Media Studies - Language Theorists

Roland Barthes. the study of signs. Signs consist of a signifier (a word, image or sound, etc.) and its meaning, the signified. Denotations signify connotations. denotations and connotations are organized into myths

Tzvetan Todorov. The study of narrative, in this case, narrative structure - how the parts fit together to make a whole. All narratives can be seen as a state of equilibrium (where nothing need occur) to another new equilibrium. This disruption is what drives the narrative to a new equilibrium. This entails a transformation (eg. hero defeats villain, hero expresses heroism)

Steve Neale suggested that genres may be dominated by repetition and why they are created, change, endure or decline. Neale argues genre is a process by which generic codes and conventions are shared by producers and audiences through repetition and media products. This means genres are constantly evolving due to additions to the generic corpus (body of products within a genre). Genres can become hybrids by mixing generic codes and conventions.

Claude Levi-Strauss. The study of hidden rules that govern a structure. Levi-Strauss thought the mind could be investigated by studying the fundamental structure of underlying myths and fables from around the world. He developed the idea of the 'binary opposition' - that the system of myths and fables was ruled by opposing terms, eg, male-female, culture-nature.

Jean Baudrillard. The idea that society has moved beyond modernism - whether in art culture or in the belief in progress, which dates back much further. Baudrillard argued that, as modern societies were organised around production of goods, postmodern is organised around 'simulation' - the play of images and signs. All gender, class, political and cultural differences dissolve in the simulation. The new world of hyperreality is more 'real' then the real and controls how we think and behave.