Tag: yr1semester1 Page 1 of 2

In Assignments, Presentation, Understanding Media Configurations, Year 1

Power and hegemony Analysis for ‘On the basis of Sex’

http://www2.kobe-u.ac.jp/~alexroni/IPD2018%20readings/IPD1%202018%20No.8/Foucault%20Subject%20and%20Power.pdf

In Assignments, Essays, Film Analysis, Understanding Media Configurations, Year 1

105mapa cw1 – Essay - 1500 words Limit

Society throughout time has had built up this idea that men, more specifically cis straight white men, have the most power within society and this became a dominant ideology or hegemony when it came to people in everyday life and this includes within the media. However, even though this is still mainly true to this day people of minorities and different backgrounds have begun to challenge these ideals. This is heavily shown within the film ‘On the basis of sex’ which shows a woman breaking these dominant ideology’s and power dynamics.

Focus Features. (2018, July 16). ON THE BASIS OF SEX | Official Trailer | Focus Features. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28dHbIR_NB4

The main studies of power and hegemony tend to have overlapping elements. However, with these the basic explanation of hegemony is a way to describe a process of people or ideas that become dominant in everyday society, this is shown in the study of media keywords: ‘Hegemony is a way to describe people or ideas that become—and seek to remain—dominant in society.’ (Lewis,2017, pg88). However, power is slightly different as it mainly involves the ideas and people that the entire media thinks is important. With this being at least the basic understanding of power according to the study done by Nick Couldry, ‘Whatever “media power” means, almost everyone thinks it is important.’ (Couldry, 2017, pg49). However, power and hegemony can be more complicated and in-depth than the basic understanding of the topics as there has many theorists that have studied different aspects of power and hegemony throughout time.

One of the main theorists that worked with different parts of power was Michel Foucault who demonstrates that there is a range of different layers to power and that there are different types of power than just one. He presented the concept that power requires knowledge as knowledge holds a lot of power which can change how people think and that power is not just about the hierarchy or the government. Foucault links his concepts heavily to connect with the study of discourses. Foucault shows human beings have attachments and that due to how rapidly society is evolving power dynamics are changing with it. Foucault talks about how power can change depending on the relationship the people have the perspective that you follow, ‘While the human subject is placed in relations of production and of signification, he is equally placed in power relations which are very complex.’ ((based from the works) Foucault, 2014, pg3). This study shows that due to the power being complex so are the relationships that go with them.

Theorists such as Edward Said’s and his concept of Orientalism were largely link to Foucault as within his book he explains that there is a dominant way of studying an culture and that there is a power dynamic in the fact that people approach minorities at the “other” or the orient, in this cast the western style is more dominating and is the dominant way of studying the east even though they are completely separate. This links to Foucault as he talks a lot about how knowledge and language is power which is touch upon in Said’s concept. ‘Orientalism as a Western style for dominating restructuring, and having authority over the Orient.’ (Said, 1978, pg11).

As Foucault would have contrasting views on the power dynamics of today, he would both see the benefit of social media giving minorities a voice. However, he would also make the point that people are being absorbed by social media and that social media can trap people in echo chambers and that we have trapped ourselves in this concept of consent surveillance. Foucault within his concepts talks about truth, power and knowledge and how they can be used in different ways and to take apart different aspects of society, ‘‘Everything I do, I do in order that it may be of us’’ (Foucault, 2018), this shows that he believes that your actions that you do hold power and consequence. This could link to the film as we are shown different perspectives of how people are fighting for change, along with different ways that people view equality an example of this is the scene where we are shown a rally/ movement or protest of women trying to gain equality and power within a system that is purely run by men.

So the when the audience sees a film such as ‘On the basis of sex’ some of the older generation or people who have the morals that men should be in power would see this film as having a women shot down and the men having the power instead or the overall power struggle that is actually happening within the film.

Since the main power struggle within this film is the hegemony of men being the dominant and smart sex proving this dominant ideology wrong. The audience is shown at the start of the film that this production was based on the main points of the career of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was known as one of the first women to fight for gender equality within the Supreme Court of Justice. So, when looking at this film we (the audience) is shown the perspective of sexism, along with how women, mainly the main character: Ruth Bader Ginsburg played by Felicity Rose Hadley Jones, react to sexist remarks that was present during that time period and is partly still around to this day. This will mainly cover hegemonic feminism and the power dynamics within the film.

https://images.app.goo.gl/zayeXUPA3ua7JWu16

Hegemony is more of a process to make dominant ideology’s seem normal with society or social groups. Due to this film showing women as intelligent and brave this shows the film trying to break the common hegemony that has been built into society. This is theorised a lot when it comes to what hegemony is and what it often involves, within the film the audience is shown the woman’s struggle to gain respect and gain power throughout her career, this shows off the research of Justin Lewis who spoke about hegemony reinforcing forms of inequality this film does this with most of the men in this as they are stereotypically sexist which makes the character of Ruth Ginsburg fight hard for equality in her field and within the law. ‘Hegemony often involves masking or solidifying various forms of inequality so that they seem part of everyday life, making customs and contrivances that favour some people over others appear to be common sense.’ (Lewis, 2017, pg.88). This suggests that due to the hegemony over time the dominant ideology of men having all the power is starting to shift and this is shown more at the end of the movie when the character of Ruth Ginsburg breaks the typical dynamic and takes the power and a step for gender equality.

