Antagonist The character whose function in a plot is
to oppose the protagonist. In straightforward hero's journey plots (most action
adventures), the antagonist can be referred to as the villain. However, in
character drama, the antagonist might not be a "bad" character, just
someone who stands between the protagonist and his/her goals.
Archetype A universal type or model of character
that is found in many different texts, e.g. ingenue, anti-hero, wise old woman,
hero-as-lover, hero-as-warrior, shadow trickster, mentor, loyal friend,
temptress
Audience The recipients of a media text, or the
people who are intended to read or watch or play or listen to it. A great deal
of media studies work is concerned with the effects a text may have on an
audience.
Binary
Opposition The contrast between two
mutually exclusive concepts or things that creates conflict and drives a
narrative e.g. good/evil, day/night, male/female, presence/absence, old/young.
Connotation Way in which meaning is created.
Connote =
meaning by association, the deeper meaning (e.g. red connotes anger, passion,
love, danger).
Convention The widely recognised way of doing
something - this has to do with content, style and form eg the conventions of
music video they are the same length as the song (somewhere around 4 minutes,
say) they present the band, who look as though they are singing they have lots of fast edits.
Denotation Way in which meaning is created.
Denote =
literal or surface meaning e.g. red is the colour of a flower
Genre A way of categorising a media text according to
its form, style and content. This categorisation is useful for producers (who
can utilise a genre's conventions) and audiences (who can utilise their
expectations of the genre) alike.
Ideology This is a complex concept - in its
basic form it is a set of ideas or beliefs which are held to be acceptable by
the creators of a media text. For example, a text might be described as having
a feminist ideology, meaning it promotes the idea that women are the equal of
men and should not be discriminated against on the grounds of gender.
Narrative The way in which a story, or sequence of
events, is put together within a text. All media texts have some sort of
narrative, from a single photographic image to a sports report to a feature
film. Narrative
may be reduced to one simple equation which is equilibrium - disequilibrium -
new equilibrium.
Preferred
Reading The meaning of a text which
the producers intended. The opposite of 'preferred reading' is 'aberrant
reading', such as when people deliberately interpret a text (the Bible is the
source of a lot of mixed messages) to further their political agenda rather
than the author's original intent.
Protagonist The character who drives the narrative
forward, through the choices they make and the actions they take.
Realism The techniques by which a media text
represents ideas and images that are held to have a true relationship with the
actual world around us. Realism means different things in different texts -
realism in animation (eg the movement of single hairs in computer animation)
means something entirely different to realism in soap opera (eg the depiction
of people eating breakfast and talking with their mouths full). it is important
to assess how much a text strives for realism, how much audiences are expected
to think it is realistic.
Representation
The way in which the media
"re-presents" the world around us in the form of signs and codes for
audiences to read.
Stereotype Stereotypes are negative (usually)
representations of people that rely on preconceived ideas about the group that
person is perceived as belonging to. It is assumed that an individual shares
personal characteristics with other members of that group eg blondes are all
stupid, accountants are all boring. Although
using stereotypes saves a lot of explanation within a text, it can be a very
lazy method of characterisation. Stereotypes may be considered dangerous, as
they encourage audiences to think large groups of people are all the same, and
often have the same negative characteristics.
