6.

- Self-development of media competence

6. SELF-DEVELOPMENT OF
MEDIA LITERACY
Narratives and media in the cultural industries

Audiovisual Communication and Edu

Fabio Martínez Alcai
6.- Self-development of media competence
Culture´s epistemological
problem

Trying to define precisely what culture is is still a difficult Although it may vary, an accurate definition
task for even the most experienced scholars. of culture always has to say that it is all
those acts, habits and knowledge
Etymologically, it derives from the Latin word cultür for transmitted historically between individuals
agricultural cultivation. of a social group, capable of establishing
behaviours and producing physical or
Today, however, the first and closest meaning comes abstract representations that represent
from the Enlightenment intellectualism of the 18th them.
century, which defines the term as the ‘metaphorical
cultivation of the mind and spirit’.

Culture according to anthropology: The set of acts

that take place within a society, differentiating it from
others and determining the behaviour of its members.

Culture according to the RAE: The body of

knowledge that allows someone to develop their critical
sense.

Audiovisual Communication and Edu

Fabio Martínez Alcai
6.- Self-development of media competence

Cultural elements
ACTS: Actions individuals carry out during their life process, as well as their results.
HABITS: Actions that are reiterated over time until they become a habit.
KNOWLEDGE: Intellectual faculties that make it possible to act and develop new actions.
TRANSMISSIONS: Sharing of actions, habits and knowledge. It can occur
in three ways depending on the relationship of the subjects interacting in
the process.
- Vertical: Transmission by parents or guardians.
- Horizontal: Transmission between members of the same EXAMINING DIFFERENCES
-generation.
Oblícua: Transmisión que realizada por individuos no IN THESE ELEMENTS
relacionados FACILITATES THE
BEHAVIOURS: Modes of behaviour that modulate acts and habits. DISTINCTION OF
ABSTRACT CONSTRUCTIONS: Rituals, traditions, mythologies, symbols and CULTURAL DIFFERENCES.
icons that are identified by members of a society in relation to other These elements make up the
knowledge. culture and their
PHYSICAL REPRESENTATIONS: Material and conscious
externalisation of cultural elements. membership can be traced
through causal association.

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Fabio Martínez Alcai
6.- Self-development of media competence

Culture and subculture CULTURE

In general terms, there is a generalised ECONOMIC

Culture of the human being as a species. A CULTURE

tendency towards cultural production inherent to NATIONAL

CULTURE

all societies and which is independent of ethnic,

geographical or cultural particularities, always SPORTS
CULTURE

presenting the gestation of common cultural MEDIA

elements. CULTURE

Subcultures are fragments that integrate the

ENTERTAINMENT
CULTURE

general Culture, and emerge from acts that

derive from the specific conditions of the Culture can be interpreted as the
different social groups that make up human ‘collective mental structure’ of humans as
a species. There is a general identity, but
society. also concrete ideas and beliefs that relate
to each other, sending signals as if they
were neurons.

DOES CULTURE HAVE A MORAL

QUALITY?CAN IT BE GOOD OR
Culture born out of Culture born from Culture born out of an BAD?
sport artistic production economic class

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Fabio Martínez Alcai
6.- Self-development of media competence
Typology of Cultural
Industries

ADVERTISING INDUSTRY
Production and dissemination of products focused on the promotion of other goods and
services. Their cost derives from their distribution through campaigns involving other
industries.
PUBLISHING PRODUCT INDUSTRY (cultural goods)
HYBRID INDUSTRIES
Isolated and high unit risk products due to their production costs. They are produced by a
brand that creates and distributes them on a mass scale. They have a long shelf life, are They are between the Publishing
paid for directly by the consumer, and are culturally legitimised. Industries and the Flow Industries.
They are embedded in a material
Books medium, but also transmit
information continuously over time
Discs in different iterations. They have
mixed financing and their markets
Cinema / Video can be both mass and
specialised.Prensa
FLOW PRODUCT INDUSTRY (flood or wave)
- Seuquenced panels in
Products that are part of a flow of content. They are distributed continuously over time. The magazines
initial revenue demand is higher, but in the long term these costs are decreasing, making
them less risky once they are established. They are subject to rapid obsolescence, and - Press
derive their funding from the advertising industry. They are situated between economics,
politics and culture; finding their audience in a large homogeneous demographic mass.
Television / Video platforms and streaming
Radio

