Theory Research

During our research and planning, we have decided to research on current theorists to enforcer and create improvement for our ideas and planning.

The first theorist is Henry George, this theorist heavily influenced Muse’s songs and band. Henry George was an American writer and political economist. He inspired the economic philosophy known as Georgism, which involves with the ideology and philosophical differences of land and value. He theorized the natural cycle of the industrial economies and use of land. His theories involved with eight basic economic matters are wealth that all material items and possessions are produced by labor for the satisfaction of human desires and having overall exchange value. Land where the entire material universe exclusive of people and their products. Labor is when all human exertion in the production of the wealth. Capital which links to the wealth used to produce more wealth or wealth in the course of exchange. Rent which is the part of wealth which is the return for the use of the land? Wages is involved by the part of the wealth, which is the return to labor. And finally Interest is linked to this by the division of wealth among the factors that produce it.  Land, labor and wealth are the means of wealth production therefore land yields rent, whereas labor produces wages and capital receives interest. The wealth of any society is measure in the total of rent, wages and interest. George stated that the consequences of dire economic policies were moral issues rather than economic issues. So therefore this allows him to believe that economic problems stemmed from the unavailability of land and those who gained access to it.  His theory also consisted of showing that wealth is a communist (Marxist) system with dictatorship of working class and centrally planned economy. He also stated that the consequences of economic policies were moral issues rather than economic issues posed moral questions such as “why should a man benefit merely from the act of ownership, he may render no services to the community in exchange?”

The next theorist is Tzvetan Todorov in media terms; he claimed that narrative is the coherence/organization given to a series of facts and figures of different representations. Todorov is a Franco Bulgarian philosopher who lived in France since 1963 with his wife Nancy Huston,. The human mind needs to consider narrative to make sense of things in order to connect events and make interpretations based on those connections. He also believed that everything had a beginning, middle and end sequence.  His theory clearly showed great contribution to literacy theory of defining the fantastic; the fantastic marvelous and he defined it as being any event that happens in our world that seems supernatural.  That he defined the fantastic as marvelous. Todorov also suggested that the fantastic as being any event that happens in our world that seems to be supernatural. Upon the occurrence, the event is seen as an illusion or whether it’s real and has taken place. Upon choosing whether the event is imaginary or real, Todorov said that society is marvelous and uncanny. The laws of reality are always remaining intact and also provide a rational explanation for the fantastic event. Todorov gives examples of dreams and illusions of sense and madness. The supernatural event that occurs has actually taken place and therefore the laws of reality have to be changed to explain the event. Only the reader can’t be one of the possibilities, the text is pure representational. Aside from his work in the literacy theory, Todorov also dabbled in philosophy. He focused on the ideas of human happiness and how to live in modern times. Todorov also simplified the idea of narrative theory while also allowing a more complex interpretation of film texts with his theory of equilibrium and disequilibrium. That the fictional environment starts with equilibrium (everything should be in equal balance between powers of any kind where equality of importance or effect exists among the various parts of any complex unit). It then suffers from some disruption from the disequilibrium therefore allowing the new equilibrium to be produced at the end of the narrative. There are five parts to the narrative as it progresses through such as a state of equilibrium, disruption of the event, recognition that the disorder has occurred, attempt to repair the damage of the disruption and the return or restoration of a new equilibrium. In these stages, narrative isn’t seen as a linear structure but a circular one allowing a flow of continuous source of inspiration to allow equilibrium to be built up. However the equilibrium can be attained at the end of the story isn’t identical to the initial equilibrium. Todorov also argued that the narrative involves a transformation that the characters or situations are transformed through the progress of the disruption. The disruption itself is usually takes place outside the normal social framework, outside the “normal” social events.

