Assignment name - Course: Second Assignment - Milestones in Communication Science
Word count: 1238 words
Second Assignment
Jessica works for Netflix. Her boss asks her to start a content analysis project for one of their sitcoms
(you can decide which one or make one up). Jessica’s boss wants to know what people are sharing on twitter,
snapchat, facebook and Instagram about the show. Write an essay for Jessica in which you explain the issues
with content analysis. Make sure you tie in to our class discussion on ‘meaning’.
Doing content analysis for a show on Netflix, for example, the popular sitcom Friends (even though this
show is now not on Netflix anymore since the contract expires, and it has moved to HBO instead which can
also be the topic of discussion on media ownership, but it is not the focus of my essay today), is crucial for
businesses to evaluate the popular opinion on such shows, evaluate their successes within the audience and
the possibility for future investments, alongside with statistics of their financial successes. There are cases
where popular sitcoms and movies have to completely change because of popular online opinions, like the
case with House of Cards when Kevin Spacey was replaced after his scandal, or when the character design for
Sonic in Sonic The Movie has to be changed completely after popular disapproval, claiming that animation
makes Sonic looks like a ‘blue monster’. Indeed, content analysis is crucial for movies and sitcoms to
understand how they are received by the audience, and if there are any elements that should be put under
consideration regarding the content, visuals, and messages of the movie. However, online researching of
popular opinion does not cover the essence of content analysis, and there are also problems about content
analysis in itself, as the process of understanding and meaning-making of messages can be problematic, as
people’s connotation are diverse and contextual, and their interpretation are as well influenced by the media
and the platforms where they share their opinions. With regard to such topics, I take the sitcom Friends as
an example, and discuss the issues related to content analysis on social media platforms, the inherent
problem with platform logic, the model of connotation and denotation in the process of
meaning-making, the different perspective on popular media based on hypothetical of the Frankfurt School
of Critical Theory, and Birmingham School of Cultural Studies, and with the use of the agenda-setting
theory, and uncertainty reduction theory.
Considering a popular TV show, the audiences could have varied opinions on every different element
contained, from how the show is structured, how the characters are presented within the shows, on how the
show interprets its social context and other elements. It is important to understand that, even before the
show has been released, it has become thousands to millions different shows, not because of any change in
essence, but on how people interpret and understand those essence, and arguably their signification process
are all different, and the connotation they reached are varied, even between the producers of that show
alone. This represented a polysemic model of communication, in which different people interpret a message
in different ways, given their age, social context, education and similar. For example, for the show Friends,
American can see it as a normal, funny story about friendship and growth, while non-American can view it
as too Americanized, and Asian can view it as too Euro-centric and contain themes of Orientalism. The
meaning-making processes are different between people, and from the image one receives to the denotation
Word count: 1238 words
Second Assignment
Jessica works for Netflix. Her boss asks her to start a content analysis project for one of their sitcoms
(you can decide which one or make one up). Jessica’s boss wants to know what people are sharing on twitter,
snapchat, facebook and Instagram about the show. Write an essay for Jessica in which you explain the issues
with content analysis. Make sure you tie in to our class discussion on ‘meaning’.
Doing content analysis for a show on Netflix, for example, the popular sitcom Friends (even though this
show is now not on Netflix anymore since the contract expires, and it has moved to HBO instead which can
also be the topic of discussion on media ownership, but it is not the focus of my essay today), is crucial for
businesses to evaluate the popular opinion on such shows, evaluate their successes within the audience and
the possibility for future investments, alongside with statistics of their financial successes. There are cases
where popular sitcoms and movies have to completely change because of popular online opinions, like the
case with House of Cards when Kevin Spacey was replaced after his scandal, or when the character design for
Sonic in Sonic The Movie has to be changed completely after popular disapproval, claiming that animation
makes Sonic looks like a ‘blue monster’. Indeed, content analysis is crucial for movies and sitcoms to
understand how they are received by the audience, and if there are any elements that should be put under
consideration regarding the content, visuals, and messages of the movie. However, online researching of
popular opinion does not cover the essence of content analysis, and there are also problems about content
analysis in itself, as the process of understanding and meaning-making of messages can be problematic, as
people’s connotation are diverse and contextual, and their interpretation are as well influenced by the media
and the platforms where they share their opinions. With regard to such topics, I take the sitcom Friends as
an example, and discuss the issues related to content analysis on social media platforms, the inherent
problem with platform logic, the model of connotation and denotation in the process of
meaning-making, the different perspective on popular media based on hypothetical of the Frankfurt School
of Critical Theory, and Birmingham School of Cultural Studies, and with the use of the agenda-setting
theory, and uncertainty reduction theory.
Considering a popular TV show, the audiences could have varied opinions on every different element
contained, from how the show is structured, how the characters are presented within the shows, on how the
show interprets its social context and other elements. It is important to understand that, even before the
show has been released, it has become thousands to millions different shows, not because of any change in
essence, but on how people interpret and understand those essence, and arguably their signification process
are all different, and the connotation they reached are varied, even between the producers of that show
alone. This represented a polysemic model of communication, in which different people interpret a message
in different ways, given their age, social context, education and similar. For example, for the show Friends,
American can see it as a normal, funny story about friendship and growth, while non-American can view it
as too Americanized, and Asian can view it as too Euro-centric and contain themes of Orientalism. The
meaning-making processes are different between people, and from the image one receives to the denotation
