What does Liesbet van Zoonen argue about the nature of gender?

Gender is not a fixed biological category but is constructed through discourse and representation in media.

What does van Zoonen mean by gender as discourse?

Ideas about masculinity and femininity are produced and reproduced through language, images and cultural practices.

According to van Zoonen, what role do media representations play in constructing gender?

Media representations are central to the cultural construction of gender, shaping how audiences understand what it means to be male or female.

How does van Zoonen's analysis connect media representations to power relations?

She examines how media representations reflect and reinforce unequal power relations between men and women.

What does van Zoonen identify as a core element of Western patriarchal culture reproduced through media?

The display of women's bodies as spectacle for male pleasure.

What does the concept of intersectionality analyse in feminist theory?

How different forms of oppression interconnect and overlap.

AQA A-Level Media Studies 7572

Media Language

Topic overview Codes and conventions Constructing meaning through media language Genre, hybridity and intertextuality Viewpoints, ideology and audience interpretation Semiotics: signs and their types Semiotics: paradigm, syntagm and anchorage Barthes: denotation, connotation and myth Narratology: narrative codes and diegesis Todorov: equilibrium, disruption and new equilibrium Genre theory as summarised by Neale Structuralism: binary oppositions and mythemes Structuralism: ideological reading and deconstruction Postmodernism: pastiche, bricolage and implosion Baudrillard: simulacra, simulation and hyperreality

Media Representation

Topic overview Constructing representations Why producers make the representational choices they do Social and cultural context in representation Stereotypes: positive and negative use Under-representation and misrepresentation Representation, realism and the values it carries Industry contexts and representational choice Discourse, ideology and audience positioning Theories of representation: stereotypes and countertypes Theories of representation: misrepresentation and selective representation Theories of representation: ideology, hegemony and constructed reality Hall on representation: encoding and decoding Theories of identity as summarised by Gauntlett Feminist theories: the male gaze and patriarchy Feminist theories: van Zoonen and hooks Theories of gender performativity Theories around ethnicity and postcolonial theory

Media Industries

Topic overview Production, distribution and circulation Ownership and control Economics and funding of media industries Marketing and maintaining audiences Regulation of media in the UK Digital convergence and the individual producer Regulation in global production and circulation Curran and Seaton: regulation, deregulation and the free market Curran and Seaton: concentration, conglomerates and public service broadcasting Curran and Seaton: neo-liberalism, surveillance and privacy Curran and Seaton: the central argument Livingstone and Lunt: the public sphere and governance Livingstone and Lunt: media literacy Livingstone and Lunt: power, value and globalisation Cultural industries as summarised by Hesmondhalgh

Media Audiences

Topic overview Grouping and categorising audiences Targeting, attracting, reaching and addressing audiences Media technologies and patterns of consumption Mass and specialised audiences Niche and fan audiences Audience interpretation and its circumstances Media effects: uses and gratifications Media effects: hypodermic needle and moral panic Media effects: media literacy Bandura: social learning and imitation Cultivation theory: socialisation and the bardic function Gerbner: cultivation differential, mainstreaming and resonance Reception theory: agenda setting, framing and myth making Hall on reception: the three reading positions Fandom 'End of audience' theories

Contexts of the Media

Topic overview Social context Cultural context Economic context Political context Historical context Analysing media products in context

Media Forms and Products

Topic overview Advertising and marketing Music video Radio Newspapers Film as an industry Television Magazines Online, social and participatory media Video games

The Cross-Media Production and Assessment

Topic overview Close study products and how they are used The NEA brief and its requirements The Statement of Intent Applying the theoretical framework in production Producing across platforms for a specified audience Extended response and synopticity

Media Representation

Feminist theories: van Zoonen and hooks

2 things to know
Media One and Media Two

Overview

Van Zoonen on gender as discourse and gender and power, and hooks on intersectionality and mainstream feminism.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Who and when

What does van Zoonen argue about gender?

Who and when

What does bell hooks add to feminist media analysis?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What does Liesbet van Zoonen argue about the nature of gender?
Model answer
Gender is not a fixed biological category but is constructed through discourse and representation in media.
2
What does van Zoonen mean by gender as discourse?
Model answer
Ideas about masculinity and femininity are produced and reproduced through language, images and cultural practices.
3
According to van Zoonen, what role do media representations play in constructing gender?
Model answer
Media representations are central to the cultural construction of gender, shaping how audiences understand what it means to be male or female.
4
How does van Zoonen's analysis connect media representations to power relations?
Model answer
She examines how media representations reflect and reinforce unequal power relations between men and women.
5
What does van Zoonen identify as a core element of Western patriarchal culture reproduced through media?
Model answer
The display of women's bodies as spectacle for male pleasure.
6
What does the concept of intersectionality analyse in feminist theory?
Model answer
How different forms of oppression interconnect and overlap.

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Media Language

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AAccessing media forms the first component.

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Denotation means the literal, common-sense meaning of a sign.

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