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Fabio Martínez Alcai
6.- Self-development of media competence

The appeal of fiction and its

usefulness in cultural products

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Fabio Martínez Alcai
 6.- Self-development of media competence
The art of
storytelling

Narrative is a method derived from rhetoric based on ‘Obviously, there is something in these
the principles of simulation. It is the ability to elaborate initiating images so necessary to the
a persuasive discourse through the construction of a psyche that if they are not supplied from
story. outside, through myth and ritual, they
will have to be announced again,
For human culture, it is the sophistication of the through dreaming, from within;
communicative process to influence the empirical otherwise our energies will remain
learning of reason without the latter being aware locked up in a banal and anachronistic
of it. toy room, as if at the bottom of the sea’.
EVERY STORY MEANS SOMETHING - Joseph Campbell
Individuals have the need to embody the intrinsic
knowledge they develop and share as a society.
The first degree of this manifestation is dreams.
The second is stories.

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Fabio Martínez Alcai
 6.- Self-development of media competence
Structure of a
NATURAL WORLD
narrative
HISTORY
NARRATION
The act of telling, which includes both the content and the way of
conveying it.
TALE
Communicative product that results from undertaking a narration NARRATION

STORY
Events that make up the universe of the fiction constructed
TALE STORYLINE
with the story.

STORYLINE
The events that are recounted in the story and convey a
discourse.

PLOT
The sequence of events that happen to a character. Composes
the plot.
STORY
SUBPLOT / RELATIONSHIP PLOT
Achievement of events involving the relationship between two
characters DIEGETIC WORLD

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Fabio Martínez Alcai
 6.- Self-development of media competence

The main narrative strata

MYTHOLOGY LEGENDS / FOLKLORE LITERARY WORK

- SOCIAL AUTHORSHIP - SOCIAL AUTHORSHIP - INDIVIDUAL

- - AUTHORSHIP
RELIGIOUS COMPONENT CONSCIOUS FICTION
- CONSCIOUS FICTION
- EXPLANATORY NATURE - DIDACTIC NATURE
- DECLAMATORY NATURE

Audiovisual Communication and Edu

Fabio Martínez Alcai
 6.- Self-development of media competence
Characters as an identity
anchor

The Karate Kid: Daniel is the REAL

For the narrative to acquire value, its accounts Bully
need to be reflections of reality. The
individual must be able to establish self-
recognition in the fictional agents in order to
engage in empirical learning.
This recognition is ensured by designing a cast of
characters that must be based on an
anthroposomatic equivalence and an
identifiable character model. Their motivations
must be easy to understand through empathy,
setting in motion a process of projection that
makes the reading of the narrative text faithful, https://youtu.be/C_Gz_iTuRMM?si=bF0Aex5Oxos
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allowing for the permeability of the discourse.

Audiovisual Communication and Edu

Fabio Martínez Alcai
 6.- Self-development of media competence

Identity Projection Process (PPI)

Algirdas Julius
The relationship of identity projection established Greimas
between reader and character is based on the jealous
passion described by the semiotics of Greimas and
Fontanille. Jealousy’ is understood as “that which arouses Jacques
Fontanille
suffering at the contemplation of the joy of others”.
The receptor (S1) envies the character (S2) for his
possession of attributes or conditions (Om1) that
contribute to vital progress.
The moral attitude (Om2) that governs the
protagonist's actions is ultimately judged by the reader.
The reader decides whether to emulate his behaviour or
to reject it.
FORMULATION OF THE IDENTITY PROJECTION
PROCESS
A (PPI) ⇒ [S1 ∩ Om1 ∪ S2]
A (PPI) ⇒ [S1 ∩ Om1 ∪ S2] ⇒ [S1 ∩ Om1 ∪ (S2 ∪ Om2)] ⇒ [S1 ∪ Om2] ⇒
EMULATION
A (PPI) ⇒ [S1 ∩ Om1 ∪ S2] ⇒ [S1 ∩ Om1 ∪ (S2 ∪ Om2)] ⇒ [S1 ∩ Om2] ⇒
REJECTION
Audiovisual Communication and Edu
Fabio Martínez Alcai
 6.- Self-development of media competence
The protagonists and their use as cultural
archetypes