The other theorist by Vladimir Propp also illustrated on narrative that the theorist clearly showed different character type’s hat after the initial situation is depicted, the tale is split into 31 different functions, which are the following. Absentation- member of family leaves the security of the environment, which could be the hero or another family member for a need to become rescued.  Interdiction- this is addressed to the hero that the hero is warned not to do this particular action, violation- the interdiction is violated and its generally proved to be a bad action allowing the villain to enter. Reconnaissance- the villain attempts to try and find the children’s jewels or intended victim questions.   Delivery- the villain gathers information form the protagonist that the victim’s seeking now pays off and he/she has acquired new information. Trickery- the villain attempts to deceive the victim to take possession of the victim or victim’s belongings that the villain now presses further often using information gained in seeking to deceive the hero or victim in some way appearing in disguise. Complicity- victim takes in by deception, by helping the enemy the trickery the villain now works and the hero/victim acts in a way that helps the villain. Villainy/lack- the villain causes harm/injury to a family member by the addition of a particular object or magical possession alternatively a member of the family may be lacking something or desires something allows a sense of corruption to spread their mature bodies. Mediation- misfortune or lack is known, the hero now discovers that victimized hero is sent away, the hero now discovers the act of villainy or lack, finding their family or community devastated or caught up in  a state of anguish and woe. Beginning counter action- The seeker aggress to or decides upon counter action, the hero now decides to act that wil resolve the problem therefore this defines the moment for the hero to make the decision that sets the course of future actions and a ordinary person takes on the mantle of heroism. Departure -of the hero leaving his home.  First functioning of the donor- the hero is tested and interrogated by preparing the way he or she receives a magical agent or helper. Hero’s reaction- the hero reacts to actions of the future donor. The receipt of a magical agent- the hero acquires the use of a magical agent transferred, located and prepared. Guidance- hero is transferred, delivered or led to the whereabouts of an object of the search. Struggle- the hero and villain have conflicts with each other to resolve their differences and combat. Branding- the hero is branded. Victory- the villain is defeated in a contest or banished. Liquidation- that the initial misfortune or lack is restored, due to the search of the object being distributed or spell broken. Return- the hero returns. Purist- the hero is pursued that the pursuer tries to kill the hero. Rescue- the hero is rescued from the pursuit that the hero is saved from an attempt on his or her life. Unrecognized arrival- hero is unrecognized and arrives home in another country. Unfounded claims- the false hero is present in unfolded claims, the difficult task- difficult task is proposed to the hero due to a trial, riddles or a test of courage.  Solution- a task is resolved; recognition- the hero is recognized by a brand, mark or thing given to the person. Exposure- false hero or villain is exposed; transfiguration- hero is given a new appearance made by garments or being made handsome. And finally Punishment- the villain is punished for his crimes.  Also during a wedding- the hero marries and ascends the throne to conclude that all characters could be resolved into a 8 broad character type in the 100 tales he analyzed. Vladimir Propp examined their most basic plot components, in order to develop an analysis that reduced fairy tales to a series of actions performed by the dramatic atmosphere created by a unique sequence. Propp had also created generic functions to allow the proposing of that they encompassed all of the plot components from which the fairy tales were constructed. These share some similarities as basic plot elements and representations. So overall there are 8 types of characters, which are the villain, dispatcher, he helper, the princess or prize, her father, the donor, the hero and the false hero. These roles could sometimes be distributed among various characters as the hero kills the villain that one character could engage in acts more than one role as the father of the son can send him on a quest.

