Representations

Key questions:
Who or what is  being represented?
How is it being represented?
Within what genre? How does it fit within the genre?
How has the representation been constructed?
Whose ideas are being reflected?
How are the audience positioned?

Protagonist and antagonist:
The director wants the audience to be on the side of the protagonist (the person you are suppose to be following) and hope that the antagonist will fail.
The audience has to identify the protagnist for this to happen, they have to be on their side.
They only have a few hours to make you identify them, so they use a kind of 'shorthand.'

Character typing:
Archetype: a familiar character who has emerged from hundreds of years of storytelling and fairytales.
Stereotype: a character ususally used in advertising and marketing in order to sell a particular product to a certain group of people. They can be used negatively in the media, e.g. 'hoodies.'
Generic: a character familar through use in a particular genre (type) or movie.
Countertype: anything that goes against the stereotype.

The Hyperdermic Needle Model:
Dating from the 1920s, this theory was the first attempt to explain how mass audiences might react to mass media.
It is a crude model and suggests that the audiences passively receive the information transmitted via a media text, without any attempt on their part to process or challenge data.

Two-Step Flow theory:
The HNM proved to be too clumsy for media researchers.
The information comes from an 'opinion leader,' thus being influenced not by a direct process, but by a two step flow.
For example: Twitter, following celebritites and listening/acting on what they say.

Blumler and Katz:
Diversion: escape from everyday problems and routine.
Personal relationships: using the media for emotional and other interaction, e.g. substituting soap operas for family life.
Personal identity: finding yourself reflected in texts, learning behaviour and values from texts.
Surveillance: information which could be useful for living e.g. weather reports, financial news and holiday bargains.

Names in Narrative Theory:
Meaning: Roland Barthes
Structure: Tvzetan Todorov
Character: Vladimir Propp
Conflict and resolution: Claude Levi-Strauss