Encoding / Decoding

Is the media controlled?

(Day 3) 10/3/16

- Media Fast Report due M. Oct 17

- No media for 8 consecutive hours

- Must do during free time

- Media Ownership Paper due M. Nov 30

- Research & reflect on a media product

- Exams

- Midterm Nov 2

- Final Dec 5

 - Breakdown of exams 

- 25 MC

- 5 Blanks

- 10 short answer

- 1 essay

- Do we have any say in encoding / decoding w/ our life?

- Stuart Hall 

- Encoding = process by which message is constructed by its  producers

Do we have any say in encoding/decoding with our life?

- Decoding = process by which audience reads, interprets, &  understands message

- SH created 3 processes

- Dominant Process = decode messages way sender  Don't forget about the age old question of What are the two types of binary compounds?

intended

- Negotiated Process = resist by consenting to claims  

made

- Oppositional Process = reject entirely the claims made - All 3 is reason why meaning is never fixed.

- But wouldn’t media producers try to discourage oppositional  readings? After all, doesn’t capitalism require oppositional  process? Don't forget about the age old question of What takes place in mitochondria like conversion of pyruvate to acetyl coa?

- Yes!!

- Theodore Adorno & Max Horkheimer (Germans)

What is stuart hall's theory?

- Ideology is important

- Interested in hegemony

- How does ideology become hegemony?

- 1944, wrote “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment As  

Mass Destruction”

- thesis = hegemony

- argues that Hollywood is a factory & industry

Encoding / Decoding

(Day 3) 10/3/16

- Culture Industries are like factories that  Don't forget about the age old question of What is a development theory that suggests government access to natural resources may prevent democratization?

mass produce standardized, reliable, &  

predictable goods.

- Includes Star Wars, Disney, Game of  

Thrones … If you want to learn more check out What is giulio cesar?

- Capitalism requires that most of us  

work in factories.

- We make money to spend  

money for movies, games,  

music …

- Labor becomes the means

to access the Culture  

Industries. **Life becomes

defined by participating in

the Culture Industry**

- the result: superficial, predictable culture  

becomes standard

- rewarded; repeat

- broken down into 5 parts

1. Culture Industry infects everything w/  sameness.

2. Entertainment & advertising become  the same thing.

3. Advertising becomes a negative  principle.

a. Teegan & Sara; Oreo commercial b. Will get smuggled in

4. Nonconformity leads to economic  impotence.

5. Choice & difference become  

increasingly powerful illusions.

- “The triumph of advertising in the culture industry is that  consumers feel compelled to buy & use its products even though  they see through them.” If you want to learn more check out Why is wundt, and not fechner considered the founder of the new psychology?

- People are docile & compliant in their own subordination. - How hegemony is made

Struggle For Hegemony

(Day 4) 10/5/16

- Hegemony requires constant maintenance.

- Successful hegemony is constantly aware of potential threats /  consequences.

- **It is extremely difficult for a hegemony to achieve  

naturalization.**

- wearing clothes

- facing forwards in elevator

- How to Build Hegemony in 5 Easy Steps

1. Build & maintain useful alliances.

a. Involves politics (kinda hard; deals w/ “Washington DC”  politics)

i. Expensive

b. Steamboat Willie (1928)

i. Disney’s copywrite on Mickey Mouse was set to expire in  1984

1. In 1970s, Disney lobbied Congress to change law;  

changed to 2003

a. 1990s, lobbied to extend law to 2023

i. 2010s, lobbied Congress to change law

1. probably going to own Mickey for  

a long time

2. Generate consent.

a. More direct to you

b. 2 ways to put into place

i. establish legitimacy of ruling group

ii. encourage desirability of ruling group status

1. happens in media

a. Kid Rock’s songs w/ National Guard & Chevy

3. Use coercion to establish authority.

a. Persuade someone w/ force

i. Police

ii. Hegemony

1. More consent = less force needed

4. Relentlessly engage in discursive closure.

a. Close off discourses

i. Dominant

1. fan behavior

a. Paramount rules for fan movies

i. Cannot copywrite

ii. Cannot be named “Star Trek”

iii. No reproductions or clips

iv. Must include disclaimer

v. Must be family-friendly

vi. 15 minutes or less

Don't forget about the age old question of What defined as the depiction of shapes and forms on a surface?

Struggle For Hegemony

(Day 4) 10/5/16

vii. must use Paramount products

5. Obfuscate & dismiss contrary discourses.

a. Obfuscate = to hide

b. Produce discourses that advance hegemonic discourses i. Black Eyed Peas

1. “I view us as a brand, not a band” – Will.i.am

c. regulate discursive shifts to favor hegemonic interests

i. “College Gameday” show on ESPN

1. country band w/ rap verse in middle to please both  

Coasts of the country

ii. ESPN will pay $5.7 billion to air college football playoff  

between 2014 & 2025.

- Horkheimer & Adorno

- “Those ideas which are fundamentally contradictory to ruling  hegemonic interests will be marginalized, repressed, & belittled.” - UO hangs “O” on Autzen Stadium (Spring 2008)

- Did this for ESPN’s College Gameday show

- Went against building code of Eugene

- UO professor files complaint w/ city

- Target of numerous death threats

- All hegemonies eventually dissolve & new ones take place.