THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This A Level Media Studies specification is based on the theoretical framework for analysing and creating media, which provides learners with the tools to develop a critical understanding and appreciation of the media. The framework consists of four inter-related areas:

 media language: how the media through their forms, codes, conventions and techniques communicate meanings

 representation: how the media portray events, issues, individuals and social groups

 media industries: how the media industries' processes of production, distribution and circulation affect media forms and platforms

 audiences: how media forms target, reach and address audiences, how audiences interpret and respond to them, and how members of audiences become producers themselves.

It provides a comprehensive, detailed and focused approach to interpreting and analysing the media, which learners will develop as they study the three components.

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