Media Studies Review

What theorists say about their theory and how It relates to mass media – only 1 theorist Flag Two basic elements In any mass communication Channel Is way by which message goes from sender to receiver Noise Interferes with the channel static out of range, Interference etc. This kind of communication Is almost never one way Feedback goes back to sender – positive or negative Profit motivates all mass communication Problem is: Noise is more than static though – there is competition, resistant Feedback isn’t really passive like she says

Can be adapted, ignored, changed, sabotage it, undermine it Mclean – how his theory explains mass media Defines a medium In the broadest possible way Something In the middle, connects one thing to another It extends our senses Ex writing on the board Im extending my words to a visual thing The message has an impact regardless, the message defines itself Fundamental undermined thing is the way I present a message not what I say Questionable Structures imposed by the medium define the message Way we send, receive, interact, creates the rules Sometimes medium actually creates the content Ex. Loophole to ask if mom wants milk, wouldn’t do that if we had to go to a payphone Because medium extends our senses and controls what’s being broadcasted, said or done – medium changes us b/c we have phones, we behave differently that those without telephones we aren’t aware of the process we become subject to anything It does to us – we become pawns of technology Unaware b/c we don’t see the process Like Mclean does Even if we are aware of it, doesn’t mean we’ll react to it Criticism Instrumentalist – too much emphasis on one element Says technology is the only thing that matters

Opacity – difficult to understand him Berger Totally different, practical and hands on theorist He uses textual analysis to break down what is going on in the message Need to look at the message itself Even in a given medium we make decisions on what we watch/interact with and what we don’t That shows there Is a deference Even though we’re exposed to the same thing repeatedly, we see things differently each time Suggests threes something complex about the way we understand things 4 functions of text Checking the weather Objective – creating one’s own reality Cartoons, any invented and artificial view of the world

Expressive – the artist’s moods, the individual feelings Mimetic – imitates real life Convention vs.. Invention Fit the mold and don’t do anything different vs.. Creating something new and original Reinforcing vs.. Hellenizing 8 things for analysis Marx Capital explained society Everything came down to labor and how much it was worth Had to be an industrial society of 3 classes: Capitalists – greedy, demand more money and push middle class to lower class Bourgeoisie Proletarians – going to be pushed farther down because of false consciousness (buying things they wanton) Commodity fetishism – need unnecessary things – peps proletariat falsely conscious Religion is used to deceive and keep them marching to the capitals How does it relate to Mass Media What is used to create the false consciousness by the Capitalists Fits in with Bias – it’s all related to profit Use mass media to profit because they own the big companies and advertise their products for commodity fetishism Mass Media exception – the internet and social media – where capital messages might not be completely controlled; in marks time handing out pamphlets to get messages across Broodier Agreed with Marx but didn’t think economic capital was the only factory Believed in hemolytic capital – culture capital, social capital, prestige, education.