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Media and Culture. John R. Baldwin Theory and Research in Intercultural Communication School of Communication—Illinois State University. Relationship of Media to Culture. Media reflect and shape the values of a given culture
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Media and Culture John R. Baldwin Theory and Research in Intercultural Communication School of Communication—Illinois State University
Relationship of Media to Culture • Media reflect and shape the values of a given culture • Media represent the “Other”—producing and reproducing stereotypes that influence our communication • Media serve as a site of “resistance” for cultures building their own identity (often in opposition to dominant culture)
Lasswell’s Model of Mediated Communication Who says What in Which channel to Whom with What Effect? (in what Situation and Context?)
Why Media are Important • Ubiquity • Consonance • Cumulative
Cultivation Theory Key Terms: • Violence: Any actual or threat of physical harm • Violence Index: Analysis of week of violence • “Ice-age analogy” (cumulative effect) • Mean World Syndrome: Belief that the world is a “mean and scary place”
Cultivation Theory: Terms • Synthetic reality: TV view of world is not accurate • Symbolic vulnerability: some groups are victims of violence on TV more than others • Mainstreaming: TV leads to middle-of-road view (e.g., politically) • Resonance: Does it match personal experience?: Media has greater effect for those for whom it matches their experience
Cultivation Theory Violence in the media • Prime time crime 10x that in real world (1982) • 8K murders, 100K acts of violence by end of elementary school • 13K deaths by end of High School • 2/3 characters involved in violence • 1 Day: (1997) • Assaults: 389 serious, 73 simple • 362 uses of guns • 273 punches
TV Viewing (Hs/Day) Mainstreaming Views of ….. Mean World Syndrome Stereotypes (racial & gender) Light: < 2 hours/day Heavy: >4 hours/day
Scientific Theories • Content analysis of media + • Survey of audience attitudes + • Comparison to reality = Cultivation analysis
2 views of media (Carey) • Transmission view • Ritual view
Not this one… This one! Cultural Studies/Critical Theory • General Purpose/Goals • Relation of CS to CT • Relation to “quantitative” research • Background: Marx
Historical Trajectories • Frankfurt School • View of “culture”: High, Low, folk • Commodification • Appropriation • Ideology: • Hegemony:
Historical Trajectories • Structuralists: • Ideological & State Repressive Apparatus • Domains/Spheres/Sites of Struggle • A new view of power (more diffuse) & ideology & hegemony • Not deliberate/intentional! • Not total! • Not all about class (“overdetermination”) • But (re)production of meaning
Important Terms (BCGS 10) • Discourse and the public sphere • Digital and social movements (e.g., “Arab Spring”) • Media frames • Episodic versus thematic • Tone, point of view
Frames of men and women • The Perfect Girlfriend • Axe • Diet Coke • Open Happiness • Robin Hood & Maid Marion
Approaches: Thematic • Hall: African American Men • Slave figure • Native/”noble savage” • Clown/entertainer • Criminal • Collins: African American Women • Mammies • Matriarchs • Welfare mothers • Jezebel • Tajima (1989): Asian American Women • Invisible • Lotus Blossom Babies • Dragon Ladies
Historical Trajectories • Linguistic Turn: Semiotics • Many views/aspects! • Roland Barthes (Mythologies) • Sign = signifier + signified 2. Sign systems (codes) 3. Ideology/myth
Robin Hood, Prince of Ideology: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg-UpYglAEw “Breakout” of Ideologies! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eNBM17tkjI&ob=av2e “Mi Ideología Loca”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5iD_er3Fb4 In “The Middle” of Ideology: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKsxPW6i3pM&ob=av2n “Goodbye Earl(deology): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw7gNf_9njs&ob=av3e
Approaches: Psychoanalytic • Of flowers and phalluses…and more
Approaches: Feminist • Of patriarch, restricted gender roles, and more…
Approaches: Queer Theory • Of heterosexism, celluloid closets, and more…
Approaches: Postmodernism • From social construction to: ___________ • From ethnicity to: ____________ • Not “culture” as a system of x, y, & z • Not culture as a social construction • Not even culture as control • But culture as __________________ • Not “cultures” as unified, but as __________ • Some key notions: • Discourse (not just language!):A set of ideas that are framed together in a message. Similar to Articulation • Intertextuality: Borrowing meaning from one text into another Polysemy • Archeology (Foucault) • Deconstruction (Derrida)
Approaches: Postmodernism “Me against the ideology”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU5WQCufojA Britney/Madonna Parody: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmfsak2izxw The Matrix: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te6qG4yn-Ps Bill & Ted’s Excellent Postmodernism http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTmUR1wteA8&feature=related • Of deconstruction, fractured/discursive identities and so on…
Whiteness & Other Stuff Right Now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMV-fenGP1g White & Ideologically Stereotypical: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q42tEnt9GWg Asian images: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY6GvTY7E5U