Representation Definitions
Representation refers to the construction in any medium of aspects of 'reality' such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstract concepts. Such representations may be in speech or writing as well as still or moving pictures.
Representation is the ability of texts to draw upon features of the world and present them to the viewer, not simply as reflections but more so, as constructions. Hence, the images do not portray reality in an unbiased way with 100% accuracy, but rather, present 'versions of reality' influenced by culture and people's habitual thoughts and actions.
In a world dominated by print and electronic media, our sense of reality is increasingly structured by narrative. Feature films and documentaries tell us stories about ourselves and the world we live in. Television speaks back to us and offers us 'reality' in the form of hyperbole and parody. Print journalism turns daily life into a story. Advertisements narrativise our fantasies and desires.
Lacan – Psychoanalysis and ‘The Mirror’
Lacan’s theory of ‘the mirror’ is an idea around the idea of identity. He considers the point at which a person develops a sense of self and conscious identity. He considers the point at which a child recognises their own reflection and begin to consider how others perceive them, modifying their appearance to satisfy their perceptions of how others see them. Mulvey extends this idea when she writes about ‘the silver screen’ which she suggest operates like a metaphorical mirror; reflecting back to the female viewer representations of female identity, but these representations are not genuine reflections of the viewer but rather male perceptions of idealised femininity.
Queer Theory – Judith Butler
Emerging out of field of Gender studies (the study of males and female roles historically, politically, socially etc). Queer theory challenges the idea that gender – being male or female – is part of the essential self, that it is fixed, immovable – in other words Queer theory suggest that our male or female gender does not control all aspects of our identity or how we perceive other peoples identity. In other words gender, particularly as it is represented in performance – on TV, Film etc, is fluid, flexible depending on the context in which it is seen. For example an audience can see Tom Cruise playing a “straight” pilot in The Right Stuff and interpret his gender, although male, as having very “queer” or “gay” attributes. The theory developed as a way of combating negative representations of gay sexuality in the Media. It combats the idea that people should be divided and categorised, indeed marginalised, due to their sexual orientation or practice and that a persons’ identity should not be limited to their sexual preference. It asks us to consider how the media constructs gay representation.
Subculture
Representation of Groups
Dick Hebdidge
In his book, Subculture and The Meaning of Style, Dick Hebdidge said that a subculture is a group of like minded individuals who feel neglected by societal standards and who develop a sense of identity which differs to the dominant on to which they belong. Ken Gelder lists 6 ways in which a subculture can be recognised: 1) Often have negative relationship to work 2) Negative or ambivalent relationship to class 3) Through their associations with territory ( The street, the hood, the club) rather than property 4) Through their stylistic ties to excess 5) Through their movement out of home into non-domestic forms of belonging (social groups as opposed to family) 6) Through their refusal to engage with they might see as the ‘banalities’ of life. Other ways of recognising a subculture might be symbolism attached to clothes, music, visual affectations like tattoos etc. (Examples – Ben and his friends in Knocked up representing a subculture some of the values of which Alison and as such the America she initially represents might benefit from). Subcultural values often associated with being ‘cool’.
Anthony Giddens
Traditionalist vs Post Traditionalist views of society
Media representations of society can be seen as traditional or post traditionalist. Traditional societies are ones in which individual choice was limited by its dominant customs and traditions. Whereas post traditionalist societies are one where the ideas set by previous generations are less important that those of individuals. Post traditional societies no longer feel so dependent and limited to time and place. Giddens says, we are living in a post traditional society where we are much less concerned with precedents set by previous generations and that our options are only limited by what the law and public opinion allows. We have replaced seen/discreet systems with remote ‘expert’ systems, institutions and corporations.
Bell Hooks
Interconnectivity of race, class and gender.
Pen name of Gloria Jean Watkins. First major work “Ain’t I a woman? Lack, women and feminity” written in 1981. Focused on the perpetuation of systems of oppression and domination in the media paying particular attention to the devaluation of black womanhood. The idea of ‘lack’ or ‘otherness’ refers to the way that women and ethnic minorities are usually represented as ‘other’. Their primary purpose is simply to be other than the norm (usually a white male hero). They are therefore known more by the context of lack than by a realised or complex identity. This theory can be linked to ideas of the monstrous feminine found in feminist analysis of literature and art.
Representation refers to the construction in any medium of aspects of 'reality' such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstract concepts. Such representations may be in speech or writing as well as still or moving pictures.
Representation is the ability of texts to draw upon features of the world and present them to the viewer, not simply as reflections but more so, as constructions. Hence, the images do not portray reality in an unbiased way with 100% accuracy, but rather, present 'versions of reality' influenced by culture and people's habitual thoughts and actions.
