AS MEDIA RESEARCH

LESSON 2 – GENRE NARRATIVES AND REPRESENTATION

LINKS BETWEEN KEY CONCEPTSTHE KEY CONCEPTS NEVER WORK IN ISOLATION – THEY OPERATE TOGETHER TO DESCRIBE THE FEATURES AND IMPACT OF A MEDIA TEXT.TODAY WE WILL LOOK AT THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN GENRE, NARRATIVE AND REPRESENTATION

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY NARRATIVE?BORDWELL & THOMPSON

"THE TERM PLOT IS USED TO DESCRIBE EVERYTHING VISIBLE AND AUDIBLY PRESENT IN THE FILM BEFORE US" (BORDWELL AND THOMPSON)

"THE SET OF ALL THE EVENTS IN A NARRATIVE, BOTH THE ONES EXPLICITLY PRESENTED AND THOSE THE VIEWER INFERS, COMPOSES THE STORY" (BORDWELL AND THOMPSON)

IN OTHER WORDS, THE STORY IS THE COMBINATION OF THE ENTIRE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS THAT IS SHOWN AS WELL AS EVERYTHING THAT WE CONCLUDE HAS HAPPENED BUT IS NOT SHOWN.

WHAT IS THE LINK BETWEEN PLOT AND ALTMAN’S IDEA OF ‘SYNTACTIC ELEMENTS’? THIS IS WHERE WE SEE THE CONNECTION BETWEEN GENRE AND NARRATIVE.

ROLAND BARTHESA BIG NAME IN MEDIA STUDIES, PARTICULARLY AT DEGREE LEVEL, BARTHES DEVELOPED SEVERAL BIG THEORIES.WITH NARRATIVE HE IDENTIFIED TWO CODES IN USE:ACTION CODES – MEANING IS EXPLICIT THROUGH CHOICES OF VISUAL STORYTELLING AND DIALOGUE, AND THE PLOT IS DRIVEN FORWARD.ENIGMA CODES – ‘ENIGMA’ MEANS MYSTERY, SO THIS IS IMPORTANT FOR THRILLERS. THEY ARE USED WHERE THE DIRECTOR MAKES MEANING MORE IMPLICIT THROUGH CONTROL OVER THE RELEASE OF INFORMATION TO THE AUDIENCE.

What is the connection between Barthes’ theory and

Bordwell and Thompson’s interplay

of plot and story?

ENIGMA CODES EXAMPLEWATCH THE OPENING SEQUENCE OF THE PRESTIGE. WHAT DO YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE WAY IN WHICH THE PLOT CONVEYS STORY INFORMATION – AND INDEED DOESN’T CONVEY INFORMATION?HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=LV-CXIXGRHO DOES THIS SUGGEST THE FILM MIGHT BE CLASSED AS A THRILLER?

REPRESENTATIONTHE WAY THE MEDIA RE-PRESENTS REALITY TO THE AUDIENCE IS CLOSELY LINKED TO GENRE, BECAUSE IT TENDS TO BE DONE DIFFERENTLY IN DIFFERENT GENRES. FOR EXAMPLE, WHAT GENRES DO THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERS BELONG IN, AND WHAT REPRESENTATIONS DO THEY CREATE?

REPRESENTATION THEORIESBEING IMPORTANT TO THE EXAM, THESE WILL MOSTLY COME IN MISS SOANES’ LESSONS. FOR YOUR RESEARCH, WE WILL FOCUS ON THE TWO MAIN GENDER REPRESENTATION THEORIES

ScopophiliaThis means the pleasure of looking, and the idea is that, in a male dominated media, it is men’s pleasure in looking that informs representation of women:Voyeuristic – pleasure in observingFetishistic – pleasure in the fantasy of participating.

Male GazeDeveloped from scopophilia, this theory describes the way in which female characters must be physically attractive and the way in which the camera will ‘look’ at them in the way a man would. It also covers this idea that women will be passive characters in the story.

CASE STUDIESTHRILLERS TRADITIONALLY MAKE FEMALE CHARACTERS EITHER LOVE INTEREST FOR THE HERO OR VICTIMS IN NEED OF A RESCUE. EITHER WAY, THEY ARE PASSIVE CHARACTERS WHO ARE DEPENDENT ON MALES TO MAKE DECISIONS, KILL BAD GUYS AND GENERALLY DRIVE THE PLOT FORWARD. HOWEVER, LIKE ANY OTHER GENRE FEATURE (FOLLOWING WHO’S MODEL?), THIS HAS CHANGED AND DEVELOPED OVER TIME.COMPARE THE REPRESENTATIONS OF WOMEN IN THESE TWO CLIPS:HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=KIZFSBRAE9S&INDEX=8&LIST=PLSL7TXJ-W4RDLX8MOTR5YYJBF6MR8MRLX HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=O1IHOL12HXM

THIS MIGHT NEED SOME USE OF CAMERA AND EDITING TECHNIQUES THAT MISS SOANES HAS EXPLORED WITH YOU

WORKING IN SMALL GROUPS, USE THE CORRECT TERMINOLOGY TO CREATE A LIST OF THE CONVENTIONS OF THRILLERS:•SEMANTIC ELEMENTS/ICONOGRAPHY•SYNTACTIC ELEMENTS/STORY•ENIGMA AND ACTION CODES•REPRESENTATION/MALE GAZE

DEVELOPING IDEAS