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Strength and weakness of structuralism
Essay on structuralism as a school of thought
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In the words of Michael O’Shaughnessy, ‘narratives, or stories, are a basic way of making sense of our experience’ (1999: 266). As a society and a culture, we use stories to comprehend and share our experiences, typically by constructing them with a beginning, middle and an end. In fact, the order that a narrative is structured will directly impact the way it is understood, particularly across cultures. This idea originated through Claude Lévi-Strauss’s concept of structuralism in anthropology which ‘is concerned with uncovering the common structural principles underlying specific and historically variable cultures and myth’ in pre-industrial societies (Strinati 2003: 85). In terms of media studies, structuralism’s inherent objective is to dig beneath the surface of a media text to identify how the structure of a narrative contributes to it’s meaning. Structuralism encompasses a large range of analytical tools, however, this essay will examine Joseph Campbell’s monomyth and Claude Lévi-Strauss’s theory of binary oppositions. Through analysis of Victor Fleming’s film, The Wizard of Oz (1939), it will be shown that although the monomyth and binary oppositions are useful tools with which to unveil how meaning is generated in this text, structuralism can undermine the audience’s ability to engage with their own interpretations of the film. In the simplest form, there is a basic structural pattern to narratives, as expressed through Tzvetan Todorov’s explanation of narrative movement between two equilibriums. A narrative begins in a stable position until something causes disequilibrium, however, by the end of the story, the equilibrium is re-established, though it is different than the beginning (O’Shaughnessy 1999: 268). Joseph Cam... ... middle of paper ... ...an adequate mechanism for unveiling the techniques used to create messages in a text. Works Cited Campbell, Joseph (1968), The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press, pp. viii-97. Eco, Umberto (1979), ‘Narrative structures in Fleming’, in his, The Role of the Reader: Explorations in the Semiotics of Texts, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, pp. 144-172. Hartley, John (2002), Communication, Cultural and Media Studies: The Key Concepts, London, Routledge, pp. 19-21. O’Shaughnessy, Michael (1999), Media and Society: An Introduction, Melbourne, Oxford University Press, pp. 266-290. Strinati, Dominic (2003), ‘Structuralism, semiology and popular culture’ (extract), in his An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture: 2nd Ed., London, Routledge, pp. 82-85. The Wizard of Oz (film), 1939, Director: Victor Fleming.
Often, when a story is told, it follows the events of the protagonist. It is told in a way that justifies the reasons and emotions behind the protagonist actions and reactions. While listening to the story being cited, one tends to forget about the other side of the story, about the antagonist motivations, about all the reasons that justify the antagonist actions.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is more than just a mediated artifact it is breakthrough, said to be one of the most famous films ever made. The film was not a box office success, it only received 3,017,000 on a 2,777,000 dollars budget but it still receive a large amount of positive reviews and remakes (). This is important in terms of the audience it reaches because it was not just a children’s movie, or an adult movie, or a movie for teens, it was a movie for the entire family that targeted no specific audience. The Wizard of Oz has won critical acclaim by being nominated for multiple academy awards such as best picture, best original song and is often ranked one of the top ten movies of all time (). The creator Frank L. Baum is very much significant because this was not his first ball game. He was originally an author of children’s books but wrote many novels, sequels and made many attempts to bring his work to stage and screen (). He had a vision like no other and saw things in a different pe...
Cultural Studies focuses on the political and social impacts of media. Cultural Studies assumes that all cultural products are ultimately about power and possess value only to the degree that they attack established social order. Traditional Philosophy emphasizes the perennial difficulty of sustaining excellence in a culture seemi...
Flew, T., & Smith, R. (Canadian). (2011). New: Media An Introduction. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press p.
Mittel, J., 2007. Film and Television Narrative. In: D. Herman, ed. 2007. The Cambridge Companion to Narrative. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.156-171.
Classic narrative cinema is what Bordwell, Staiger and Thompson (The classic Hollywood Cinema, Columbia University press 1985) 1, calls “an excessively obvious cinema”1 in which cinematic style serves to explain and not to obscure the narrative. In this way it is made up of motivated events that lead the spectator to its inevitable conclusion. It causes the spectator to have an emotional investment in this conclusion coming to pass which in turn makes the predictable the most desirable outcome. The films are structured to create an atmosphere of verisimilitude, which is to give a perception of reality. On closer inspection it they are often far from realistic in a social sense but possibly portray a realism desired by the patriarchal and family value orientated society of the time. I feel that it is often the black and white representation of good and evil that creates such an atmosphere of predic...
Croteau, D., Hoynes, W., & Milan, S. (2012). Media/society (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
...verything around us is made by our actions. Positive or negative they cause an effect that will ultimately lead to a different story base on how we interpret life. Narrative elements are used as a bridge by the directors in their film to create any master plot that is currently known. Any modification at any narrative element used by the director at important moments inside the story can help you portray a different master plot. This used of narrative elements can be best described as an ever changing process that takes place inside an individual’s head. Depending on the individual that may be exposed to those narrative elements can create different meanings. This new interpretation can be different for everyone. We have to be aware that one change in the surface scenery can lead to many ideal outcomes in our minds and that is the main power the audience has.
Strinati, D. (2004). An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture (pp. 52-79). New York, NY USA: Taylor & Francis.
Ott, B. L, & Mack, R. L. (2010). Critical media studies: An introduction. Malden, MA: Wiley-
Joseph STRAUBHAAR and Robert LaROSE (2002). Media Now. Communications Media in the Information Age, 3rd edition. Belmont, Wadsworth/Thompson Learning.
Thompson, B. John (1995) “Self and Experience in a Mediated World”, The Media and Modernity : A Social Theory of the Media, Stanford University Press, Stanford, pp.209-219.
June 2004: 16 pars. Communication and Mass Media Complete. EBSCOhost. University of Denver Penrose Library, Denver. 19 Jan. 2005 <http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&an=13546585>.
"Understanding Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication, v. 1.0." Flat World Knowledge. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.