2. Blumler and KATZ
Blumer and Katz theory was the User and
Gratification theory (UGT) this is an approach to
understanding why and how people actively seek
out specific media to satisfy specific needs. UGT
is an audience-centred approach to understanding
mass communication. Diverging from other media
effect theories that question what does the media
do to people?, UGT focuses on what do the
people do with media?
3. Todorov
Todorov’s narrative theory basically states that most story’s that
are created or any plot lines always follow the same pattern or
path. There are five steps in this pattern.
Equilibrium- this is the first part of the story this will display a
happy start, where the majority of characters are content and
everything is as it should be.
Disequilibrium- This is the second part of the story this will
feature a problem or something that will disrupt the happiness.
Realisation- This is part of the plot where everyone realises the
problem and it’s chaos.
Restored Order- This part of the plot is when the characters
attempt to repair the damage and restore the problem.
Equilibrium resolved- This is the final part of the plot where the
problem is resolved and normality can resume again.
4. Vladimir Propp
Propp suggests that every narrative has eight different character types,
these character types are:
The villain- fights the hero in some way
The dispatcher- character who makes the villain’s evil known and sends the
hero off
The (magical) helper – helps the hero in the quest
The princess or prize- the hero deserves her throughout the story but is
unable to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of the villain.
The hero’s journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby
beating the resulting in a “happily ever after” moment
Her father- gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero, and marries
the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that
functionally, the princess and the father cannot be clearly distinguished
The donor- prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object
The hero or victim/seeker hero- reacts to the donor, weds the princess
False hero- takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess
5. Roland Barthes
Roland Barthes theory meant that text is like a tangled ball of threads
the needs to be unravelled. Once the ball has been unravelled, we
encounter an absolute wide range of potential meanings. We can start
by looking at a narrative in one way, from one viewpoint, one set of
previous experience, and creates one meaning for that text. He says
there are five codes which are woven into any narrative:
The hermeneutic- This is the way the story avoids telling the truth or
revealing all the facts, in order to drop clues in through out to help
create mystery.
The Enigma/ Proairetic Code- The way the tension is built up and the
audience is left guessing what happens next.
The Semantic Code- This code points to any element in a text that
suggest a particular, often additional meaning by way of connotation
which the story suggests.
They Symbolic Code- This is very similar to Semantic Code, but acts
at a wider level, organising semantic meaning into broader and
deeper sets of meaning.
The Cultural Code- Looks at the audiences wider cultural knowledge,
morality and ideology.
6. Jean Baudrillard
Media represents reality and in doing so change
it to make it more visual and fun. However, what
happens when we start to believe that this
“Simulation” is actual reality?. This is called
Hyper reality this suggests that the media can
now create such idealistic representations of
reality that our perform actual reality.
7. Laura Mulvey
Laura’s theory was the concept of gaze, this is a theory
which deals with how an audience views the people
presented. For female audience’s it can be thought in
three ways:
How men look at women
How women look at themselves
How women look at other women
Laura used the term ‘male gaze’ in 1975. The theory was
because she believed that the film audiences have to
‘view’ characters through the eyes of a male. She
believes that because of how women have been shown
through media women that have watched these have
become passive through time.