The next theorist is Levi Strauss, he is a critical theorist who theorized that myths as a type of search through which a language could be discovered. This theory attempted to explain how fascinating the true fantasy world can be, influenced by Hegel, Levi strauss believed that the human mind thinks fundamentally in these binary oppositions and their unification and that these are what make meaning possible. Furthermore, he considered the job of myth to be sleight of hand, an association of an incredible binary opposition with a reconcile=able binary opposition, creating the illusion or belief that the former had been resolved.  He saw a basic paradox in the study of myth that one hand, mythical stories are fantastic and unpredictable the content of the myth seems completely arbitrary. The myths are show lots of different cultures are similar to each other. Levi Strauss proposed that the universal laws must be governed through mythical and resolve the paradox producing similar myths in different cultures. Each myth seems unique but he proposed it’s one particular instance of a universal law of the human thought. While studying myth, Levi Strauss tries to reduce data to a type of order allowing attaining a level that becomes necessity of the apparent illusions. Levi Strauss said that myths consist of elements to oppose or contradict each other and other elements that mediate or receive oppositions. Levi Strauss argued that the relationship between the agriculture and opposition of life and death. Furthermore, the relationship between the beliefs and opposition.. In structuralism, a binary opposition is seen as a fundamental organizer of human philosophy, culture and language. In the community of philosophers and scholars, most believe that a distinction can be made rigorous and precise it isn’t really a distinction. Binary opposition is an important part of structuralism, which creates a system of language and initial thought between two theoretical opposites, which are strictly defined and set off against each other. 

The next narrative theorist is Roland Barthes, the linguist described texts into 5 codes, which are woven into any narrative. The first code is the hermeneutic code which consists of any element of story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the readers. The full truth is often avoided such as Snares: deliberately avoiding the truth, Equivocations: Partial or incomplete answers and Jammings: openly acknowledge that there is no answer to a problem. The purpose of the author in this is typically to keep the audience guessing arresting the enigma, until the final scenes when all is revealed and all loose ends are tied off and closure is achieved. The next code is the proairetic code, which builds tension, referring to any other action, or event that indicates something else is going to occur and this gets the readers guessing to what will happen next.  The hermeneutic code and proairetic codes work as a pair to develop the story’s tensions and keep the reader interested. Barthes described as dependent and the revelation of truth and the coordination of the actions represented, there is the same constraint in the gradual order of the melody and in the equally gradual order of the narrative sequence. The next code is the semantic code, which refers to connotation within the story that gives additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning of the word. It is by the use of extended meaning that can be applied to words that authors can paint rich pictures with relatively limited text and the way they do this is a common indication of their writing skills. The next code is the symbolic code, which is similar to the semantic code but however it acts at a wider level this, organizes semantic meanings into broader and deeper sets of meaning. This is typically done in the use of antithesis, where new meaning arises out of opposing and conflict ideas. And finally the cultural code refers to anything that is founded on some kind of canonical works that can’t be challenged and is assumed to truth and perspective. Typically this involves either science or fiction. Although other canons such as magical truths can be used in stories. The Gnomic code is a cultural code that refers to sayings, proverbs and other meaningful words and sentences.  Roland Barthes also claimed that from one piece of literature from another and interrogates ways of reading, like positive or negative habits the modern reader brings into one’s experience with the text itself. These terms are mostly explicitly fleshed out while proving an parallel look at the active and passive, post modern and modern, ways of interacting with a text. The tree texts are as followed the readerly text, this text makes no requirement of the reader to write or produce their own meanings. That the reader may locate meaning, Barthes writes that these sorts of texts dont disturb the surrounding culture. Another text is writerly text, a text that aspires goal of literature and criticism to make the reader no longer a consumer but a producer of the text. This text clearly creates an active rather passive way of interacting with a culture of texts. Barthes wrote that they should never be accepted in their given forms and traditions. As opposed to be by some singular system reducing plurality of entrances, opening of networks and languages. And finally the author and the scriptor, Barthes used those terms to describe different ways of thinking about the creators of texts. The author is a traditional concept of the lone genius creating a work of literature or other piece of writing by the powers of their original imagination.  Barthes says that the scriptor has no past, but is born with the text. He argued that in the absence of the idea of a representation, the active reader feels very interpretive and draw on previous conventions.

The next theory is the hypodermic needle theory, The theory suggests that the mass media could influence a large group of consumers and appropriate messages which suggest that the message is implied and the representations are injected into the people that this is dangerous due to communicating an idea because the receiver or audience is powerless to resist the impact of the message. There is no effect of he message in these models. People are often seen as passive and due to no other source of information.  The project focused on people being untouched by propaganda, interposal outlets brought more influence than the media.

