1. Theory

2. Pop/ Low Culture Mainstream popular= lots of people enjoy it
Examples would be- J Beebs, football, magazines, movie stars, music videos.
Criticisms- widespread not necessarily ‘good’, it pollutes peoples’ brains (Marxist criticism)
Positives- allows youth culture to develop, provides positive role models, can be a really positive force bringing people together, changes society.

3. High Culture Elite culture is often thought of as old fashioned
Small numbers of people doing something new can be called ‘niche’ or ‘avant garde’ culture too
Studying it makes sense as it we have many different ways of expressing culture
Important to maintain study of cultural heritage

4. vs

5. Semiotics Signs- sender
“I love you”= I care for you, I want to sleep with you, can you have my babies…”

6. and receiver- does she
get what he means to say?
The receiver has to
decode ‘meaning’.
Meaning is not fixed.
Language has to be
coded and decoded.

7. Structuralism Structures exist in society.
Language also has structures, and creates structures.
Media language operates like spoken language.

8. If we read adverts from the past we see that women belong in the home.

9. Semiotics
Main point is that meaning is not fixed, it is assigned to a sign, which is then interpreted.
IMPORTANT: we make meanings from messages. We are always working to get our heads round a text.
Semiotics helps us to see things as text.

10. Read this image
Pictured: Mother, 51, and daughter, 33, pose outside court before they are jailed for dealing crack cocaine from an alleyway

11. Key terms
Limited interpretation
Preferred reading
Pleasure

12. Post Structuralists
There aren’t structures- culture and society is always shifting.
Meaning is unstable.
They look for unintended meanings and background issues such as exclusion.

13. Think about the representation of ethnic minorities in films- why are they marginal characters? Why do they play roles supporting the majority ethnic group?

14. Problems with PS
If a text can have any meaning given to it by an audience…
As a producer you have no idea how a text will be received.
Society is chaotic- why believe anything!

15. Post Structuralism
Is very good for showing that we’re created by forces around us.

16. Feminism 1st wave- the vote, women’s rights 2nd wave- gender equality
3rd wave- ambiguity and difference
4th wave- post-feminism. Consumerism and identification with majority culture.
Concentrate on construction of gender.
Women= housewife, cook, carer, cleaner
Men= lads, tough, in control, breadwinner

17. Applying this to the Young
Youth are inexperienced, lazy, dangerous
OR are a vision of perfection and potential
Viewers are encouraged to either try to escape from, or to, youth. Can you relate this to your films and articles?

18. Queer Theory Does not only apply to sexuality
Judith Butler Gender Trouble (1990) questions binary oppositions- gay/straight, man/woman, young/mature and highlights that we perform.
Sex and gender are different.
Sex= biology
Gender= performance

19. which one is a real woman?

20. How to be young?
How can you relate the idea of performance to your texts?
Daily Mail article- performing Britishness
Kidulthood- performing urban youth
Attack the Block- performing stereotypes while questioning them
Fishtank…