Theory

Pop/ Low Culture Mainstream popular= lots of people enjoy it Examples would be- J Beebs, football, magazines, movie stars, music videos. Criticisms- widespread not necessarily ‘good’, it pollutes peoples’ brains (Marxist criticism) Positives- allows youth culture to develop, provides positive role models, can be a really positive force bringing people together, changes society.

High Culture Elite culture is often thought of as old fashioned Small numbers of people doing something new can be called ‘niche’ or ‘avant garde’ culture too Studying it makes sense as it we have many different ways of expressing culture Important to maintain study of cultural heritage

vs

Semiotics Signs- sender “I love you”= I care for you, I want to sleep with you, can you have my babies…”

and receiver- does she get what he means to say? The receiver has to decode ‘meaning’. Meaning is not fixed. Language has to be coded and decoded.

Structuralism Structures exist in society. Language also has structures, and creates structures. Media language operates like spoken language.

If we read adverts from the past we see that women belong in the home.

Semiotics Main point is that meaning is not fixed, it is assigned to a sign, which is then interpreted. IMPORTANT: we make meanings from messages. We are always working to get our heads round a text. Semiotics helps us to see things as text.

Read this image Pictured: Mother, 51, and daughter, 33, pose outside court before they are jailed for dealing crack cocaine from an alleyway

Key terms Limited interpretation Preferred reading Pleasure

Post Structuralists There aren’t structures- culture and society is always shifting. Meaning is unstable. They look for unintended meanings and background issues such as exclusion.

Think about the representation of ethnic minorities in films- why are they marginal characters? Why do they play roles supporting the majority ethnic group?

Problems with PS If a text can have any meaning given to it by an audience… As a producer you have no idea how a text will be received. Society is chaotic- why believe anything!

Post Structuralism Is very good for showing that we’re created by forces around us.

Feminism 1st wave- the vote, women’s rights 2nd wave- gender equality 3rd wave- ambiguity and difference 4th wave- post-feminism. Consumerism and identification with majority culture. Concentrate on construction of gender. Women= housewife, cook, carer, cleaner Men= lads, tough, in control, breadwinner

Applying this to the Young Youth are inexperienced, lazy, dangerous OR are a vision of perfection and potential Viewers are encouraged to either try to escape from, or to, youth. Can you relate this to your films and articles?

Queer Theory Does not only apply to sexuality Judith Butler Gender Trouble (1990) questions binary oppositions- gay/straight, man/woman, young/mature and highlights that we perform. Sex and gender are different. Sex= biology Gender= performance

which one is a real woman?

How to be young? How can you relate the idea of performance to your texts? Daily Mail article- performing Britishness Kidulthood- performing urban youth Attack the Block- performing stereotypes while questioning them Fishtank…