PROMOTION / EMULATION / HERO REFLEXION / REJECTION / VILLAIN

Emulation traditionally corresponds to the Rejection stems from the structure of

heroic archetype. They are stories that classical poetics, presenting a tragic
implicitly aim to promote a specific way of archetype. They are stories that tend to take
being through their discourse. a critical view of society.
The hero achieves satisfaction. It is The villain ends up subdued or
necessary to be like him. punished. It is NOT necessary to be like
Ultimately, the storieshim
revolve around a
catharsis. A ‘cleansing of the impurities carried
by the reader's spirit’.

Audiovisual Communication and Edu

Fabio Martínez Alcai
6.- Self-development of media competence

Characteristics of multimedia
and how they affect the
communicative agent

Audiovisual Communication and Edu

Fabio Martínez Alcai
6.- Self-development of media competence

Typical features of multimedia products

MULTISENSORY: They appeal to different senses to ensure that they are
retained by viewers/recipients

HYPERTEXTUAL: Their content usually refers to other cultural products,

requiring, depending on the cultural background of the viewer/receiver, their
discourse
MULTIPLATFORM: They can be consumed through different devices

ACCESSIBLE: They do not require a high level of aptitude for their

consumption to be understood by the viewer/receiver

INTERACTIVE: Currently, viewer/receiver participation is encouraged during

the reception of the multimedia product. In advertising, they can generally
choose how and how much information they receive

Audiovisual Communication and Edu

Fabio Martínez Alcai
6.- Self-development of media competence

Multisensory

Nowadays, almost all web content is multimedia.

However, it is necessary to think about the
communicative objective to be achieved, taking
into account the possibilities of the format
and the media in which the product is
distributed.
It is also necessary to take into account the
profile of the consumers, although it is usually
beneficial to offer a multi-sensory experience to
ensure retention in the memory. It also serves an
immersive purpose. Snow Fall. The Avalanche of Tunnel
Creek
However, it should be borne in mind that covering https://www.nytimes.com/projects/201
several media simultaneously often leads to an 2/snow-fall/index.html#/?part=tunnel-c
reek
increase in the costs and skills required to
deliver the product.
Audiovisual Communication and Edu
Fabio Martínez Alcai
6.- Self-development of media competence

Hipertextuality

Defined by the narratologist Gerard

Genette (1997) as the introduction of
elements from one text into another, Identiqué
https://youtu.be/vs7DOoEFN_8?si=nCC
creating a hypertext that in addition to 6M1C1z4WEU4wR
being constituted with uniqueness, also
manages to reference the meanings
of the first text.

Hypertextuality makes it possible to

recognise the realities of the Unboxing Ibai
https://youtu.be/Jt4zYJHt1HU?si=U0IX2
spectator/consumer, making the zDQKZ8KYxSf

latter feel recognised in the

discourse and develop a relationship
Audiovisual Communication and Edu
of proximity with the product. Fabio Martínez Alcai
6.- Self-development of media competence

Multiplatforming

Due to the increasing costs of multimedia creation in

recent years, the same product needs to be amortised
on different platforms.
Multimedia therefore has a globally conceived design
in order to reach the widest possible audience.

The main platforms are mobile devices, computers

and televisions.
Recently, especially in the advertising field, importance
is being given to the design of products also
implemented in the field of videogame consoles and
streaming video applications played on SmarTVs.

