Media Theory for A Level provides a comprehensive introduction to the 19 academic theories required for A Level Media study. From Roland Barthes to Clay Shirky, from structuralism to civilisationism, this revision book explains the core academic concepts students need to master to succeed in their exams. Each chapter includes:
• Comprehensive explanations of the academic ideas and theories specified for GCE Media study.
• Practical tasks designed to help students apply theoretical concepts to unseen texts and close study products/set texts.
• Exemplar applications of theories to set texts and close study products for all media specifications (AQA, Eduqas, OCR and WJEC).
• Challenge activities designed to help students secure premium grades.
• Glossaries to explain specialist academic terminology.
• Revision summaries and exam preparation activities for all named theorists.
• Essential knowledge reference tables.
Media Theory for A Level is also accompanied by the essentialmediatheory.com website that contains a wide range of supporting resources. Accompanying online material includes:
• Revision flashcards and worksheets.
• A comprehensive bank of exemplar applications that apply academic theory to current set texts and close study products for all media specifications.
• Classroom ready worksheets that teachers can use alongside the book to help students master essential media theory.
• Help sheets that focus on the application of academic theory to unseen text components of A Level exams.
Media language
1. Semiotics: Roland Barthes
2. Structuralism: Claude Leìvi-Strauss
3. Narratology: Tzvetan Todorov
4. Genre theory: Steve Neale
5. Postmodernism: Jean Baudrillard
Media representation
6. Representation: Stuart Hall
7. Postcolonial theory: Paul Gilroy
8. Feminist theory: Liesbet van Zoonen
9. Intersectionality: bell hooks
10. Gender as performance: Judith Butler
11. Media and identity: David Gauntlett
Media industries
12. Ownership Effects: James Curran and Jean Seaton
13. Regulation: Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt
14. The culture industry: David Hesmondhalgh
Media Audiences
15. Media modelling effects: Albert Bandura
16. Cultivation theory: George Gerbner
17. Reception theory: Stuart Hall
18. Fandom: Henry Jenkins
19. The end of audience: Clay Shirky
Biography
Mark Dixon is an Eduqas A Level examiner and Head of Media and Film at Durham Sixth Form Centre. He is also a freelance author, and has written for The Guardian, Tes, Media Magazine and Teach Secondary as well as authoring a range of digital resources for Eduqas Media.
"This is a truly insightful book which addresses important changes in today’s media landscape. It engages the reader through clear exposition, compelling examples and a lively invitation to engage in urgent debates."
Professor Sonia Livingstone, Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science
"The book media teachers have been waiting for. As well as accessible explanations of the theories that never patronise or over-simplify, Mark Dixon provides a series of questions that encourage a critical approach to applying the set theories to a range of media products. The book makes links and draws comparisons between overlapping theorists, provides useful explanations of key theoretical terms and even interviews some of the key thinkers to get a more detailed and updated explanation of how their ideas apply to the current media landscape.
Dixon not only gives a concise summary of each of the set theories but also attempts to root them in the sociological, technological or cultural studies traditions from which they were inspired. This is essential reading for all media teachers and I’m already using it with the teacher trainees I work with."
Claire Pollard, Media Magazine
