Representation Question 1 b 25 marks Key questions

Representation Question 1 b (25 marks)

Key questions • Who/what is being represented? • How is the representation constructed (mediated)? • Why is the representation constructed this way? - Target audience - Audience pleasures - Cultural prejudice - Aim of the text

TASK 1: fill in the sheet

All texts, however 'realistic' they may seem to be, are constructed representations rather than simply transparent 'reflections', recordings, transcriptions or reproductions of a pre -existing reality.

Representations, which become familiar through constant re-use come to feel 'natural' and unmediated.

Reality is always represented - what we treat as 'direct' experience is 'mediated' by perceptual codes. Representation always involves 'the construction of reality'.

Ideologies within the media are often mythic because they represent things as natural or common-sense even though this might not be the case (Barthes)

TASK 2: which theories can be applied to your product?

Representation theory Stuart Hall (Marxist) Hall argues that media texts are encoded and when audiences consume a media text they decode the codes and conventions. He argues that audiences will decode in different ways depending upon their context of consumption and the strength of the preferred reading. As a Marxist he contends that most media messages are accepted by audiences because they are encoded as common sense and they are repeated over and over again by the elite owners/producers of the mainstream media. However, he does not view the audience as completely passive (unlike traditional Marxists), he accepts that many audiences can create a negotiated reading and will understand the text based upon their own experiences, views and media literacy. Moreover, some audiences can also reject the preferred reading and create an oppositional. Most texts however are heavily anchored and manipulate the audience to think a certain way. Polysemic texts are far lesson common in the mainstream media.

Representation theory Stuart Pryce Representations represent dominant ideologies in society: 'If gender differences are socially constructed, and society itself is based on unequal relations of power, then we can see why many writers argue that mainstream representations will be biased against subordinate groups. Dominant ideology is supposedly used to keep the downtrodden in their place. . . Ideologies of gender promote sexist representations of women. . . ideologies make equalities and subordination appear natural. '

Representation theory Richard Dyer Re-presentation, which consists essentially of media language, the conventions that are used to represent the world to the audience; “representation insists that there is a real world, but that our perception of it always mediated by [the media's selection]”

Representation theory Tessa Perkins • Stereotypes are always erroneous in content (usually wrong). • They are pejorative (negative) concepts. • They are about groups with whom we have little or no social contact; by implication therefore, they are not held about ones own group- that’s a stereotype of a stereotype. • They are about minority or repressed groups. • They are simple. • Rigid and do not change. • Because someone holds a stereotype of a group, his or her behaviour towards a member of that group can be predicted. • Stereotypes are an invaluable aid to understanding the world and all stereotypes must have a bit of truth or they would not have such an influence.

Postmodernist readings

Jean Baudrillard • Representation is problematic • Representations are simulations of realities which don't exist • Hyper reality - 'a condition in which what is real and what is fiction are blended together so there is no clear distinction between where one ends and the other begins‘ EG: Celebrity images There is no distinction between reality and representation, only the simulacrum. • Baudrillard researched hyper reality, noting how humans accepted simulation as reality. • Realized that many people now couldn't identify the line between reality and altered representation. • Baudrillard questioned if anything was truly real in the age of mass media. • EG: The Only Way is Essex.

Marxist readings

Marxism Antonio Gramsci and Louis Althusser Marxists argue that the most powerful largely control the messages that are produced by mainstream media. The media, as a form of secondary socialisation is part of the ideological state apparatus and serves to transmit the values of the ruling class. Thus, representations within the mainstream media tend to encourage consumerism and support capitalist ideology. Also, the media tends to promote the idea that certain things such as inequality are natural and is not the fault of the powerful.

Marxism Theodor Adorno and Horkheimer It is also argued that many representations serve only to distract us from the things that matter (such as inequality). Much of the media only encourages us to want to be entertained and to focus on immediate gratification. The media is labelled the culture industry – it is selling ideas and dreams rather than trying to educate and create social change. Thus, lots of use are obsessed with purchasing new things – this is known as commodity fetishism.

Feminist readings

Feminist readings Naomi Wolf argues that much of the media objectifies women and presents them in such an ‘perfect’ and ‘idealised’ way – she calls this the ‘iron maiden’. This is achieved through the use of complimentary lighting, angles, framing, makeup, styling and post production. It means that ‘normal’ women can never achieve such perfection. For Wolf, this is incredibly damaging for females because the media is transmitting the ideology that they should always be striving to look better and that their main goal in life is to be admired by men.

Feminist readings Laura Mulvey develops Sigmund Freud’s theory of ‘scopophilia’ – the pleasure of watching people. In particular, she argues that the media is dominated by the ‘male gaze’ – media images are produced primarily by men for men, therefore women are often objectified and represented in a manner which gratifies men.

Feminist readings Does your product pass the Bechdel test? Created by Allison Bechdel in her famous comic series Dykes to Watch Out For, all the Bechdel Test does is determine whether women are portrayed as humans in a story. To pass the test, a story only has to answer yes to three fairly simple questions: • Are there more than two named female characters? • Do those two named characters have a conversation at any point? • Is that conversation about literally anything other than a man?

Orientalist readings

Edward Said argues that the West often represents the rest of the world as an ‘other’ – Western media representations represent themselves as a superior culture; one that is more civilised, educated and progressive. Whilst other cultures from Asia and Africa, for example, are viewed as exotic, undesirable and inferior. This is mainly a legacy of the colonial past of countries such as Britain which promoted this ideology of superiority.