Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Media content takes many forms and is differentiated by →  code and convention, →  Genre and technology. The term “content” refers to the nature of the representations that are communicated by media genres and technologies rather than the medium in which they are carried. Fictional media content is one such classificatory grouping, signaling a similarity in the nature of the content on the basis of its intended relationship to a given reality, regardless of the specific media genre or technology in which the content is conveyed. This type of media content has received varying degrees of academic attention in communication, media, and cultural disciplines (→  Media Production and Content ). Etymologically, the term “fiction” derives from the Latin root fict- , which in its original usage referred to an activity rather than cultural content. However, in contemporary culture fictional media content refers to all media output that is not concerned with representing events or issues as they are lived or experienced in the real world. Media fiction commonly refers to content with a narrative structure in contrast to the singular use of images, for example. Most commonly, this covers media content that takes the form of a story, ranging from literary novels to television drama (→  Drama in Media Content ). Some fictional content takes the form of a discrete, one-off story-narrative ... log in or subscribe to read full text