Subjectivity and social resistance: a theoretical analysis of the Matrix Trilogy
- Authors: Jamal, Ahmad
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Matrix (Motion picture) , Matrix reloaded (Motion picture) , Matrix revolution (Motion picture) Baudrillard, Jean, 1929-2007. Simulacres et Simulation , Science fiction -- Philosophy , Mass media -- Social aspects , Culture in motion pictures , Dystopian films
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7011 , vital:21209
- Description: The Matrix (1999) is a science-fiction film that successfully bridges modern cinematic action sequences with philosophical parables. It recalls the tradition of philosophical elaboration through science-fiction narratives; a tradition that has existed since the time of Plato. This study aims to bridge the divide between philosophy and psychology by using a theoretical analysis to discuss and explore the ideas of social thinkers (featured in the Matrix Trilogy) and critically analyse them alongside established psychological theories. More specifically, this study provides an in-depth and critical exploration of the ways in which the philosophical works of Jean Baudrillard and Karl Marx, and the widely used and recognised psychological perspectives on human development, cognition and learning offered by both Urie Broffenbrenner and Jean Piaget to simultaneously elucidate a model of human subjectivity and development in today's techno- consumerist society with specific attention to critical resistance. This study suggests that with the rise of the internet and modern communication media; sociocultural and political issues that Broffenbrenner conceptualised as existing in the macrosystem, now have a presence in the microsystem, and correspond to Broffenbrenner's requirements as to what constitutes a proximal process. These processes, according to Broffenbrenner, have the most longstanding effects on our development and contribute the most to our personality. This study also argues that the pre-operational stage and the process of symbolisation both of which Piaget identified are important phases in the child's life that see the accrual and development of signs and discourses. These signs and discourses then contribute to the development of our mind's cognitive structures which Piaget called schema. These structures are developed as we grow and help us make sense of the world by processing information and organising our experiences. This would mean that we perceive and interpret our world through ideologically shaped mental structures. These findings stress the importance of ideological influences and their impact on development and hearken more closely towards ideas about the presence and the effects of ideology by thinkers like Plato and Marx, as well as the dystopian futures explored in science-fiction media like the Matrix Trilogy, George Orwell's 1984 (1948) and Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World (1932), and also the options for critical social resistance explored in the narratives and heroic deeds of these books and their characters.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Sources of advertisement messages and their impacts on purchasing behaviour: a case study of Walter Sisulu University students
- Authors: Oladimeji, Olawumi Kate https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6577-0140
- Date: 2013-11
- Subjects: Mass media -- Social aspects , Advertising -- Social aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/24824 , vital:63599
- Description: The purpose of this research was to investigate the sources of advertisement messages and the impacts they have on the buying behaviour of students of Walter Sisulu University (WSU), and examine whether traditional mass media advertising still influences the students’ decision to buy and whether advancement in communication technology affects how the students receive information. This study also investigated the impact of traditional mass media advertising in comparison to new media advertising. Questionnaires were administered to students of WSU, Mthatha campus. The survey was conducted within the period of February 2013 – March 2013. The desired sample size was 270 students. A final sample of 220 valid responses was analysed, representing 81percent of the desired sample. The study revealed that majority are aware of television while billboards and direct mails have the least awareness. The results also revealed that 78percent of the respondents felt that traditional mass media still influences their buying behaviour, (90percent) of the respondents prefer the traditional mass media advertising. This study demonstrated that the students of WSU are aware and exposed to the various sources of advertisement messages. In addition, existing literature and this research report have shown that the various mediums have distinctive characteristics which make them unique. In spite of the advent of modern technology, the traditional mass media still influences buying behaviour with television being the most influential media. , Thesis (MSoc) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2013
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- Date Issued: 2013-11
Making sense of Men's Health: an investigation into the meanings men and women make of Men's Health
- Authors: McCance-Price, Maris
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Men's Health (South Africa) , Men's magazines -- South Africa , Men in mass media , Women in mass media , Sex role in mass media , Men in popular culture , Women in popular culture , Mass media -- Social aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3464 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002919 , Men's Health (South Africa) , Men's magazines -- South Africa , Men in mass media , Women in mass media , Sex role in mass media , Men in popular culture , Women in popular culture , Mass media -- Social aspects
- Description: This study investigates the popular pleasures produced by readers of men's magazines, focusing primarily on the publication, Men's Health, which represents a new type of magazine catering for men. Using qualitative research methods such as textual analysis and reception analysis, the study explores the pleasures produced by both men and women from the consumption of such texts. The theoretical perspective of cultural studies informs this project, an approach that focuses on the generation and circulation of meanings in society. Focusing on the notion of the active audience and Hall's encoding/decoding model, this study examines readers' interpretations of the Men's Health text, focusing on the moment of consumption in the circuit of culture. Reception theory proposes the existence of "clustered readings" produced by interpretive communities that are socially rather than individually constructed. As a critical ethnography, the study interrogates these meanings with particular reference to questions of gender relations and power in society. Access to different discourses is structured by the social position of readers within relations of power and this study takes gender as a structuring principle. Therefore, this study also explores the particular discursive practices through which masculine and feminine imagery is produced by the Men's Health text and by its readers. The research findings support the more limited notion of the active audience espoused by theorists such as Hall (1980) offering further evidence to suggest that readers produce readings other than those preferred by the text and that therein lies the pleasure of the text for male and female readers. The research concludes that the popularity of Men's Health derives from the capacity of its readers to make multiple meanings of the text.
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- Date Issued: 2006