The next theorist is Ferdinand de Saussure, the theorist who studies how language created meaning, the theory he concluded with consisted of two units, which are linear and arbitrary natures of signifiers. The signified and signifier together both make the sign the two basic principles are the arbitrary nature that the sign in arbitrary is the ideas of the sound of the word between the links and the ideas and sound which is a matter of societal convention. The next one is the linear nature, which represents a span, and the span is a measurable dimension allowing representations to build their command. Saussure rejects a theory of language that each corresponding of a theory assumes ideas whether its vocal or psychological in nature and finally it lets us assume the linking of the name and the thing that is the operation. The theorist also signified that he distinguished between what he called langue- the system of a language, the language as a system of forms and parole- actual speech, the speech acts that are made possible by the language. The theorist is clearly linked to structuralism, which is originated in the structural linguistics heavily influencing the humanities and social sciences. His semiotics theory clearly showed a lot of communication and symbolism allowing it to build structure and the meaning of language more specifically. Semiotics is closely linked to field of linguistics and studies of its structure and meaning of the interpretation of the language. This is branched into 3 difference branches which are semantics- relation between signs and the things to which they refer or meaning, syntactic- relations among signs in formal structures and pragmatics- relation between signs and the effects they have on the people who use them.

Another theorist is Stuart Hall who theorized of encoding and decoding to review the conception of the process of encoding and decoding. The medium takes systemic responsibility in being determined the relationship of various signs presented, ordering them for us. Media institutions create texts according to Stuart Hall’s concept of the dominant code. In the dominant cultural order there is an imposition of classifications on the social, cultural and political world. Those these classifications are organized according to dominant and preferred meanings. The audience has part of the aspect of decoding performed already on behalf of the message makers; there are 3 possible responses in a discourse to the media’s representations and values. The first position is the dominant hegemonic position, this refers to the interpretation of the message to be understood and operated in the dominant code. The position of institutions in messages is signified withing the hegemonic manner to which they are accustomed for professional representations of organizational harmony and communication. The next stage is the negotiated position, which is involved with the understanding of media producers taking those for granted allowing an acknowledgement of differences towards our society. And the final position is the globally contrary position which is when the media consumers understand the contextual and literacy inflections of a text yet decoding the message by a oppositional means, this is globally contrary position, the de-tantalization of that text enables them to rework it to their preferred meaning. This can create political conflict allowing a struggle of society and oppositional codes.

  The other theorist is Jean Baudrillard’s theory of hyper reality; Karl Marx heavily influenced him due to his Marxism and theory of socialism. This theory allowed a primary methodology of most economic analysis of communication and cultural studies. His theory also consists of convergence of signification and resembles the Saussurean system of reversed signs. It acts like anti representational messages that his theory of simulation holds the order of the basic elements of signs and terms of the signifier plus the world of boundaries. His theory also consisted of media- saturated cultures which technological consumer societies that saw them as characterized by simulation and hyper reality in which substitutions as objects. His message could be interpreted to media images of society to enter a catatonic state of multi medium simulations where they become vulnerable and insecure.

The next theorist is David Morley who theorized that different social groups have access to different to cultural capitals that the familiarity with the different types of media texts. This will effect the ability to decode textual meanings. His theory clearly linked to different educational and occupational backgrounds. Different responses were produced and research continued to show dominance, oppositional and negotiated reading texts. David Morley showed the relationship between dominant reading of a news text and the viewers’ social class. He employed 2 distinct modes known as semiotics and sociology. His main idea was to extent the individual interpretation of the programs could be revealed to diverge systematically in relation to the socio artistic groups. He also suggested that the audience were more effective particularly sub cultures and definitely share a cultural compass reading towards decoding codes in a certain number. The individual readings or the individual formation of messages will be positioned by communal cultural ideas and practices.

