Includes bibliographical references (leaves 169-172). / The Megatext: Towards a Literary Theory of the Media argues for a new conception of the media landscape; one that manages to critically engage the mass dimensions of the contemporary phenomenon of media without losing the value of particular socio-economic and cultorological approaches that have been established in the field thus far. Initially, the thesis reviews current approaches to media studies, including structural, sociological and philosophical approaches. Then, through a technique of descriptive observation gleaned from practical experience in the media field, a current snapshot of the contemporary media landscape is offered, with key defining characteristics outlined, which are used to categorise various instances of media into what is termed "the media matrix". Thereafter, with the aim of developing a theoretical approach that is conceptually large enough to assess the media as a broadly textual phenomenon, literary theories of textuality and inter-textuality are discussed in the framework of contemporary media production and consumption patterns and applied to the common media text. Once it has been established that the myriad of media texts that exist are indeed connected in a variety of inter-textual ways. an in-depth discussion of the various contextual, or supra-textual, realities that unite media into the megatext are discussed. This discussion largely deals with issues of authorship and readership and also draws on literary theories dealing with the same. Finally, the thesis concludes by offering a definition of the megatext, a definition that it is argued could form the basis for further theoretical, textual and literary explorations of the contemporary phenomenon of mass media.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uct/oai:localhost:11427/8658 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Iqani, Mehitabel |
| Publisher | University of Cape Town, Faculty of Humanities, Centre for Film and Media Studies |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Master Thesis, Masters, MA |
| Format | application/pdf |
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