This whole film shows that women can be rational, smart and handle any job that a man can. This alone starts to break down the stereotypical aspect that women are stay at home mothers or housewives as this film shows off a powerful woman who is a mother and is still striving for gender equality in a supreme court. This shows her struggle to get there and how people treat women during this time period that is still relevant to this day.

In conclusion to this the film demonstrates Lewis’ example of what hegemony is and how it can be used to effect and form a dominant society that relies on these ideals to form an opinion. The film shows off a progression of breaking a stereotypical power dynamic and changing it through knowledge and reasoning, which links into Foucault’s concept.

The Gifs Link: https://images.app.goo.gl/pcpwS3JF6DGKYke56

References – APA List style:

Couldry, Ouellette & Gray. (2017). Keywords for Media Studie,Power, pg.145- 148. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/coventry/reader.action?docID=4717750&ppg=152

Foucault. (2014). Source: Critical Inquiry, (778), Michel Foucault, The Subject and Power. Pg3

Foucault. (2018). Video. What would Foucault say about fake news?(0.20,1.22-2.07, 2.40) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JG_O0Iav18&feature=youtu.be

Lewis, Ouellette & Gray. (2017). Keywords for Media Studies, Hegemony, pg.88-89. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/coventry/reader.action?docID=4717750&ppg=95

Said. (1978). Orientalism, pg11.

https://sites.evergreen.edu/politicalshakespeares/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2014/12/Said_full.pdf

On the Basis of Sex Essay Proposal

On The Basis Of Sex – Official International Trailer (HD) Felicity Jones & Armie Hammer – YouTube

In Assignments, Understanding Media Configurations, Year 1

105mapa Essay Proposal - 200 words

The key theme that I have chosen to write my essay about is power and hegemony. Within this I will reference the academic article of Couldry ‘power’ as well as the reading of Lewis ‘Hegemony’, and Althusser’s ‘Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses’, I will also reference the philosopher Foucault. I have chosen this as my theme as power and hegemony interlinks with the other themes as well as giving me an opportunity to challenge myself. The main case study that I would like to write about is: the works of Felicity Jones, specifically one of the films she stared in called ‘On the basis of sex’ as it links the most with the theme that I have chosen to write this essay about (however I will also reference other films that she has worked in as well). This film shows the struggles of power and also plays of the dominant ideology or hegemony of women being overemotional and stupid and then presents it in a way that eventually shows the main character changing the power dynamics within the film, I will also talk about different types of power and hegemony as well as what they are/include, along with other keywords.

Protected: Visual Analysis – Presentation

In Assignments, Critical Media Methods, Presentation, Year 1

Convergence Culture Within Society and Film

In Assignments, Essays, Film Analysis, Postdigital Regions: Space and Place, Year 1

Case study: Ghost In The Shell

180mapa CW1 Essay - 1500 Words

Paramount Pictures. (2017, February 13). Ghost In The Shell (2017) – Official Trailer – Paramount Pictures. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRkb1X9ovI4

Within most modern day countries we rely heavily on technology, such as phones and the internet, so much so that we don’t consider it as much of a luxury or privilege anymore but we see all of these as more of an essential thing within our everyday life. As technology has been expanding and developing more rapidly within the last 25 year, especially communicative aspects of technology, so has media platforms and the type of people who consume media. Henry Jenkins defines ‘Convergence culture’ as a merging between new and traditional varieties of media and describes the term as a consent shift between the media and its audience.

Within society convergence culture is highly relevant as there is a major development within media and there has been a massive growth in different media platforms especially on the digital era such as streaming services, social medias and films.

This theory or the term ‘Convergence culture’ was created by Henry Jenkins and this will link to the case study or film called Ghost In The Shell which demonstrates the there is a blurred line between the consumer and the company of technology as this shows how technology and the media can consume a person and brings in to question of how far you can push technology before you’re not human anymore. This links into how Jenkins explains that ‘convergence culture, where old and new media collide, where grassroots and corporate media intersect, where the power of the media producer and the power of the media consumer interact in unpredictable ways.’(Jenkins, 2006, p2)This part of the topic connects to the film as it shows that new media can develop to the point where the consumer can become the product.