Audiovisual Communication and Edu

Fabio Martínez Alcai
6.- Self-development of media competence

Accesibility

A prerequisite is that the multimedia product is

designed in such a way that it is able to offer
cross-demographic access. In semiotics, accessibility can
be studied in terms of the
different competences
Although it is part of its nature, the aim is to developed by the agents of the
reduce the demands of technological convergence communicative process. These
as much as possible. That is, it is about are broadly speaking:
minimising the devices, peripherals, and Linguistic competence
software required to enjoy the product. Cultural competence

In addition to this, priority is also given to Experiential competence

informal content that is structured in a way Attitudinal competence
that is understandable, assimilable, Somatic competence
functional and usable by the target
audience.

Audiovisual Communication and Edu

Fabio Martínez Alcai
6.- Self-development of media competence

Interactivity

It seeks to exploit interactive possibilities, so as to

create a receptive flow that guarantees the
immersion of the viewer/consumer.
Interactive products facilitate familiarity with
both the product itself and the information
and communication technologies it employs.
Not only that, but it also creates a simulated
space that allows experimentation in a safe and Taken to its ultimate stage, this
controlled environment. process incurs what is commonly
known as ‘gamification’. A
Finally, it also offers the viewer/consumer the communicative technique based
on game mechanics.
possibility to develop a much stronger
Gorillaz Kong Studios Tour
intrinsic motivation to explore the product.
https://phase2.zombiehiphop.xyz
/Scene.php

Audiovisual Communication and Edu

Fabio Martínez Alcai
6.- Self-development of media competence

The editorial industries and

streamer content

Audiovisual Communication and Edu

Fabio Martínez Alcai
6.- Self-development of media competence

ASPECTS OF THE EDITORIAL PRODUCTS

Publishing products comprise all those unique works General attributes

that are mass-produced and distributed to a wide
audience. This category includes films, video, video - Eminently associated with
games, music and books. These works can be entertainment
manifested in analogue format, although nowadays - Transmission of implicit discourses
they are often consumed digitally. through fiction
- Demand varies according to the
Given the historical development of these industries, subjective quality of the viewer
it can be seen how their oligopolistic arrangement
- Supply exceeds demand
in the present-day. A small group of companies
controls almost all production and distribution in the - Increasing costs
sector. These companies have the tendencie to - Hegemony of the super-production
homogenize the cultural products. - Invisibilisation of low-budget works
However, the digital age (especially the advent of - Discursive homogenisation of the
social media and video platforms) has allowed for product
individual ownership of the creation process
and also certain areas of marketing.

Audiovisual Communication and Edu

Fabio Martínez Alcai
6.- Self-development of media competence

The importance of public in Movies

Although it occurs in other industries to some extent, film stands
out as a market with a strong focus on its consumer
demographics. Films tailor their production to address a very
specific target audience, usually with a discrimination of sexual
identity.
In this way, it is possible to find in general production films for
‘men’ and films for ‘women’. Although it is possible to
appreciate discursive cultural differences that motivate this
dichotomy, this has led to the promotion of traditional
archetypes, commonly subordinated to patriarchal
hierarchies.
There are also established models for racially or sexually oriented
productions, which currently also promote a standardised role for
the individuals they represent. Given the mass consumption to
which cinema is subjected,
BORN SEXYitYESTERDAY
is possible to glimpse the
repercussions of the possible discourses implicit in these kinds of
representations.

https://youtu.be/0thpEyEwi80?si=GbkCn2iEje
wtkRKh

Audiovisual Communication and Edu

Fabio Martínez Alca
 6.- Self-development of media competence
The Process of Identity Projection in the
Video Game

Although it works in a traditional way in video games with a conventional

narrative, the interactive character is capable of modifying the functioning of
this process. Anthroposomatic equivalence is no longer so important, since
through avatarisation the spectator adopts the condition of a character. This
adoption, however, can take place on two levels.
REPRESENTATIVE

The identity equivalence between the character and the player is total. There is no Video game discourse is
attitudinal difference, being a method of projecting the player completely into the not always perfect.
diegesis. The diegetic agent is a blank notebook that adopts the condition of the There can be a gap
between what the
natural agent. mechanics allow and
the intention of the
story. For example,
when you are allowed
INTERPRETATIVE to commit crimes when
playing a character with
The character has an identity separate from that of the player, either because of a strong moral code.
the impositions of the story or because it has been constructed for role-playing This conflict between
within the game system. It is often used to tell a story with a more focused mechanics and
conclusion, although the player can also adopt this level autonomously as long as narrative is called
‘ludonarrative
it is allowed by the mechanics. dissonance’. It was
very fashionable in the
2010s.

