Theories (linked to LFTVD)

Curran and Seaton

-Companies are often conglomerates. Must consider if they are power-hungry and generating profit and etc.
-News Corp. Huge conglomerate - (Sky, Daily Telegraph, The Times, previously Fox)
-SixteenFilms is an example of a company who clearly aren't just working for profit as the films they generate are risky and artistic
-Products made are repetitive, similar, and have little choice and diversity
-Fast and Furious 7 films - example of companies repeating what was successful
-More socially diverse patterns of ownership help to create the conditions for more varied and adventurous media productions
-MONEY - Netflix profit and power can relate to House of Cards, American politics is a spectacle for people who do not live in America e.g.  When Netflix reported its fourth quarter of 2012 results on January 23, 2013, days before "House of Cards" debuted, the company had 33 million streaming subscribers. Its quarterly sales were less than $1 billion. The company's market value was $5.7 billion.
-POWER - represents politicians in a negative way

-cultural industry companies minimise risk and maximise audiences through vertical and horizontal integration and by formatting their cultural products. The largest companies or conglomerates now operate across a number of different cultural industries. The radical potential of the internet hjs been contained to some extent by its partial incorporation into a large, profit orientated set of cultural industries. (HESMONDHALGH) 
----NETFLIX is an emerging threat though it is not part of big 6. It is a sequel to the original House of Cards UK version so taps into overseas market. Profitable. Complex plot and mixed genre makes it more appealing.


HALL 

•      Dominant or Preferred Reading

–     This is when the text is read in the way the producer intended the text to be read.

–     The audience agree with the messages and ideology that the producer has placed behind the text.

-    House of Cards is intended for audiences to follow Frank and be interested in the political corruption

--  Preferred reading of Deutschland 83 is that we are rooting for Martin

•      Negotiated Reading

–     This is a compromise between the dominant reading and the oppositional reading of the text.

–     The audience accepts the views of the producer but also has their own input and understanding of the text.

•      Oppositional Reading

–     The audience rejects the producers preferred reading and creates their own reading of the text, usually this is the opposite of what the producer intended.

–      The reader rejects the meaning completely as they do not agree with the message that is being presented to the audience.

--   This may occur if people reject the political corruption in the show as nonsense. Also Kevin Spacey's reputation now since scandals may make it harder for audiences to like his character 

Gauntlett
argued that the media have an important but complex relationship with identities. now an expectation that individuals make choices about their identity and lifestyle. For example the success of popular feminism and increasing representation of different sexualities has created a world where the meaning of gender, sexuality and identity are increasingly open.


Van Zoonen
the way women's bodies are represented as objects in patriarchal culture is different to the representation of male bodies as spectacle. She agrees with Butler that gender is performative and contextual.
Zoe Barnes v-neck shirt used to manipulate Frank
Claire Underwood subverts the theory as she is powerful and almost matriarchal


hooks
concept of intersectionality
intersections of gender, race, class and sexuality create a 'white supremacist capitalist patriarchy' whose ideologies dominate media representations
In House of Cards the powerful figures are white, male and middle class - reflecting this but in a grotesque manner
In Deutschland 83 there are two parallel power structures but the show criticises the socialist one in favour of the capitalist one, suggesting endorsement


Butler
theory of gender performativity is a very high level theory that cannot be tested against particular media products, but it also draws attention to representations of those very performances. Gender is socially constructed. Male/female behaviour and roles are not the result of biology but reinforced through media and culture. 'gender trouble'



Gilroy
The USA was founded upon racial and ethnic inequality as well as anti colonialism. So any representation or lack of representation of race in their media products now fits this theory. The shows don't engage with what Gilroy calls the 'black Atlantic', this common culture gives the African diaspora an ethnic dimension (sense of belonging based on inclusion) as well as a racial one (similar experience of exclusion) . Many of the African American characters are represented in bureaucratic roles such as the police chief in House of Cards or General Jackson in Deutschland 83 - represented as integrated into the culture of the predominantly white gang. All defined by the dominant white culture rather than members of a vibrant culture to be celebrated on its own terms.


BINARY OPPOSITES