OVERVIEW

THEORIES

Learners will study a wide range of theoretical approaches and theories, including advanced
approaches, to inform and support their analysis of media products and processes. Those
listed below must be studied; appropriate additional theories may be studied.


Media Language
 Semiotics, including Roland Barthes
 Narratology, including Tzvetan Todorov
 Genre theory, including Steve Neale
 Structuralism, including Claude Lévi-Strauss
 Postmodernism, including Jean Baudrillard

Representation
 Theories of representation, including Stuart Hall
 Theories of identity, including David Gauntlett
 Feminist theory, including Liesbet van Zoonen
 Feminist theory, including bell hooks
 Theories of gender performativity, including Judith Butler
 Theories around ethnicity and postcolonial theory, including Paul Gilroy

Media Industries
 Power and media industries, including Curran and Seaton
 Regulation, including Livingstone and Lunt
 Cultural industries, including David Hesmondhalgh


Audiences
 Media effects, including Albert Bandura
 Cultivation theory, including George Gerbner
 Reception theory, including Stuart Hall
 Fandom, including Henry Jenkins
 ‘End of audience’ theories - Clay Shirky.