Media messages consist of various layers of

Concept

Media texts are polysemic: a single message can carry several levels of signification at the same time. These levels may include an overt surface message and less explicit cultural or ideological meanings.

Application

The phrase in the stem points to superimposed layers of meaning in a media message. Among the offered terms, polymorphic meaning expresses this coexistence of multiple meanings.

Contrast

• Rationalisation means supplying apparently logical reasons to justify a belief or action; it is not a term for layered signification.

• Complex resistance concerns an audience adopting a negotiated or oppositional response to a media message; it describes reception, not multiple semantic levels in the message.

• Restrictive rituals are repeated norm-governed practices that constrain behaviour; they describe social regulation rather than layers of meaning.

Cross-check and result

The wording matches Theodor Adorno and his account of mass-media messages as having superimposed layers and a heritage of polymorphic meaning. Therefore, the applicable term is polymorphic meaning.