Mainstream is often termed as 'broadcast audience' who consume popular texts, such as soaps or sitcoms, and a niche audience is much smaller but influential. Examples of a mainstream audience; friends, TopGear, 'heat' magazine and 'Guardian' newspaper. Examples of a niche audience; 'All Out Cricket', 'Birds', 'RaceCar'. The difference between these two audiences is that the mainstream targets a very large group of different people, while the niche target a smaller group of people with a unique interest.
Media Audiences an Introduction from alevelmedia
Propp theory
Vladimir Propp was a critic in the 1920s, he was essentially interested in the narrative of folk tales. He noticed that folk tales were similar in many areas, and that they were about the basic struggles and appeared to have stock characters. Characters have a narrative function; they provide a structure for the text:
Propp theory
Vladimir Propp was a critic in the 1920s, he was essentially interested in the narrative of folk tales. He noticed that folk tales were similar in many areas, and that they were about the basic struggles and appeared to have stock characters. Characters have a narrative function; they provide a structure for the text:
- The Hero - the character that seeks something
- The Villain - who opposes or actively blocks the hero's quest
- The Donor - who provides an object with magical properties
- The Dispatcher - who sends the hero on his/her quest via a message
- The False Hero - who disrupts the hero's success by making false claims
- The Helper - who aids the hero
- The Princess - acts as the reward for the hero and the object of the villain's plots
- Her Father - who acts to reward the hero for his effort
Examples of this theory: 'The Dark Knight', 'The Dispatcher', 'Avengers Assemble', 'Batman and Robin', 'The Amazing Spiderman', 'Batman Begins', 'Spiderman'.
Todorov theory
Izetan Todorov was a structuralist linguist, he suggested that stories began with an equilibrium or status quo where any potential differences are in balance. This is then disrupted by some event, which sets the chain of events, the problems are then solved so that order can be restored into the world of fiction. He suggested that conventional narratives are structured in five stages:
- A state of equilibrium at the outset
- A disruption of the equilibrium by some action
- A recognition that there has been a disruption
- An attempt to repair the disruption
- A reinstatement of the equilibrium
Levi Strauss theory
Claude Levi Strauss studied hundreds of myths an legends, he found out that we as humans make sense of the world through people and events by seeing and using binary opposites, he found out narratives are arranged around the conflict of binary opposites.
Examples of binary opposites:
- Good vs Evil
- Black vs White
- Boy vs Girl
- Peace vs War
- Civilised vs Savage
- Democracy vs Dictatorship
- Young vs Old
- Man vs Nature
an excellent start - but it needs work
ReplyDeletemake notes explaining what you learned from 'reading' other peoples work
add a presentation in some way showing understanding of how these have been applied to/evidenced by real media productions - try to use your best media literacy and use the language that we have already covered thereby showing knowledge becoming applied understanding
where is the genre post?
ReplyDelete