Theorists

George Gerbner was the man who created the cultivation theory. This theory suggests that the media can often have long term effects on people which can often be indirect and come gradually to an individual. This is often described as a 'drip drip' effect, for example some people may believe that if a particular individual watches films with a lot of bad language, then this person may start to use similar language over a period of time.

Jean Baudrillard came up with the 'hyperreality' theory, this defines something as 'a condition in which reality has been replaced by simulacra. This theorist believes that media simply try's to simulate the real world, in a way which is very distorted from actual reality.

Ronald Barthes theory was similar to that of Jean Baudrillard in that he believed the media simply tried to portray particular images in a way which would seem similar to every day life in the modern world, however his theory suggests once again that these images are simply of a distorted reality

Richard Dyer's theory is that anything which someone might see in the media affects how someone may act as an individual. He believed that the media has a very powerful influence on peoples behaviour.

David Chandler - Representation refers to the construction in any medium of aspects of 'reality' such as people, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstract concepts. Representation always involves 'the construction of reality'.

Henry Jenkins - Came up with the theory that the audience participate in the representation of themsevles and is an extension of self representation, the audience will see a media text and recreate this using all different types of media.

Anthony Gidden's theory refers to the ideology which influence's of ideas on peoples beliefs and actions. 

Laura Mulvey came up with theory of the 'male gaze', she believed that in film audiences have to look at characters from the perspective of the heterosexual male.