Portfolio Project - Week 3 Update 2

One theory of media that I would like to incorporate into my project is post-structural theory. Post-structural theory disagrees with the idea that texts hold inherent meaning and, instead, believes that meaning is produced by individual interpretation and by cultural context. I want the story of my character to suggest that, in order to show that they are something greater than the stereotypical drug addict. I want to say that they want and want to better themselves, but that there are so many things which are stopping him from it. I would rather leave most of my movie open to interpretation, as in place of retelling this awful story, I want the viewer to be aware by virtue of their own experience and knowledge. Post-structural theory is all about that, using deconstruction theory to allow the reader to read the media text on their own cultural and individual context. Post-structuralist theory of the media was created by Michel Foucault through analysis of the power-knowledge relation. For Foucault, media is used in ideology-making and reinforcement of norms in society but can further be read as a resistance against power.

For movies, it would be breaking down representation of power relations and representation or absence of oppressed voices.

The way that I would cause this feeling into my introduction, however, would be to highlight my protagonist's positive qualities of desiring to better themselves and rid themselves of their drug dependency, and highlight my antagonist's negative qualities. Lastly, post-structuralism calls on consumers of media to truly dismantle film, making films something greater than mere entertainment. Copying this same kind of thinking would be amazing because it dismisses the idea that there is some ultimate meaning and instead promotes an open-ended approach to interpretation. My first film would have people wondering what in the world they just experienced and what exactly it could actually symbolize. 

SOURCES

Barthes, R. (1977). Image, music, text (S. Heath, Trans.). Fontana Press.
Derrida, J. (1976). Of grammatology (G. C. Spivak, Trans.). Johns Hopkins University Press.
Foucault, M. (1980). Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings, 1972-1977 (C. Gordon, Ed.). Pantheon Books.