Contexts of Media | OCR A-Level Media Studies (H409)
Contexts of Media
- 139 questions
- 10 subtopics
- The media theoretical framework, examined on both papers
- Component 01 and Component 02
Contexts of Media is examined in both written papers — the four areas of the theoretical framework and the contexts run through every section of the course, and are applied to whichever set products a centre has chosen.
It covers the five media contexts: social, cultural, political, economic and historical, social context: attitudes, norms and social issues, cultural context, taste and the global circulation of media, political context, ideology and public service broadcasting, historical context and the reflection of past events, economic context: funding, ownership and financial constraint, technological context: production, distribution and audience devices, reflecting attitudes and constructing attitudes, media products as agents of social and political change and intertextuality as a trace of context.
Sample questions from Contexts of Media
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
-
The five media contexts: social, cultural, political, economic and historical
Define political context.
Show the answer
Political context is the distribution of power, the arguments over public policy and the ideological positions in play around a product at the time it is made. -
Social context: attitudes, norms and social issues
River Island's 'Labels are for Clothes' campaign was called a milestone in fashion advertising. Why?
Show the answer
It built its imagery around models of varying race, body shape and physical ability at a point when mainstream fashion advertising still used a very narrow physical type. -
Cultural context, taste and the global circulation of media
How is the national origin of a globally successful video game visible in the game itself?
Show the answer
A Japanese-developed title carries a kawaii, or cute, visual style and a calendar of seasonal customs from its home culture, adapted rather than removed for other territories. -
Political context, ideology and public service broadcasting
What is agenda setting?
Show the answer
Agenda setting is the media's power to shape what audiences think about, by deciding which issues receive sustained coverage and which are ignored. -
Historical context and the reflection of past events
Why does a period drama tell an audience as much about the year it was made as about the year it depicts?
Show the answer
Because its makers choose which parts of the past to foreground and which attitudes to give sympathetic characters, and those choices come from present-day concerns. -
Economic context: funding, ownership and financial constraint
Why is a franchise instalment treated as a lower financial risk than an original film?
Show the answer
Its characters and world are already known, so the audience does not have to be built from nothing and marketing can trade on recognition. -
Technological context: production, distribution and audience devices
How does owning a streaming service change a studio's release options?
Show the answer
The studio can open a title exclusively in cinemas and then move it to its own subscription platform, keeping the subscription revenue and the audience data instead of selling both on. -
Reflecting attitudes and constructing attitudes
Explain how selection and combination build a viewpoint.
Show the answer
Choosing what to include and what to leave out, then ordering what remains, creates a chain of cause and sympathy that no single element states on its own.
The 10 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| The five media contexts: social, cultural, political, economic and historical | Recall questions on what the context of a media product means, definitions of the social, cultural, political, economic and historical contexts, and how production and consumption contexts differ and act on each other. | 14 |
| Social context: attitudes, norms and social issues | Recall questions on what counts as social context, changing attitudes to body image in Dove and River Island advertising, moral panics, how a product normalises an attitude, and how lockdown changed the meaning of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. | 14 |
| Cultural context, taste and the global circulation of media | Recall questions on cultural context and cultural capital, glocalisation and cultural imperialism, dubbing and subtitled streaming drama, and how a strongly national setting or tradition travels to a global audience. | 14 |
| Political context, ideology and public service broadcasting | Recall questions on ideology, hegemony and agenda setting, how a newspaper's politics shows on its front page, the public service remit and licence-fee funding, and the political readings invited by Money Heist and Mr Robot. | 14 |
| Historical context and the reflection of past events | Recall questions on the two senses of historical context, why a product's own moment shows through it, and how a text set in the past reflects a real issue rather than inventing one. | 13 |
| Economic context: funding, ownership and financial constraint | Recall questions on how media producers are funded, conglomerate ownership and franchise risk, licence-fee, advertising and not-for-profit models, the budgets of streaming drama, and economic opportunities and constraints. | 14 |
| Technological context: production, distribution and audience devices | Recall questions on the three stages technology acts on, the multiplane camera and Technicolor, digital effects, and what owning a streaming service does to release strategy. | 14 |
| Reflecting attitudes and constructing attitudes | Recall questions on the difference between a product reflecting and constructing an attitude, how selection, combination and repetition build a viewpoint, and how products signal values they never state. | 14 |
| Media products as agents of social and political change | Recall questions on what is claimed when a product is called an agent of change, why the claim is hedged, and how a campaign can make an issue visible or give a group a voice. | 14 |
| Intertextuality as a trace of context | Recall questions on intertextuality, how a reference dates and places a product, and the difference between pastiche, parody and homage. | 14 |
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
-
Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
-
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
-
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Nearby topics
OCR A-Level Media Studies Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 1,986 questions with their answers.