As interactive media is constantly developing and has changed drastically Jenkins observed this and how other theorists he describes the consistent progress and blurring of content creator and consumer as part of ‘convergence culture’ and Jenkin describes this as ‘the flow of content across multiple media platforms’ (Jenkins, 2006, p2-3) which shows us that the media is consistently progressing whether it’s a new piece of technology or a brand new content being released.

Jenkins is making his audience aware that media has developed and that as it increases the line separating the consumer and the creator starts too get smaller. As according to Jenkins convergence is demonstrating a two-way street between the media company and the active consumer.

The convergence culture nearly goes completely against the Frankfurt school as the Frankfurt school as Theodor Adorno states that the media and the ideologies within the media is corrupting us whereas ‘…produced mass culture that habituated individuals to conform to the dominant patterns of thought and behaviour.’ (Adorno,1991 , p2). This shows that due to the different time periods and different morals these two theorists see media in a different way to one another.

Due to the constant shift in the media and technology advances there are more developments that are constantly happening within shift between creator and consumer for example the robotics industry is growing rapidly so therefore there will be more opportunities for media to develop even further than people could participate and will society will become so dependant on these advances, especially as we as a society already consume so much media as it is today. People become so absorbed with social media and their devices, whether that’s due to boredom or work, this need for having social media has become so normalised and natural for our society. Theorists have stated that ‘there are a variety of different arguments have been put forward in an attempt to define what exactly is coming together’(Grant and Wilkinson,2009).

Jenkins describes these rapid enhancements in communicative technology as leading to an effortless way to interact across the entire globe and he defines this development in technological advances a positive change, ‘Understanding these changes and participating in the debates that will shape the future of media.’ (Jenkins,H.2004), Which shows that accepting these changes can lead to improvements for a greater and constant consumption of media platforms.

Other people embrace the idea that the media has good development as people are consuming it more everyday within society. ‘rather than serving as an equalizing force, media diffusion could reinforce and potentially even increase inequalities by leading to higher status individuals digesting additional information faster’ (Zillien,N & Hargittai,E. 2009).

The media could develop to the point that it become one of the most essential things in or everyday life as we become more and more dependent on media products and media/technology will become more ingrained into every day society as well as cities and culture. As society goes on and develops so will how we see technology developments especially within humanity as media cold develop to the point where we see it everywhere.

The particular case that I think could demonstrate this topic would be the film ‘Ghost in the shell’ which centres around a women who still has the brain of a human but got experimented on by having her brain transplanted into a robots body. This shows a more futuristic society where technology and media has developed to the point where it has over run cities, however we are still shown the more run down elements of a city and the more corrupt parts of humanity has in everyday cities. This brings in the aspect that old parts of humanity can still be shown in this more futuristic society. This relates to Jenkins convergence culture as it has shown how a continuous progression of media as well as showing how far a media company will go to sell a product to a consumer.

In this case the company owner wanted to experiment with how far they could go with turning a human into a robot without completely destroying their humanity ad in order to do this they got homeless civilians that were against or outcasted by society to experiment with transplanting their brain into a robot version of their body. As the main idea of convergence culture is a constant progression and as we are so consumed and fascinated with the media and the content that created within the media it is interesting to see how media could develop so much and go so far the it would be so embedded into society.

Jenkins stated ‘Fandom, after all, is born of a balance between fascination and frustration: if media content didn’t fascinate us, there would be no desire to engage with it’ (Jenkins, 2006) which demonstrates to us that if media was not as fascinating as it was and if it was not worth consuming and engaging with then society would not have developed media as much and there would not be as much content and different aspects of the media to be seen. This would link into Ghost in the Shell as this film clearly shows that it relies on society developing enough with technology and media to create massive developments with technology. This film demonstrates that as it shows that technology and media is no longer a luxury but is an everyday requirement and is almost seen as unnatural if you didn’t have some form of technology on you.

Jenkins convergence culture would have been more relevant for this film as well as within the society it is set in it shows off a large development of a media system as well as robotics as most of the characters that are within this have some sort of adjustment that has been done to their body. This brings to the question of how far humanity can be pushed and whether immortality is a possibility, this would also bring to light of how much has media developed to get it to the point to where society wouldn’t need it anymore or here it’s just a natural aspect of society.

To conclude and sum up this Convergence Culture shows off that there is going to be a constant development of media with society and the line between creator and consumer could gradually get slimmer as time develops. Jenkins theory might even become more developed and relevant as time goes on and media and technology evolves. Along with this the idea that society cold become so dependant on media is a high possibility as we continue to engage with media platforms as it will continue to fascinate the human mind and keep our interests going.

