Andy Willis is a lecturer in Media and Performance at the University of Salford. He has considerable teaching experience in both further and higher education and has acted as Chief Examiner for the AEB 'A' level media studies. He is currently completing a book on American martial arts cinema and editing a collection of essays on film stars.
Introduction IX
Part I Texts
1 How the Media Communicate 3
Media forms and conventions 4
Different mediums, different conventions: The X-Files 5
Suggestions for further work 11
2 Reading Media Images 13
Mise-en-scene analysis13
Semiotic analysis 19
The problems with textual analysis 27
Suggestions for further work 28
3 Ideology 29
What is ideology? 29
Althusser 31
Hegemony 33
Suggestions for further work 38
4 Representation 39
Representation: a definition 39
Stereotypes 40
Content analysis 44
A hegemonic approach 47
Images of youth 49
Suggestions for further work 56
5 Genre 57
Genre: a definition 57
Genre and production 58
Genre and film 60
Genre study and film criticism 61
Genre and television 62
The television western 62
Genre and ideology 63
Suggestions for further work 65
6 Narrative 66
Narrative models: some definitions 67
Conventions of narrative across media forms 68
Why is narrative important to the media industry? 69
Structuralism and narrative theory 71
The impact of structuralism on film studies 77
The problems with structuralist narrative models 78
Suggestions for further work 79
7 Intertextuality 80
Definitions 80
Postmodernism and intertextuality 81
Intertextuality and advertising 83
Intertextuality, politics and popular music 84
Intertextuality and film genre 85
Suggestions for further work 87
Part II Institutions
8 Approaches to Media Institutions 91
What is a media institution? 91
Critical approaches to media institutions 94
Media institutions in the context of globalization 103
Suggestions for further work 106
9 Public Service Broadcasting and the Market 107
The development of broadcasting in Britain 107
Information as a commodity not a service 119
Deregulation and consumer choice 120
The future: responses to change 121
Suggestions for further work 122
10 Media Professionalism and Codes of Practice 123
The professional: definitions 123
Occupational ideologies 125
Professional practice and newsroom studies 126
Professionalism and political conflict 129
Suggestions for further work 131
11 Independent Media 132
What is an independent? 132
Media structures 133
British television 135
Community radio 136
Independent cinema exhibition 138
Independent film distribution in the UK 140
Undercurrents 141
Suggestions for further work 143
Part III Audiences
12 Conceptualizing and Measuring Media Audiences 147
Conceiving the audience: television schedules 147
Measuring media audiences 151
Suggestions for further work 155
13 The Effects of the Media on Audience Groups 156
What are the aims of effects research? 156
The historical development of the effects tradition 157
The limitations of effects research 160
An early challenge to the effects tradition: uses and gratifications 161
The dominance of effects research in the 1990s 163
Suggestions for further work 167
14 Contexts of Media Consumption 168
The developmental context of the cultural studies approach 169
The cultural studies challenge to the power of the text 171
The cultural studies turn to lived contexts of consumption 174
The power relations of media reception and technology 178
Cultural studies and consumption 181
Suggestions for further work 183
15 Minority Audiences and the Media 184
What do we mean by minority? 184
Black women as cultural readers 185
Sexual minorities and the media 187
Star images and gay men 189
Fans and fan culture 191
Suggestions for further work 193
16 New Technologies and Media Audiences 194
Technology and society 194
The development of colour cinema 196
Media technology and the individual 199
Suggestions for further work 202
17 Media Consumption and Social Status 203
Theories of consumption and social distinction 204
Television: a case study of a vulgar medium 207
Media technologies, taste and social status 209
Suggestions for further work 214
18 Public Participation in the 1990s 215
The increase in audience participation in the 1990s 215
The ideological implications of talk for audiences 219
Suggestions for further work 225
Epilogue: Research Methods in Media Studies 227
What do we mean by research? 227
Researching for assignments 228
Establishing objectives 228
Selecting relevant material 231
Using libraries 233
Writing up 235
Conclusion 239
Bibliography 242
Index 251