If you are reading this and you started media in 2017 or after, the examples may be unfamiliar, but there are many great ways of applying media theory here. Additionally if you see a theory we have not covered, don't freak out, it's not something you need to learn for the new spec.
When using theory in any response in media, it's important to remember a few important rules. Firstly, you should only use theoretical frameworks that actually apply to your response. Trying to 'shove in' theory will stress you out and will confuse the examiner. You certainly do not need to include a theory in every paragraph. Secondly, and most importantly, you should never simply define a theory. You are sitting an Advanced Level examination, not competing in a pub quiz. You can assume that the examiner is very much aware of what the uses and gratifications model is. Far more important is how important it is, and to what extent it can be applied. It is only through applying knowledge and understanding, including knowledge of theoretical frameworks that you can get marks in the upcoming exam.
Before starting this activity, read this article on how to not use theories carefully. Some of the advice, like never using the word 'theory' might seem counterintuitive. But this entire course is based on demonstrating your knowledge and understanding to a complete stranger. You must concentrate on getting this across, as briefly and with as much elegance as possible (!).
Remember, theory is a framework to back up your own points, not something to shove in and then desperately try and explain. If you cannot make the theory fit, then don't use it!
Below you will find examples of how to apply theory. There are lots of ways of doing this, so please view them as suggestions rather than hard and fast rules!
Genre
Repetition and difference - Steve Neal
"Spectre provides it's target audience with the pleasure of identifying a range of familiar, repeated elements from previous films in the Bond franchise, including exotic settings, stereotypically threatening foreign villains, and the archetype of the Bond Girl. However, Spectre also includes many differences to this formula..."
Narrative
Equilibrium - Tvzetan Todorov
"The disequilibrium of The Selfish Giant occurs when Arbor is expelled from school, which is highly typical of the social realist genre..."
Character archetypes - Vladimir Propp
"However, Mad Max: Fury Road continually subverts Propp's archetypal characters. This is most significantly demonstrated through the character of Furiosa, who..."
Narrative codes - Roland Barthes
"The close up shot of Hinx's face reflected in the spoon functions as a powerful action code, and reinforces Hinx's stereotypically treacherous and aggressive character..."
Binary Oppositions - Claude Levi-Strauss
"This ideology is emphasised through the binary opposition between Arbor's small size and the enormous power plant that dominates the setting, constantly reinforcing Arbor's fragility and insignificance..."
Representation
Racial stereotypes - Alvarado
"While Hinx is violent and aggressive, the exotic Madeline fulfills another of Alvarado's ethnic stereotypes by being constructed purely as a sexual object for Bond to pursue. This..."
Stereotypes - Richard Dyer
"Dyer suggests that stereotypes are often used as a shortcut for the producer to convey their ideology. In The Selfish Giant, Barnard uses stereotypical white working class stereotypes to explore the inequality in Northern society..."
The male gaze - Laura Mulvey/Lizbet Van Zoonen
"While the montage of water pouring on the young women's bodies is confirmed with an eyeline match of Max's apparently lustful look, the idea of a traditional male gaze is subverted time and time again in this scene..."
Gender performativity - Judith Butler
"Spectre continually reinforces traditional gender roles, reinforcing a stereotypical ideology that men and women are utterly different..."
Symbolic Annihilation - George Gerbner
"While The Selfish Giant excels at the representation of the working class, it does this at the expense of women. In fact, the symbolic annihilation of women only reinforces patriarchal hegemony, perhaps..."
Men act, women appear - John Berger
"In an excellent subversion of Berger's observation, Max frequently plays a subservient role. In fact, it is Furiosa that drives the narrative throughout..."
Female chauvinist pigs - Ariel Levy
"Levy controversially suggested that women were as much to blame for their sexualisation in the media as the men. In fact, I would agree that while Seydoux and Belluci both have starred in a range of challenging films, their decision to play the role of 'Bond Girl' is harmful for the ways in which women are treated in society..."
Audience
The utopian solution - Richard Dyer
"By acknowledging the flaws in the lives of the audience, Westworld provides a series of utopian solutions by allowing the 'guests' to do whatever they wish, with no consequences. This allows the audience to question the morality..."
Reception theory - Stuart Hall
"Hall considered the ways in which the audience receive the ideology of the producer. For The Jeremy Kyle Show, the preferred reading is not simply to agree with the middle class ideologies of Kyle himself, but to actively despise the working class guests..."
Cultivation theory - George Gerbner
"Through his status as a powerful and knowledgeable white man, Attenborough's authoritative voiceover further cultivates the ideology that..."
The effects model - Albert Bandura
"If we are to believe the outdated hypodermic syringe model, Lady Gaga's elaborate costumes may directly influence her teenage target audience. However, we know now that audiences are far more sophisticated. A more compelling theory is..."
Literature and evil - Georges Bataille
"The video to Yonkers presents a deliberately transgressive and provocative series of images to engage the target audience..."
Uses and gratifications - Blumler and Katz
"In addition to the use of celebrity, Blue Planet II offers audiences the essential gratification of social interaction..."
Hegemony - Antonio Gramsci
"However, the mise-en-scene of the missing teeth ultimately reinforces another hegemonic norm; institutional hatred of the working class..."