General media terminology

 

·       Agenda: A plan or belief system within a group, normally hidden from others. For example, there is a belief that the BNP has a racist agenda.

·       Antagonist: An antagonist is a character that opposes the protagonist and creates the main conflict.

·       Archetype: An archetype is a character. Idea, or pattern that appears repeatedly in stories from different cultures. Archetypes are recognizable symbols or characters that connect people across time and culture. For example, the hero, the princess, the damsel in distress, the loyal friend, the villain, the temptress.

·       Binary Opposites: Binary opposites are opposing main characters in media narratives. They can be used to create conflict and drives the plot forward. For example, Hero vs. Villain, Good vs. evil, Masculinity vs. femininity etc.

·       Connotation: Connotation is the non-literal definition of a word or object. A connotation is frequently described as positive or negative, with regard to its pleasing or displeasing emotional connection.

·       Conventional: Something that is seen to be “normal”. So a conventional female character would be quite weak, and girly, and maybe a mother or housewife.

·       Dominant Ideology: Dominant ideology is the cultural perspective of a society’s ruling group. It’s an ideology that’s shared by the majority of people, but may only serve the interests of a smaller portion of the population.

·       Homophobia: Actions, behaviors, feelings, or words against people because of their sexuality. This is normally because the person who is being homophobic believes there is a difference between sexualities and thinks that one sexuality is better than the other.

·       Juxtaposed: Juxtapose is a technique used in film and literature to compare and contrast two or more things by placing them side by side. It can be used to highlight differences between elements such as settings, characters, emotions, and actions.

·       Male Gaze: The male gaze is a feminist theory by Laura Mulvey that describes how women are portrayed in an objectifying way in cinema and other media. The theory states that these portrayals are created to satisfy the psychological needs of men and patriarchal society.

·       Media Language: Media language is the way media communicates meaning to the audience. It includes the different aspects of media, such as written, visual, aural, verbal, and non-verbal.

·       Patriarchy: Patriarchy is basically a social system or governance pattern where the father or eldest male plays the key decision-making role in the family or society.

·       Positioning: How the audience is encouraged to interpret a particular situation. For example, “the audience is positioned to sympathize with the female character.”

·       Protagonist: The leading character in the show is called protagonist. They are the character that drives the action and whose fate is more important. Protagonists are often the emotional heart of the story and the character that the audience related to the most.

·       Realist / Realism: A style of TV show/film that attempts to be as “realistic” as possible. For example, “Shameless is considered a realist program. “Being a “realist” program doesn’t necessarily mean the show IS realistic or accurate.

·       Racism: Actions, behaviors, feelings, or words that seem to discriminate against people because of their skin color. This is normally because the person who is racist believes that there is a difference between people who have different skin colors and they believe one skin color to be better than another.

·       Sexism: Actions, behaviors, feelings, or words that seem to discriminate against people because of their gender. This is normally because the person who is being sexist believes there is a difference between the two genders and that one gender is better than the other.

·       Stereotype: A stereotype is a widely held belief about a social group or type of person. Stereotypes are often simple, overgeneralized, and resistant to change. They can be positive, neutral, or negative, and are often inaccurate and resistant to new information.

·       Unconventional: Something that is seen to not be “normal”. For example an unconventional female character might be powerful, the boss of a company, and very dominant over other characters.

·       Verisimilitude: A film has verisimilitude if it seems realistic and the story has details, subjects, and characters that seem similar or true to real life, or mime convincing aspects of life in important or fundamental ways.

·       Xenophobia: Xenophobia is an extreme fear and dislike of people, customs, and cultures that are considered strange, unusual, or unknown. The word comes from the Greek words xenos, meaning “stranger, foreigner, or outsider”, and phobos, meaning “fear”.