Media Terminology Quick Reference Guide | 媒体术语速记指南

📚 Media Terminology Quick Reference Guide | 媒体术语速记指南

Welcome to your WJEC Year 12 Media Studies terminology quick reference guide. Mastering the key concepts and theorists is essential for analysing media texts across all three components of the course. This guide presents each term with a concise definition in English followed by a Chinese translation, helping you to recall theories faster and apply them confidently in your essays and exam responses.

欢迎使用 WJEC 12 年级媒体研究术语速记指南。掌握关键概念和理论家对于分析课程所有三个组成部分的媒体文本至关重要。本指南为每个术语提供简明英文定义，后附中文翻译，帮助你更快记忆理论，并在论文和考试答题中自信运用。

1. Semiotics: Signs and Codes | 符号学：符号与符码

Semiotics, pioneered by Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Peirce, is the study of signs and how meaning is created. Every media text is constructed from a system of signs. A sign is composed of a signifier – the physical form (sound, image, word) – and a signified – the mental concept it evokes.

符号学由索绪尔和皮尔斯开创，研究符号及意义如何生成。每个媒体文本都由一个符号系统构成。符号由能指（物理形式，如声音、图像、词语）和所指（它唤起的心理概念）组成。

Peirce further classified signs into three types: icon (signifier resembles the signified, e.g. a portrait), index (direct causal link, e.g. smoke indicates fire), and symbol (arbitrary, culturally learned, e.g. a word). Roland Barthes later introduced the idea of codes – systems of meaning such as hermeneutic, proairetic, symbolic, semantic and cultural codes that structure a narrative.

皮尔斯进一步将符号分为三类：图像符（能指与所指相似，如肖像）、指示符（直接的因果联系，如烟表明有火）和象征符（任意、文化习得的，如词语）。罗兰·巴特后来引入了“代码”概念——解释学代码、行动代码、象征代码、语义代码和文化代码等意义系统，用于构建叙事。

A quick memory aid: ‘IIS’ – Icon looks like, Index points to, Symbol we learn.

速记提示：’IIS’——图像符像，指示符指，象征符学。

2. Denotation, Connotation and Myth | 外延、内涵与神话

Denotation is the literal, surface-level meaning of a sign – what you see. Connotation refers to the associated, deeper cultural meanings that arise from the sign. For example, a red rose denotes a flower but connotes love and romance.

外延是符号的字面、表面意义——即你所看到的东西。内涵是指从符号中产生的相关的、深层的文化意义。例如，红玫瑰的外延是一朵花，但内涵是爱情与浪漫。

Barthes extended this with the concept of myth – a second-order semiological system where the sign of the first level (denotation + connotation) becomes a signifier for a broader ideological meaning. Myths make culturally constructed ideas appear natural and universal. For instance, a photograph of a politician with a family can connote stability and then become a myth of the ‘ideal family’ serving a conservative ideology.

巴特用“神话”概念扩展了这一理论——一个二阶符号系统，其中第一层符号（外延+内涵）成为更广泛意识形态意义的能指。神话使得文化构建的观念显得自然和普遍。例如，一位政治家与家人的合影可以内涵稳定，进而成为“理想家庭”的神话，服务于保守意识形态。

Memory phrase: Denotation = Dictionary, Connotation = Culture, Myth = Hidden ideology.

记忆口诀：外延翻字典，内涵看文化，神话藏意识形态。

3. Narrative Theories | 叙事理论

Narrative theory analyses how stories are structured and how they communicate meaning. WJEC expects you to know several key theorists.

叙事理论分析故事的结构方式及其传达意义的方式。WJEC 希望你了解几位关键理论家。

Tzvetan Todorov proposed that all narratives follow a three-part structure: equilibrium (a state of balance), disruption (an event that disturbs the order), and a new equilibrium (resolution that restores balance, often changed). This can be remembered as ‘Stability → Chaos → New Stability’.

茨维坦·托多罗夫提出所有叙事都遵循三段式结构：均衡（平衡状态）、破坏（打破秩序的事件）和新均衡（恢复平衡，但往往已发生变化）。可记为“稳定 → 混乱 → 新稳定”。

Vladimir Propp analysed Russian fairy tales and identified eight character types or ‘spheres of action’: the hero, villain, donor, helper, princess (or sought-for person), dispatcher, false hero, and the princess’s father. Note that one character can fulfil more than one role.

弗拉基米尔·普罗普分析了俄罗斯民间故事，确定了八种角色类型或“行动圈”：英雄、恶棍、赠予者、帮手、公主（或寻找的对象）、派遣者、假英雄和公主的父亲。注意一个角色可以兼任多个角色。

Claude Lévi-Strauss argued that narratives are driven by binary oppositions – pairs of opposing concepts such as good vs evil, civilisation vs wilderness, or youth vs age. These conflicts reveal a culture’s underlying values.

克洛德·列维-斯特劳斯认为叙事的动力来自二元对立——成对的对立概念，如善与恶、文明与荒野、年轻与年老。这些冲突揭示了文化的深层价值观。

Roland Barthes also contributed the five narrative codes: hermeneutic (enigmas that delay resolution), proairetic (actions that imply further actions), semantic (connotations), symbolic (binary oppositions), and cultural (references to shared knowledge). Use the mnemonic ‘Her Proposes Some Sweet Cake’ – Hermeneutic, Proairetic, Semantic, Symbolic, Cultural.

罗兰·巴特还提出了五种叙事代码：解释学代码（延迟解开的谜团）、行动代码（暗示进一步行动的动作）、语义代码（内涵）、象征代码（二元对立）和文化代码（涉及共有知识的引用）。用首字母记：“HPSSCC”或“好脾气的莎莉吃蛋糕”联想。

4. Genre and Hybridity | 类型与混合

Genre is a category of media text characterised by shared conventions of content, style, iconography and narrative. Producers use genre to target audiences, while audiences use it to manage expectations. However, genres are dynamic and evolve over time.

类型是一类媒体文本，具有共享的内容、风格、图像志和叙事惯例。制作者利用类型来锁定受众，而受众则利用类型来管理预期。但类型是动态的，并随时间演变。

Steve Neale argues that genre relies on repetition and difference – familiar elements provide pleasure, but innovation prevents boredom. Genres also undergo ‘hybridisation’, where two or more genres merge to create a new hybrid genre, such as romantic comedy (romance + comedy) or docu-drama (documentary + drama). Intertextuality – references to other texts – is often used within genres.

史蒂夫·尼尔认为类型依赖于“重复与差异”——熟悉的元素带来快感，而创新则避免乏味。类型还经历“混合化”，即两种或多种类型融合产生新的混合类型，如爱情喜剧（爱情+喜剧）或纪录剧情片（纪录片+戏剧）。互文性——引用其他文本——常在类型内使用。

For the exam, discuss how a text conforms

Published by TutorHao | Year 12 媒体 Revision Series | aleveler.com

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