Introduction to Institution
September 5th 2017
Institution: An organisation or establishment founded for a specific purpose. This could be dedicated to education, public service or culture.
E.g. The institution that produces Inception is Legendary Pictures. The institution that distributes Inception is Warner Brothers Pictures.
Conglomerate: An institution who owns various companies of different types of product and services.
E.g. Wanda Group is the conglomerate of Legendary pictures and various other product and services and are all owned by Wang Jianlin
Subsidiary: A company whose controlling interest is owned by another company.
E.g. Legendary Entertainment is a subsidiary of Wanda Group as well as many more companies.
Division: A discrete part of a company that may operate under the same name and legal responsibility but focuses on a specific different service or product.
E.g. Legendary Comics is a division of Legendary Entertainment.
And finally the product is delivered to the audience.
How does this link to GratiFly?
The main protagonist in GratiFly is the subsidiary and the 'uknown entity' is the conglomerate which means it has power in order to take away the Gratifications!
Illusion of Choice
As an audience, we can all agree that we think that the reason we watch media products is partly because we want to be supporting our favourite actors and directors. However, all the profit from what you spent on to watch the film with mostly go to the conglomerate. As for your favourite directors and actors, they'll only receive a very tiny amount compared to what you actually payed to watch the product. This is called "illusion of choice".
There are 6 media giants that controls more than 90% of the media.
In order to show an example of this, here is a video that shows "illusion of choice". No matter which media text you're watching, everything's the same.
Hegemony
September 12th 2017
Hegemony: The dominance or leadership of one social group or nation over another. It is the way which those in power maintain in their control.
E.g. Just like the way USA dominates other nations.
Conception of Hegemony:
COERCION: It uses the army, the police, prisons and courts of the capitalist state to force other classes to accept its role.
CONSENT: It uses the media and values to persuade the subordinate class that its rule is legitimate (lawful/justified)
How can the Media affect Hegemony?
MIRA (Media Languages, Institution, Representation, Audience)
Made on 5th October 2017
How does this link to GratiFly?
The main protagonist is attempting to reach out for his gratifications; however with the combination of Hegemony, Blumler & Katz Uses and Gratification Theory and technical skills, the team and I will try to replicate the various forms the theory which will be taken into consideration when it comes to storyboarding and filming!
Ideology
September 19th 2017
Ideology: A world view, a system of values attitudes and beliefs which an individual, group or society holds to be true or important, these are shared by culture or society about how that society should function
Ideology then creates stereotype
Dominant ideologies: are essentially what we have been told over and over that it becomes a common sense in order to keep a sense of stability in society. E.g. church, law, education, government, the media. This help those maintain their power over society.
Antonio Gramsci Theory:
The power, as well as being political and economic, is also cultural, he called this dominant ideology Cultural Hegemony
Cultural Hegemony serves the interest of the ruling class (power bloc) and perpetuates their dominance over the rest of society
Gramsci's theory claims that the power bloc are now seen as a norm and are seen as universal ideologies. It is perceived to benefit everyone BUT in reality it is only benefiting the power bloc.
In terms of media, this is done through mass media through consent. He refers to these media text as hegemonic form.
Hegemonic Form
The media product perpetuates traditional views and stereotypes of a certain topic
It therefore serves the interests of the power bloc
We live in a patriarchal society = male led and male dominated
These views are called the PREFERRED READING
Preferred Reading
Is the dominant ideology in which the media producer wanted the audience to see
EXAMPLE: Legally Blonde [2001]
In this film, the media producer's preferred reading communicates to the audience that women's in the film's world must be white skinned, fit, curvy, beautiful. As for the men in the movie, they must be topless and strong. As for the sound aspect of the movie, the lyrics of the song used states that it's a "perfect world" which influence the dominant ideology that everyone the world is white, wealthy and educated.
EXAMPLE: Detective Conan [1996 - present]
In this anime, Aoyama Gosho the creator of Detective Conan had made the Dominant Ideolgy very clear to the audience. Since the show is a mystery and solving murder cases, the main protagonist has always been
"There's always only one truth"
This quote had been used every single episode since the year 1996 to now.
How does this link to GratiFly?
The preferred reading in GratiFly is that the power bloc's oppresses and manipulates those below them socially and economically through an entity form as the antagonist against a young, lower class student doing various activities that are his gratification sources.
Capitalism
September 20th 2017
Capitalism: An economic system in which the means of production of goods and services are privately owned and operated for a profit.
Characteristics:
[1] Business capital is privately owned
[2] Buyer and seller control economy
[3]Free-will to spend money
[4]Minimal government supervision
CAPITAL means wealth in the form of money or other assets owned by a person or institution
Trickle down economic is a term used to describe the belief that if high income earners gain an increase in salary, then everyone in the economy will benefit as their increased income and wealth filter through to all section in society.
EXAMPLE: If Harrow International School Bangkok isn't where it is now, the local businesses may suffer and may not even have as many customers than it usually do at the moment. This is because Harrow brought in a large amount of potential customers into the area therefore it is more likely that some will use these services than if there were no Harrow at all.
However, sometimes the money will all go to the conglomerate and the cash will not flow down the chain
Individual Material Gain: The accumulation of wealth, assets, celebrity or fame by one person