References:

Jenkins, H.(2006), Convergence Culture Where Old and New Media Collide, New York University Press (P2-4). Henry Jenkins Convergence culture where old and new media collide 2006.pdf (hse.ru)

Zillien,N & Hargittai,E. (2009), Digital Distinction: Status-Specific Types of Internet Usage, University of Trier & Northwestern University. Digital Distinction: Status-Specific Types of Internet Usage* (aula.education)

Jenkins,H. (2004), The cultural logic of media convergence, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, (p35-36). Jenkins,+Henry++-+The+Cultural+Logic+of+Media+Convergence.pdf (pbworks.com)

Mascheroni,G & Ólafsson, K. (2015), The mobile Internet: Access, use, opportunities and divides among European children, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy University of Akureyri, Iceland; Masaryk University, Czech Republic. (p22) 13255dd12a1e436207cff6c5ca527309mascheroni_and__lafsson___the_mobile_internet.pdf (aula.education)

Grant and Wilkinson, (2009),understanding media convergence, (p1) BR1-DEC17.pdf (caluniv.ac.in)

Adorno,T.( 1991), Frankfurt school, The Culture Industry, frankfurtschool.pdf (ucla.edu)

Narrative Analysis

182mapa

Narrative analysis is an in-depth study and examination of a plot or storyline of media product such as a film. Most media products have a story this applies to nearly every genre. Most medias have a storyline so that means that most have an outcome. This would mean that the there is a particular structure and tropes to appeal a specific target audience.

‘From the obviously narrative forms of horror films and television soap operas, to factual documentaries and unscripted reality television shows, and even the compressed storytelling found in 30-second advertisements or the interactive narrative form of videogames.’- Narrative, Jason Mittell.

Narrative analysis can be helpful when it comes to looking into fictional and non-fictional texts, as well as the narratives that we construct in media that seemingly have no inherent narrative at all for example social media.

Vladimir Propp is one of the main theorists for this method as he researched into the relationship between the narrative and characters. His research argues that stories within the media are more character driven and that plots from the media are developed from the different decisions, gestures and actions of characters along with how the characters within the story function.

Claude Levi-Strauss is another theorist that works with narrative. He was part of the structuralist and he was more interested in how we extract meaning from the narrative. He believed that these narratives have messages that can help us gain an understanding and learn about values, identity and social norms. He spoke about how oppositions in stories can relate to broader oppositions in culture.

Discourse Analysis

182mapa

This type of analysis can be both a methodology and a method. Discourse analysis looks into how language is used within a media product and how meaning is created by it.

‘Discourse analysis has many different styles of analysis which all lay claim to the name. What these perspectives share is a rejection of the realist notion that language is simply a neutral means of reflecting or describing the world, and a belief in the central importance of language and representations in constructing social life.’ – Discourse, Rosalind Gill. This shows off that while there are different versions of this analysis there are common perspectives with the type of analysis.

Discourse Analysis can help us understand socio-cultural attitudes from a group or community. Discourse analysis can be can be done can be done on a range of different texts for example you could do a critical analysis on particular hashtags which would be a range of different types of people under particular tweets. This would be under a range of diverse people and once you pick a particular hashtag to analyse the main thing to do would be to find a common perspective or common wording that are repeated this would be shown one of the discourses involved within the text. The wording when it comes to discourse is important and can change the perspective depending on what topic the discourse analysis is on.

The main elements when it comes to discourse that would need to be looked at when doing the analysis is vocabulary, structure, genre, non-verbal communications and conversational codes.

Political Economy

182mapa

Political Economy is an approach to studying media which is mainly focused the ways in which media is produced, distributed and consumed, rather than on analysing the interpretations of the signifiers found within texts.

The main theorist behind Political Economy is Marxism who talks a lot about capitalism and the flaws of capitalism. For example he talks about one of the flaws being how modern work is alienated and how in modern times it is harder to contribute to society.

Marx

This video is what we looked at in order to look further into Marx’s theory and take away from the theory what we could need to in order to understand political economy.

This methodology strong links with the concepts of power and hegemony. This is due to the fact that this concept focuses on the industry which involves lot of different power roles and dynamics which in turn ends up being one of the reasons particular subjects and audiences are represented within different media products. An example of this is typically the people in charge are rich cis-straight white men which ends up with them not presenting a lot of men as sensitive or with heavy negative attributes as they don’t want to present themselves in a bad light.

‘Critical political economy considers both economic and noneconomic values, providing a normative basis from which to critique a broader range of social institutions including incumbent media systems, the nuclear family, the legal system, the political system, religious traditions, health, and education, among others. This approach promotes a method of analysis for providing a more just and rational course of action when confronting serious social problems related to pervasive inequalities under conditions of capitalist globalization‘ – Political Economy, Patrick Burkart. This quotation explains a good understanding of the methodology and how it can be used.

Visual Style