: i. Aesthetic: posed, staged ii. Viewer: removed, distant iii. Photographer: implied iv. Meaning: syllogistic – kind of logic where you fill in logic (common sense) v. Appeal: intellectual and emotional vi. Text: product promotion b. Photojournalistic image  Characteristics: i. Aesthetic: natural, un-staged ii. Viewer: present, immediate iii. Photographer: invisible iv. Meaning: over-determined v. Appeal: affective vi. Text: affective anchorage 2. News magazines a. News as mystery – journalist positioned as detective b. News as therapy – journalist positioned as therapist; intimate interviews *typically one on one c. News as adventure – journalist positioned as traveler/tourist; takes viewer to exotic places d. News as arbitration – journalist positioned to represent both sides of a story as equitably reasonable 3. Broadcast news a. News gathering conventions  “Newsworthiness” – EASY to gather and come up with a story  Locating news: i. Journalistic beats – finding the “juicy stuff” in any category; crime, sports, politics, etc. ii. News agencies – journalists are getting news from the same source

iii. Press releases – typically advertisements as stories iv. Political punditry (fake) – go out and make their own stories up  simply to make “news” b. News reporting conventions  “Objectivity” – not supposed to take a side in a story  Information biases (Bennett): i. Personalized – individual personalities ii. Dramatized – the more drama, the better iii. Fragmented – almost no attempt to link a news story to anything else iv. Authority-disorder – continue until a resolution arises  to make the viewer feel better about the world F. Consequences of conventions 1. Gatekeeping and agenda setting – tight control of what gets into the media, and what actually gets reported in the media 2. Homogenization – news across different organizations are similar 3. Increase in soft news – news about entertainment a. Over-report “sexy” stories because highly entertaining 4. Attribution of responsibility – who we hold accountable for what we believe is wrong with society a. Episodic – focuses on individual actors b. Thematic – focuses on themes and social institutions (very few instances)

Chapter 4a: Violence in Media I. Violence in media A. Issues: 1. Trends in the violent crime rate a. Decreasing steadily 2. Ubiquity of violence in the media a. Increasing 3. Media industry aggressively markets violent programming toward children a. Illegal 4. Research on violence is “mixed” a. Seeing  doing b. Seeing  less likely to do  Not all violence gets represented the same… B. Representations of violence: 1. Historical/reflective – violence specifically depicting a real historical event (actually took place); most of the time we reflect on it; NOT historical FICTION a. Wars b. Schindler’s List  Characteristics: i. Historical ii. Realistic iii. Solemn and serious (in tone) iv. Elicits empathy and emotional affect v. Invites reflection and contemplation vi. Heightens social consciousness 2. Ritualistic/gore – highly formulaic, exaggerated a. Super hero b. Horror c. True Lies  Characteristics: i. Ritualistic/formulaic ii. Sensational/thrilling iii. Playful and humorous iv. Fast-paced and adrenaline pumping v. Identification with hyper-masculine hero vi. Stimulates and entertains 3. Hyper-real/stylized – marries first two categories; looks real (historical), but feels gory (ritualistic) a. Game of Thrones b. Quinton Terentino c. Pulp Fiction  Characteristics: i. Artistic

ii. iii. iv. v. vi.

Hyper-realistic (realer than real) Ironic and hip Gritty dialogue and dramatic story-telling Invites involvement Generates a cool detachment

C. Social Effects: 1. Aggressor – disinhibition- viewing violent media undermines/erases norms, enculturation- when constantly exposed to aggression, you have a higher chance of becoming aggressive, and imitation or mimicry- face validity (***tends to make us aggressive in our own behavior) 2. Victim – mainstreaming (disproportionately more likely to experience or be a victim of violence) 3. Bystander – desensitization (if you watch a lot of violent media, you’ll be less likely to get involved (to help others in trouble) in real world violence when you see it, you aren’t shocked by it 4. Catharsis – vicarious release (watching others behave aggressively causes you to feel less aggressive afterwards because you release your aggression through their actions) D. Mitigating Factors: 1. Situational-environmental factors – salience of display (how believable is it), family environment (violence in the home, then violence in the media is more likely to be suggestible), behavior of others present at viewing (mimicking the violence on the screen and others’ reactions to the violence on the screen around them) 2. Individual characteristics – needs CAREFUL interpretation a. Gender b. Academic ability (negative correlation) c. SES

Chapter 5: Rhetorical Analysis I. Rhetoric – the use of symbols by humans to influence and move other humans I. Rhetorical analysis A. Semiology – a science that studies the life of signs within society 1. Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) a. Al linguistic signs, written or spoken, have two components 2. The (Linguistic) Sign: a. Signifier (sound-image) – part of the sign that is registered through senses b. Signified (concept) – thing (mental concept) you get in your head when you encounter a signifier  Ex. I say “dog”, “dog” is heard, you get a picture of a dog in your head 3. Characteristics of signs: a. Arbitrary – relationship between signifier and signified is completely un-corresponded b. Linear – only process linguistic signs in a particular order c. Difference – only thing that matters to be able to create a new meaningful language is that it is distinguishable (visibly or verbally) from other signs 4. Elements of linguistic study: a. Parole – individual acts of speech b. Langue – a system of language B. Semiotics – the quasi-necessary, or formal, doctrine of signs 1. Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) 2. Triadic Theory of the Sign: a. Object – actual thing b. Representamen – sign referring to object c. Interpretant – concept being referred to 3. Sign relation – relationship between representament and object a. Iconic – resembles what it refers to; sign and object actually look like one another (resemblance)  “BANG” sounds like what it is; photo of someone looks like them b. Indexical – cause or association; hear/see something and it makes you think of something else  “Smoke” makes you think “fire”; symptoms of a disease/illness c. Symbolic – convention/agreement; arbitrary  We’ve all agreed upon something meaning something C. Signification – the process by which signs endlessly generate meaning 1. Roland Barthes (1915-1980) 2. Message and meaning: a. Denotation – literal meaning