Audiovisual Communication and Edu

Fabio Martínez Alcai
6.- Self-development of media competence

Monetisation systems in Video Games

The video game industry is the industry with the most monetisation models running
simultaneously. They are not mutually exclusive, and can occur at the same time or
consecutively:
Direct sale: The traditional purchase system in which a physical or digital
copy is purchased for indefinite use by the player.
Digital license: The system on which most digital platforms are based.
You do not buy a game, but purchase a licence to use the game for as
long as the platform is active.
Subscription: Recurring payment, usually divided into monthly
instalments, which guarantees access to the game for the duration of the
subscription. It is the most recurrent model in games as a live service.
DLC's (Downloadable Content): Integrated purchases released
simultaneously or after the launch
- Microtransactions: of the
Small game.
aesthetic or They can be
light bonus of various
content that usually
types depending on atheir
requires smallsize.
outlay.
- Expansions: Large content additions created after launch to extend the
lifespan of the game. They usually require a higher outlay.

Free to play: Free access to a large part of the playable content, and
even full access to the game can be guaranteed. Profits are concentrated
in the advertising partnerships and microtransactions included in these
games. delivery: Almost in disuse, this is a format in which a game
Episodic
emulates the format of flow content, releasing its various parts over a
period of time as it continues its development.

Audiovisual Communication and Edu

Fabio Martínez Alca
 6.- Self-development of media competence
Kitsch histrionics and the individual as an object of
consumption

The importance of personality has given way to the objectification of the figure of
the content creator. Progressively, their aesthetics have taken on a kitsch
character, both graphically and in terms of behaviour.
Kitsch was defined as ‘aesthetics of bad taste’ by authors such as Hermann
Broch, Walter Benjamin Theodor Adorno and Clement Greenberg. In the context of
communication , it is a representation of status through its association with the
influence of content creators. This behaviour is emulanet, not only in aesthetics,
but also in ideology.
The bad taste associated with aesthetic hypersaturation is caused by a lack of
aptitudinal development. However, its most prominent impact lies in its
behavioural permeability which catalyses the emergence of exaggerated
or histrionic attitudes that normalize certain attitudes and beliefs.

The consumerism that subjugates the reified creative individual as a

product and histrionic behavioural dynamics have led to the creation of a
pseudo-fictional space in the video platform community. As with reality
television, the lines between the diegetic world and the natural world are
blurred, giving way to the rise of tabloid contents.

Audiovisual Communication and Edu

Fabio Martínez Alcai
 6.- Self-development of media competence
Rationality singularization due to the rise of
content creators

Traditionally, reason has been understood as an intellectual faculty developed CONFIGURATION OF

endogenously and exogenously. Through discussion and the generation of RATIONALITY
Endogeno Own
discourses, the individual's interpretative processes are composed. us media empiricism
The saturation of content creators through video platforms and social networks has
led to a particularisation of this development. A singularisation of the configuration Exogenous External
of reason into histrionic archetypes that are promoters of prejudicial ideologies media observation
that are not subject to debate or contrast.

Prejudice: Automation of the mind (individual and

collective) in conflict with dialectical and rational ways of
thinking.
The relationship between traditional fiction and the
dramatisation of social media and video platforms gives way to
a recurrence not only of prejudice, but also of hate speech.
https://www.3cat.cat/3cat/la-x
arxa-ultra/video/6266854/

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Fabio Martínez Alcai
6.- Self-development of media competence

Audiovisual Communication and Edu

Fabio Martínez Alcai