Media Paper 2 learner response

1) Type up your feedback in full (you do not need to write mark/grade if you do not wish to).

WWW: Excellent answer, controlled writing, very fluent

EBI: Include postmodernism & narrative theory

 

2) Read the mark scheme for this exam carefully, paying particular attention to the 'indicative content' for each question. Firstly, focus on the unseen question and identify two aspects of the poster that you could have written about in your answer.

- The use of costume and props to construct teen stereotypes (leather/biker jacket, cat ears, red dress)

- The link between genre and stereotypes – the representation of victim in the thriller/crime drama.

3) Look at the indicative content for Q1 again and make a note of any theories or examples of media terminology you could have used in your answer.

- The way events, issues, individuals and social groups (including social identity) are represented through processes of selection and combination

- The codes and conventions of media forms and products, including the processes through which media language develops as genre

4) Now focus on the TV 25-marker. Read this exemplar response for the TV question and pick out three arguments, phrases or theories from the essay that you could use in a future question on Capital and Deutschland 83.

- This also questions the validity of Hall’s theory, as perhaps producers are unknowingly reinforcing ingrained dominant ideologies rather than deliberating encoding a particular viewpoint. Antonio Gramsci’s theory of hegemony is relevant here as it could be argued that Capital’s relentless focus on the importance of hard work, earning money and contributing to the London economy unconsciously reinforces capitalist ideology.

- In evaluating the validity of Hall’s theory, the key question here is whether the producers have deliberately encoded these value judgements or whether this is an example of the hegemonic dominance of capitalist, right-wing ideologies in western media products.

- However, when exploring the validity of Hall’s Reception theory it is important to consider the power of ingrained hegemonic ideologies in the wider media and society and how much these unconsciously influence the encoding and decoding of meanings in media products such as television dramas.

5) Finally, identify three things you need to revise for Media Paper 2 before your next assessment or mock exam.

- Postmodernist theory

- Narrative theory

- Genre stereotypes