 Say “dog” you picture/think of a furry four legged animal b. Connotation – cultural  Say “dog” you think loyalty, bark, holes, etc. Signifier Signified Denotative Sign Signified Signifier Connotative Signs D. Texts and Rhetorical Structures – set of signs related to each other insofar as their meanings all contribute to the same set of effects or functions (TEXTS) 1. Clusters – a constellation of key signs working in combination to produce shared meaning a. Strategies:  Association – what goes with what?  Absence – what is strategically missing?  Attitude – what action is implicitly urged? 2. Form – an arousing and fulfillment of desires; the creation of an appetite and the adequate satisfaction of that appetite; a work has form in so far as one part of it leads a reader to anticipate another part, to be gratified by the sequence a. Ex. Jaws 3. Genre – a class of messages that share notable stylistic, substantive, and situational characteristics a. Classifications:  Historical – common genres; i.e. drama, comedy, etc.  Theoretical – critics create; i.e. apocalyptic narratives (movies about the end of the world) 4. Narrative a. Components: i. Story – content plane A. Events – what happens B. Existents – to whom and where 1. Characters 2. Indices – setting ii. Discourse – expressive plane iii. Narration – act of recounting A. Tense (temporality) – order, speed, frequency B. Mood – distance and perspective C. Voice – position and type of narrator 1. Diegetic narrator – in story world 2. Non-diegetic narrator – outside story world; invisible; almost more reliable; usually producer E. The Material Turn

1. Affect – body responding to matter at a purely visceral level; i.e. hair standing up on skin due to scene 2. Aesthetics – i.e. body responding to smell of roses a. Odor b. Color c. Lighting d. Editing e. Framing and movement f. Sound

Chapter 6: Cultural Analysis I. Cultural analysis A. Ideology: What is it? 1. A system of thought that unconsciously shapes and constrains behavior and belief 2. (Matrix, 1999) *a prison for your mind B. Ideology: What does it do? 1. It limits the range of acceptable and even conceivable ideas 2. It normalizes (i.e. naturalizes) specific social actions and relations 3. It privileges the interests of some over the interests of others 4. It interpellates individuals into subjects a. Ideology is constantly hailing (calling out) you to discourse you C. Ideology: How does it do it? 1. Myth – sacred story that transforms history into nature a. You can’t question it b. It you question it you get labeled otherwise/punished 2. Doxa – common sense or taken-for-granted a. Universe of discourse (argument)  Heterodoxy – minority opinion  Orthodoxy – majority opinion b. Universe of undiscussed (or undisputed)  Doxa – creates power by blinding conversation; we don’t even know to talk about it 3. Hegemony – willing assent or spontaneous consent D. Ideology and class 1. Social class – division of society into the ‘haves’ and have-nots’—term ‘have-nots’ denotes a lack of wealth but also connotes a more basic incompleteness 2. Myth of the American Dream – unquestioned assumption that wealth equates with success and if you work hard enough you can and will succeed a. Happiness is correlated with wealth to a point… about $75,000/year b. Only about 10% of the population exceeds that c. In fact, the median wage in the US is $26,965 E. Ideology and race 1. Exclusion – under represented 2. Stereotyping – misleading and reductionist representation of a cultural group 3. Assimilation – represent difference at a surface level but there is no real difference 4. Othering – defining/marking cultural difference in relationship to an invisible norm

a. Difference – depiction of “others” who are subordinate to, but a source of pleasure for U.S. American tourists and consumers b. Exoticism – images of foreign lands that romanticize or mystify other cultures

Chapter 7: Psychoanalytic Analysis I. Psychoanalytic analysis A. Psychoanalytic theory: an overview 1. Drives – basic human impulses (i.e. sex, eat, drink, expel waste, etc.) a. Pleasure principle – satisfying drives as quickly as possible in an uncontrolled way 2. Repression – basic urges unfulfilled, delayed, or curbed in the moment a. Reality principle – social norms/conventions determining when it is or is not an appropriate time to fulfill certain drives 3. The unconscious – part of mental psyche that you are not consciously aware of (ex. ice burg – can’t see the part underwater) where you push drives that were not fulfilled the way you wanted them to be a. Dreams – activity of wish fulfillment, working through real problems in your life (unsatisfied drives) b. Return of repressed – bringing back up the drives that were pushed into the unconscious in order to release/take care of B. Freudian development 1. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) 2. Two basic drives: a. Sex (eros) – anything that promotes life b. Death (thanatos) – refusal to feel connected to another 3. Three key stages: a. Oral stage – putting everything in mouth (sucking) b. Anal stage – potty training c. Phallic stage – becoming aware of own genitalia C. Lacanian development 1. Jacques Lacan (1901-1981) 2. Need, demand, desire (desire is 2 fold) 3. Three orders: a. The real – that which lies beyond symbolization; all things that exist in the world beyond our capacity to symbolize them (i.e. no one can actually describe death) b. The imaginary – realm of images and chaotic mess that everyone is born into  Mirror stage – beginning to see their reflection; identifying with image in front of them  can also ...