Medium Stake Assessment - Unit 1

 LO6 - The media effects debate is still relevant in the 21st century’.

Overall I believe the media effects debate is still relevant as the media still continues to have effects on audiences albeit in different ways and circumstances.

I agree with the statement as the gratification theory is still applicable in modern day society as audiences continue to use media products for the following reasons: escapism, surveillance, building a personal relationship with characters and building a personal identity. This continues to show that in some cases the media cant control its audiences fully as they cannot control how they necessarily view a media product as many engage with them in different ways, in some cases people watch films for the entertainment whereas some like to analyse the product to look for secrets and easter eggs.

Moreover, the hypodermic passive theory, which is the belief that media companies hold power over its audience and can almost control them so that they buy their products, is still relevant in the 21st century as advertisement still works and is occurrent in all media sectors, this shows that it still has an effect on audience and whereas is may not be the audience being necessarily controlled like sheep, blindly following the instructions, they are still being persuaded into buying media products, as an example, we still see movie trailers and game trailers on social media and tv and we still see advertisements in print based media such as newspapers.

However it isn't as relevant as audiences have changed, this relates to the desensitisation theory which suggests that over time audiences have become immune to graphic content , violence and also swearing, this is shown with how ratings have changed on movies, for example the 1996 movie Criminal Hearts was R-rated when it was first released however in the present day it is shown rated at 15, this is because what was a shock to most in 1996 has become normal to audiences in the 21st century.

On the contrary I agree with the statement, this is because the media still presents ethic minorities as threats or violent and dangerous in movies due to underlying racist tendencies relating to Stuart Hall's theory on representation, this occurs in many films and games such as Call of Duty which often represent all middle eastern countries as full of terrorists and ruled by tyrants, this is based on how minorities in these countries and groups such as Isis commit acts of violence and terrorism in the real world.

Finally I do not agree with this statement as audiences have changed the way in which they approach media products as they have begun to engage with the media in different ways than intended by the media owners creating a community, this is the theory about fandom which suggests that audiences view the media with their own free will and will take it in any way they wish. A prime example is to do with the Star Wars sage by Lucasfilm in which a fandom came together to create conventions in which fans would dress up (cosplay) as their favourite characters or even create new ones, or how the popular show Star Wars The Clone Wars was initially developed by 2 fans of the original trilogy of films which shows that audiences are engaging with the media much more than they did in the 1980s.

Discuss how narrative is constructed in a media product you have studied.

In media, Vladimir Propp suggests that most narratives have a number of key character roles, each having their own purpose, for example in the Disney movie Cinderella, the hero is the character in search for something or someone, in this case it is the Prince who searches for Cinderella and saves her from the locked room; the villain or villains in this case as The Ugly Step-sisters and her Stepmother are the evil ones who try to stop the hero's plan in this case is to stop the Prince from finding Cinderella; the donors who aid the hero on their journey, in this case the mice who help make Cinderella's dress for her; the princess who is obviously Cinderella, the helper who is the one who also helps the hero in this case is the Fairy Godmother who helps Cinderella go to the ball and finally the false hero who is the Ugly stepsisters as they try to take the credit for the hero's actions in this case when they pretend to be the ones that the Prince fell in love with instead of Cinderella.

Moreover, Tzvetan Todorov's theory is that all narratives have three parts, the start where there is equilibrium and balance, an event to disrupt the equilibrium and finally a resolution in which the equilibrium is restored, however some media tries to challenge this order, for example in Avengers: Infinity War, we begin where there is some from of disruption as we start where there is high tension as characters are being slaughtered, it's only after this scene that we somewhat return to equilibrium, however i believe this works so well as this is the movie which truly united the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) so there were smaller plots being faced all at once so throughout there was never really true equilibrium, moreover at the end of the movie, the hero's lose so in a sense even though the tension returns to normal we face a new form of equilibrium, this challenges movies such as Cinderella as that ends with good winning and follows a set order whereas this movie does not.