Historical context

Overview

Technology available at the time, how conventions change, period texts, and why present standards mislead.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What does historical context mean in media analysis?

   Model answer

   The period in which a product was made, including the events, technologies, conventions and attitudes that were current at that moment.

2. 2

   Why is the technology available at the time part of a product's historical context?

   Model answer

   Because what could be recorded, edited and distributed determined the form a product could take, so technical limits shape style as much as creative choice does.

3. 3

   How do the conventions of a media form change over time?

   Model answer

   Established ways of using codes are added to, adapted and discarded as technology, audiences and competing products change, so what reads as conventional differs by period.

4. 4

   Why can a product that was innovative on release appear conventional later?

   Model answer

   Because its innovations are adopted widely and become standard, so subsequent audiences encounter as ordinary what was once distinctive.

5. 5

   How does knowing when a product was made change how its representations are judged?

   Model answer

   It allows the analyst to distinguish choices that departed from the norms of the time from those that simply reproduced them, which is necessary before judging a product progressive or conservative.

6. 6

   What is a period text and what does studying one offer?

   Model answer

   A product from an earlier era studied as evidence of its moment, offering access to the attitudes, conventions and concerns that were current when it was made.

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