From Structuralism to Postmodernism

As promised here is your homework... it is in many parts...

First, I want to discuss audience theory in more detail next week. Please read through and make notes on the audience theories covered in the 'Audience' presentation in this post: http://chalfontmediablog.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/a2-series-of-student-made-presentations.html

Then read the section on audience in the document, embedded in this post: http://chalfontmediablog.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/a2-more-media-theory-courtesy-latymer.html

Second, read through this quotation from Jameson again, and respond to the questions that follow:

"Jameson characterizes postmodern society with four elements: (1) superficiality and lack of depth; (2) the waning of emotion or affect; (3) a loss of historicity; and (4) new technologies. A consequence of this is that people are unable to make sense of an increasingly complex society."

• What are the implications of this?

• How does this support/develop the arguments and ideas that we have encountered with Strinati and Baudrillard?

Third, consider the following statements. Do they accurately reflect the ideas we encountered within each paradigm?

• Structuralism: The 'Media' has the power to control

• Post-structuralism: The 'Media' does not have control

• Postmodernism: The 'Media' is control

Obama/Pulp Fiction MashUp

Embracing the remix in the name of politics...

Via: ihatepeacocks

Media and expression: theses in tweetform

An interesting list from Nicholas Carr. One or two should definitely resonate... how many do you agree/disagree with?

1. The complexity of the medium is inversely proportional to the eloquence of the message.
2. Hypertext is a more conservative medium than text.
3. The simpler the medium, the greater the experimentation it inspires.
4. Twitter is a more ruminative medium than Facebook.
5. The introduction of digital tools has never improved the quality of an art form.
6. The returns on interactivity quickly turn negative.
7. In the material world, doing is knowing; in media, the opposite is often true.
8. Facebook’s profitability is directly tied to the shallowness of its members: hence its strategy.
9. Increasing the intelligence of a network tends to decrease the intelligence of those connected to it.
10. The one new art form produced by the computer – the videogame – is the computer’s prisoner.
11. Personal correspondence grows less interesting as the speed of its delivery quickens.
12. Programmers are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.
13. The album cover turned out to be indispensable to popular music.
14. The pursuit of followers on Twitter is an occupation of the bourgeoisie.
15. Abundance of information breeds delusions of knowledge among the unwary.
16. No great work of literature could have been written in hypertext.
17. Recent history proves that the philistine is ideally suited to the role of cultural impresario online.
18. Television became more interesting when people started paying for it.
19. Instagram shows us what a world without art looks like.
20. Online conversation is to oral conversation as a mask is to a face.

A2: Assignment No 2

The Matrix is real but it is not a product of mainstream media. It is self-made, constructed by the public, and proliferated by social networks. We are (knowingly) constructing personalised prisons for our minds; our realities essentially giant filter bubbles, made up of ideologies we accept. We are turning ourselves into thoughtless, marketing machines, exploited by the highest bidder.

To what extent do you agree with the sentiments above?

Make explicit reference to:

• The Matrix
• Baudrillard's theory of hyperreality
• Strinati's theories about media saturation and superficiality
• The ideas you encountered in the Boyd, Turkle, Handel, Rosen, Boder, Sunstein, and Keegan articles, including digital identity and the public sphere
• The ideas put across in Eli Pariser's TED talk
• Twitter discussion about friendship, digital self and instant gratification
• Video's about digital identity and digital self
• Notes from lessons and other discussions
• Any other research/reading that you have completed

A2 Twitter Discussion - Storify

Here are all the tweets from today's Twitter discussion...

AS: Group Writing on Editing / Sound

Currently working on analysis and quality of writing, here are the paragraphs that you wrote in small groups... please use them to critique and reflect on your own writing.

Some key points:

• Ensure that you open paragraphs with a clear point, referring back to the area of representation that you have been asked to write about
• Avoid run on sentences - clear grammar and punctuation adds to the clarity of your analysis
• Avoid description; ensure that there is evidence of technical analysis in every sentence
• Use key terms frequently and accurately
• Make sure you know the difference between 'dentotation' and 'connotation'
• Try to make links between the different technical features. This demonstrates a deeper level of understanding.

AS: Merlin Extract & Essay Question

Here is the Merlin extract, should you wish to watch it again.

And here is the essay question:

Discuss the way social status is represented in this extract from Merlin. Make specific reference to the following technical areas:

• Camera
• Editing
• Sound
• Mise-en-scene