Another theory is uses and gratifications the model was made by two theorists Blumler and Katz who theorized that the mass media contains a huge variety of mediums allowing reaching millions of people and applying different speeches by politicians would affect no one, local events would remain local.  The media becomes overcome to distanced and builds up direct relationship including focus groups, surveys, questionnaires, clinical studies and plain hypothesizing, a number of models describing the media’s relationship with the audiences that have been drawn up.  The theory also applies that people feel better of knowing what is going on in the world around them is a mystery. By watching or reading texts this makes the news feel more that the knowledge is more secure about our security of lives.  It assumes that members of he audience aren’t passive but take an active role in interpreting and integrating the media into their lives. The theory holds audiences responsible for choosing media to meet their needs. The approach suggests that people use it for their own specific needs. The theory is split into a variety of components. There are that the audience is conceived as active, in the mass communication process much initiative in linking gratification and the media choice lies with the audience member. The media is competing with other sources of satisfaction and the many goals of mass media can be derived from the data supplied by individual audience members themselves and the value of judgments about the cultural significance of mass communications should be suspended with audience authority. The audience shows a lot of expectations and need gratifications. There are different activities of the audiences such as utility- the media is used to accomplish specific tasks, intentionally- people use it the determine the use of media, selectivity- audience members use media to reflect their existing interests, imperviousness to influence- audience members construct their own meaning from media content, Diversion- Escape from routine and problems, an emotional release, personal relationships- social utility of information in conversation, substitution of media for companionship, personal identity or individual psychology-  value reinforcement or reassurance, self understanding for reality exploration and surveillance- information about factors which affect one or a group to accomplish something. The needs are split into 5 different categories which are cognitive needs- acquiring information, knowledge and understanding, affective needs- emotion, pleasure and feelings, Personal integrative needs- credibility, stability and status, social integrative needs- family and friends, tension release needs- escape and diversion.

The next theorist is Andrew Goodwin consists of thought beats by seeing through sound, narrative and performance, the star image, relation of visuals to the song and the technical aspects of the music video.  He therefore suggested that the first step is to look at the music itself to learn from the representations and conventions. Secondly, the voice of the singer. The artists voice is extremely unique and can form identification or trademarks that work well with the star image. Roland Barthes theory of the Grain of voice related to this.  He saw the singing voice as an expressive instrument and therefore able to make association of the overall representations of the song and lyrics. Thirdly, Goodwin also points out the artists’ mode of address. Songs can be seen as stories and the artist, the storyteller, making the music video show communication and tell us the story and listening. He identified that the relationship between visuals is illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics of the song. The relationship between the lyrics and visuals allow representing the music in a fascinating form allowing to be interred textual towards the different forms of media. The imagery used in the video should express the feelings of the video therefore allowing the individuals and groups to become linked with the genre. The term voyeurism can be interpreted as a pleasure of appearance. Goodwin suggested that voyeurism is often present in music videos.  Therefore the theory also suggests the demands of the record label creating representation of the artist and performance based, narrative based or concept based music videos, which allow a great variety of cultural and textual references. Goodwin suggests that the lyrics will make constant references to visuals on screen.  Visuals will reinforce what the lyrics say.  And he also referred the genre characteristics as certain traits associated with a particular music genre. The notions of play motion are focusing on the idea of gaze and the way someone is particular is seen. Notions of looking isn’t restricted to women, it may also represent men in a specific representation such as violence and masculiniarity., whereas women are represented as objects in Goodwin’s theory. The record label has a certain control over the artist they sign. It’s the ultimate up to date what the artist should be represented as.  And finally part of the genre characteristics show that the narrative allows the music to come to life like the story. Narrative can be either fragmented or linear but however most music video’s are fragmented.

Finally to conclude all these theorists and theories do show a lot of conventions of the music video allowing us to give implications of our ideas and values over the music video we are about to produce. Particularly our group is mostly inspired by the conflict and social classes from theorists such as Levi Strauss and Todorov’s disequilibrium theory allowing us to expand on conflict.