`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. "Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!" He took his vorpal sword in hand: Long time the manxome foe he sought -- So rested he by the Tumtum tree, And stood awhile in thought. And, as in uffish thought he stood, The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came! One, two! One, two! And through and through The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back. "And, has thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy. `Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There , 1872 Lewis Carrol
Derrida, in deconstructionism, posited that readers of a text constructed their own meaning for the text and, with the writer of the text, created a unique reality around that meaning. This theory gives the reader a power at least as great as that of the writer in establishing the meaning of the text, and assumes that each reader will create their own unique meaning. Foucault, in moving toward structuralism, built an argument that truth and meaning depend on the content and structure of the historical discourse – that the practical method of putting forth a statement has an essential bearing on the contents (especially the truth of the contents) of the message. Cultural studies
Sophie Van Bauwel
Resistance: a reaction against the dominant political, economic, and/or social order Incorporation: the adoption of something that goes against the dominant order Agency: activity Structure: No activity Practices of power: the real-life practice of resistance
Notion of the masses “rising up” and resisting
Active audience theory has been of particular interest to those in the field of political communications. What exactly determines audiences’ political opinions?
Milton Lodge
First is a clip from the New Hour with Jim Lehrer. It’s an interview with Democratic candidate Mike Gravel. The News Hour with Jim Lehrer gets about 5% of the evening news audience – even less among young people. The second clip is from the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, interviewing John McCain. According to the Pew Research Center poll: During the 2004 presidential campaign, 21% of people ages 18-29 said that the Daily Show was where they regularly turned for campaign news. In the 2000 campaign, only 9% of young people pointed to comedy shows as their source of campaign news. Second clip: start at :27 or 2:23
This web page, an example of a “portal”, has a large number of options for the reader to consider as they choose how to engage the page. The response of each individual will depend on their information needs, their prior experience with the page, and their expectation of positive results from the engagement with the page (among other factors).
The structure and appearance of each page is designed to appeal to members of the target audience for the page…whether that audience is young individuals, college students and those just out of college, or established working professionals. The colors, typefaces, and layout of each page is unique among its peers, and intended to establish a positive expectation of results among first-time visitors.
In other words, how “free” are we in our opinions?
Many TV texts are not fully open, and there is a preferred reading, and a limit to what audiences can do with a text.
In other words, how “free” are we in our opinions?