Information vs Semiotic Model

Symbol (text & lect)

Semiotics

·         Study of the symbol

Signifier, Signified, Codes (and diagram)

Linguistic codes, Cultural Codes (and diagram)

Denotation, Connotation (and diagram)

Conventions

Conventions as applied to: fiction vs history, cartoons vs live action,

Behind the Laughter

·         Lanugage:

o   allowed humans to be effective cooperators

o   more effective hunters (cooperation)

o    thinking complex thoughts

o   technology and passing it down thru language

o   complex spiritual conceptions

·         Writing:

o    Huge technological advance

o    Insure idea of historical progress

o    Creation of civilizations

o   Writing was only for the elite class

·         Printing:

o   “reformation”

Democracy, communication & Rhetoric (as deliberation)

·         System of govt where citizens have equal say

·         Rhetoric: art of persuasion 

Deliberation (deliberative mssgs): purposes & ideals

·         Involves public groups making decisions about policy

·         Goal is to make best decisions possible (NOT TO WIN!)

·         Characteristics

o    Reason over emotions

o    Open debate & criticism

o    Civility: working together, good ethics

·         Goes bad when primary goal is to wield power

o    Flattery: telling people what they want to hear

Representation & Electioneering Mssgs

·         Early American democracy and problem of scale

o    Representation democracy was solution

o    Print media allowed creation of national publics

·         Electioneering: citizens choosing reps thru political campaign

o    Goal: choosing the “best” canidates

o    Focus on issues & principles with “

·         Delicate: follow the wishes of those who elect you

o    Lobbyist have a much larger voice

Governance and Propaganda mssgs

·         Justifying govt policy

·         Involve in effect to promote policy decisions already made

·         Used by nazi’s, Woodrow Wilson “Creel” commission WWI

: Rosser Reeves, first TV campaign, Reeves on

products vs candidates

Four theories of press (amended in places by lecture)

·         Authoritarian: associated with authoritarian govt

o    Govt maintaining its own power

o    Strategies how press could be controlled

§  Prior restraint: controlling a message

§  Engage in “punitive” measures

·         Totalitarian (Soviet/Communist)

o    Control every aspect of citizen lives especially “thoughts and beliefs”

o    State owns media outlets

·         Libertarian: severnt of the people

o    Needs media serve people not govt

o    Public sphere & democracy (Habermas)

o    Market places of ideas: “Where does truth come from?”

§  Market economy “governs” the press

·         Social responsibility theory

o    Democratic political systems

o    Superficial & sensational

Lib Theory: 

: democracy, public sphere, marketplace of ideas

Critiques of news as business

Know the story of the massive shift from 19th century partisan press to 20th

century “professional” press: esp. changing institutions and conventions.

[image]providing facts to widen the audience                  Comm Conv

o    claim to be professionals being objective

Fact vs Opinion & Conventions

Noam Chomsky: the Myth of the Liberal Media: the Propaganda Model of

News: know the 3 filters & how they influence news

·         Advertising: avoid stories that would make advertising unhappy

·         Ownership: owner would peruse there own self interest

·         Source: what you cans ay in the news is constrained by who your sources are

Advertising & Assimilation Effect

·         Negative effect on society: makes us debters

·         Educational institutions

Two models of advertising

·         Info model: rational (Logos)

o    Ancient Greece: rational appeals

o    Provide info to make better decisions on how to spend money

·         Psychological model: emonitons (pathos)

Manipulate consumers to buy products

Advertiser & Audience: competition & coevolution

·         Market research & audience targeting

o    Demographics (age, gender, race)

o    More effective to particular audiences

·         Audience resistance & Ad evolution

o    Embed ads into the programing

Four models of ad storytelling: how ad story (signifier) relates to product

(signified)

·         traditional: about the product (problem, advice, resolution)

·         attention: no relationship between story & product

·         association: weak relationship between story & product, rub off on related to association

·         illustration: story exhibits indirect to value of the products

Intertextuality

·         Concept that refers to an idea that sometimes the meaning of a message comes from another text

Three basic story types

·         History, Fiction, Religious

Interpretive Communities

·         Groups of people united by the shared comm conventions for how to read texts

Narrative: beg. mid, end; Narrator

·         Basic concepts:

o    Range form 1^st person, monition

o   Consists on persons & events

Structure of Narrative: 

·         major & minor functions,

·         turning points

·         some events are signifiers

·         E.g. foreshadowing: major event (signifier)---subseqent events (signified)

Four Plot Types (what drive - mid, how resolved – end)

·         Romantic: heros confrontation with circumstances resolved when hero triumphs

·         Comic: driven by misunderstanding & error, resolved when character realizes truth

·         Tragic: driven by some tragic flaw or condition, resolved in the end with a more horrific end

·         Satirical: driven by some obscenity of life and resolved when character realizes they are captive

Stories & Identity

·         Stories as resources for identity

·         Identity in mass society

Cults & Subcultures (interpretive communities)

Competitive Sports vs Stories and Conventions

·         Viewing sporting events

o    Watching other deal with events but is unscripted

·         Sports Vs. Stories: ambiguities of wrestling

o    Polysemic: more like fictional story

Wrestling as Ambiguous Case