Key words - B to S
'B'
Binary Oppositions: When two opposing forces come together. Thoery - Levi Strauss
Bollywood: Term for the Indian film industry, based in Bombay (mumbai) The industry produces a large number of films based on traditional Indian themes involving exotic sets and dance routines, complicated romances between the female and male. Based of Hindu religion, myth and fol tale. Indian films are aimed specifically at Indian audience but in recent years their influence has been felt more widely, with themes briding western and Indian culture was a international success.
'C'
Capitalism: an economic system. (marxism) see this as a expliotation class. Power is sustained by agencies like the media which help maintain collective consciousness.
Cinema vertite: french term meaning 'truth cinema'
Circular narrative: a narrative in which the story-line end where it began.
Common sense: termed coined by Gramsci to describe the consensus in the public opinion that forms around topic of social political and economic concern in line with ideology of the dominant class, as represented by the media.
Consipiracy theory: a pessimistic and unrealistic view of the structure and operation of power within media orginisations, which sees them as being controlled by a highly organised and coordinated elite.
Cultural capital: term devised by the french sociologists to decribe the advantage given to middle class children in the education system. (status - achieved )
Cultural Imperialism: the dominance of western, particulary US, cultural values and ideology across the world.
Cultural Industry: a term used by Adorno, who saw mass culture as in industry produced and controlled by the capitalism for the benefit of the ruling elite.
'D'
Deep focus: a camera technique that allows objects both near and far from the camera to be in focus at the same time.
Dependency theory: a passive audience theory associated with researchers focusing on the degree to which audiences become dependent on the media.
Determinism: The marxist concept that individuals and institutions have no chioce in their behaviour because their decisions are shaped by socioeconomic forces beyond their control.
Deviance: behaviour that 'deviates' (turns away) from the norm or that which is generally accepted within a society.
Diachronic: in narrative, describing events that move through time sequentially.
Diegesis: the storyline or narrative which includes the whole fictional world created by the media text.
'E'
Effects Theory: an audience theory that tends to see the audience as passive and seeks to measurehow to expose to particular aspects of the media content can influence the behaviour of the reader or veiwer.
Elite : a small select group in a society which claims leadership priviledges as a result of expertise, in terms of knowledge or skill in a particular field. Empathy: the ability to share the emotions or piont of view of a group or individual.
'F'
False consciousness : marxists term for the effect of dominant ideolgy. Workers are manipulated by institutions such as the educationd system, organised relligion and the mass media, and are aware of their unequal status and expliotation by capitalism.
Feminism : political movement to advance the status of women by challenging values, social constructions and socioeconomic practices which disadvantage women in favor of men.
'H'
hyodermic theory: early attempt to explain the effects media tets have on audience. Based on the assumed 'passive audience' nature of mass culture, the theory argues that consumption of media text is like the injection of drug and that the audience behaviour and opinions are therefore directly affected.
'I'
Iconography: the distingushing elements, in terms of props and visual details which characterise a genre.
ideological state apparatus: term devised by althusser to describe institution which are established and controlled by the state and which have the power to reinforce and reproduce dominant ideology.
'M'
Male gaze: term used by laura mulvey in her essay 'Visual Pleassure and narrative cinema' to describe what she saw as the male piont of view adopted by the camera for the benefit of an assumed male audience.
Marxists: ideology derived from the writings of the sociologist karl marx. which sees society as dominated by capitalist structures which maintain the hegemony of the ruling class and lead to the expliotation of workers.
Mulvey, Laura: feminist academics and media and film and film critic, responsible for developing theories of the male gaze in her essay.
'N'
narrative: The story line and structure of media text. narratives or stories help to shape and explain all aspectsof our lives from earliest infancy.
'P'
Parallel action: the narrative technique of showing two or more scenes happening at the same by cutting between them.
Patriachy: male dominance of the political, cultural and socioeconimic system.
Protagonist: the leading character or hero in a film with whom the audience can identify and from whose piont of view the action is positioned, often set in binary opposition against the antagonist.
'Q'
queer theory: a term used to describe films representing the lifestyles and experiences of gays and lesbians.
'S'
social realism: the representation of characters and issues in film and television drama in such a way to raise serious underlying social and political issues.
