Keywords

Archetype- An often repeated character type or representation which is instantly recognisable to an audience.

Cliff Hanger- A television or radio soap opera episode which ends with an unresolved dilemma or crisis in order to encourage the viewer or listener to tune in to the next episode.

Continuity editing- An editing tyle that aims to present the txt in a linear and chronological manner toemphasise the real-time movement to the narrative and to create a sense of realism for the viewer by giving the impression of continuous filming.

Disequilibrium- The disruption of narrative by persons or events presenting a challenge to the equilibrium often found at the beginning of a media text.

Dominant ideology- The beleif system that serves the interests of the dominant ruling elite within a society, generally accepted as common sense by the majority and reproduced in mainstream media texts.

False consciousness- Marxist term for the effect of dominant ideology on the awareness of workers with regard to their real economic and social circumstances. Marxists argue that workers are manipulated by institutions, such as the education system, organised religion or work/class system.

Male gaze- Term used by Laura Mulvey in her essay 'visual pleasures and narrative cinema' (1975) to describe what she saw as the male point of view adopted by the camera for the benefit of an assumed audience.

Mulvey viewed the practice of the camera lingering on women's bodies as evidence that women were being viewed as sex subjects for the gratification of men. She argued that the central active characters in films are maleand that the male audience indentifies with them in their viewing of the passive females. Women in the audience are also positioned by the narrative to identify with the male gaze and see the world throught male eyes.

Patriachy- Male domination of the political, cultural and socioeconomic system. Under patriachy, male perspectives and male achievements are valued and rewarded at the expense of the female. female contributions to society are ignored and women are culturally and economically invisible, being defined solely by their relation to men.

Sexist- Representations that discriminate on the basis of sex, especially against women, which is seen to derive from and sustain patriachy. Some feminists would see any media represenatation of women that confirmed a stereotype as sexist, for example, the display of women'sbodies as sex objects in 'lads mags' or other media texts, this is for the entertainment of men.

Stock character- A stereotypical, predictable minor charcter for example strippers in "the bada bing".