In a world dominated by print and electronic media, our sense of reality is increasingly structured by narrative. Feature films and documentaries tell us stories about ourselves and the world we live in. Television speaks back to us and offers us 'reality' in the form of hyperbole and parody. Print journalism turns daily life into a story. Advertisements narrativise our fantasies and desires.
Representation of Social Groups
We often analyse representations in the media according to categories such as:
- Age
- Disability
- Gender
- Socio-economic grouping
- Race
- Nationality
- sexuality
- An ideology is a belief system that is constructed and presented by a media text.
- Media texts represent the world in order to support a dominant ideology.
- For example, newspapers often promote the dominant ideology of patriotism through their representation of race and nationality.
Some dominant Ideologies
- Capitalism - The production of capital and construction of surplus value as a life goal.
- Patriotism - To love, support and protect one's country and its people.
- Marriage and family - The "right way" to live is to marry an opposite sex partner and have children.
- Male superiority - Men are more suited to positions of power, and more suited to decision making at work and at home.
Dominant Ideologies around the world
- Many dominant ideologies are extremely culture specific. For e.g;
- Christian fundamentalism as a political force in the USA
- Shariah law is some muslim countries
- The principle of individual freedom in the Netherlands
- Dominant ideologies are central to people's belief systems. It is often difficult or impossible to challenge them effectively.
Hegemony
- Hegemony is the way in which those in power maintain their control.
- Dominant ideologies are considered hegemonic; power in society is maintained by constructing ideologies which are usually promoted by the mass media.
Examples of hegemonic values
- The police are always right
- It is important to be slim
- A credit card is a desirable status symbol
- Mass immigration is undesirable
- The poor are lazy and deserve their hardship
- Men are better drivers than women
- It is important to wear fashionable clothes
Antonio Gramsci
Antonio Gramsci was an Italian political theorist. A founding member and one time leader of the communist party of Italy, he was imprisoned by Mussolini's Fascist regime. He is renowned for his concept of cultural hegemony as a means of maintaining the state in a capitalist society.
Gramsci's Theory of Cultural Hegemony
- It means that a diverse culture can be ruled or dominated by one group or class
- That everyday practises and shared beliefs provide the foundation for complex systems of domination.
- In advanced industrial societies hegemonic cultural innovations such as compulsory schooling, mass media, and popular culture have indoctrinated workers to a false consciousness.
Stereotypes
- Stereotypes are characters in a media text who are "types" rather than complex people.
- Stereotypes are often defined by their role, such as "bad cop" or "nice old lady"
- Children's media texts often use stereotypes so a young audience can identify quickly with the characters.
- Stereotypes are usually negative representations, considered to be too reductive. Many are considered to be too reductive. Many are considered offensive, such as a "drunken Irish man" a "fanatical muslim" or an "over-emotional woman".
- By giving audiences information, media texts extend experience of reality.
- Every time you see a media text, you extend your experience of life but in second hand way.
- However, because the producers of the media text have selected and constructed the information we receive, then our experience is restricted.
Process and Product
Representation involves not only how identities are represented within the text but also how they are constructed in the process of reception.
The Gaze
- A technical term used in media studies.
- Refers to how an audience views the way people are represented in media.
The Male Gaze
Laura Mulvey - Feminist Theory
Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema – Written in 1975
The cinema apparatus of Hollywood cinema puts the audience in a masculine subject position with the woman on the screen seen as an object of desire. Film and cinematography are structures upon ideas. Protagonists tended to be men. Mulvey suggests two distinct modes of male gaze – “voyeuristic (women as whores) and fetishistic – women as unreachable madonnas”.
People who criticise her ideas say that she is ignoring the fact that all genders – male and female want to feel dominated and overwhelmed by the cinema experience. Also, she ignores the fact that men are capable of ‘metaphoric transvestism’ whereby they are able to view the film from the perspective of a woman.
People who criticise her ideas say that she is ignoring the fact that all genders – male and female want to feel dominated and overwhelmed by the cinema experience. Also, she ignores the fact that men are capable of ‘metaphoric transvestism’ whereby they are able to view the film from the perspective of a woman.
Lacan – Psychoanalysis and ‘The Mirror’
Lacan’s theory of ‘the mirror’ is an idea around the idea of identity. He considers the point at which a person develops a sense of self and conscious identity. He considers the point at which a child recognises their own reflection and begin to consider how others perceive them, modifying their appearance to satisfy their perceptions of how others see them. Mulvey extends this idea when she writes about ‘the silver screen’ which she suggest operates like a metaphorical mirror; reflecting back to the female viewer representations of female identity, but these representations are not genuine reflections of the viewer but rather male perceptions of idealised femininity.
Queer Theory – Judith Butler
Emerging out of field of Gender studies (the study of males and female roles historically, politically, socially etc). Queer theory challenges the idea that gender – being male or female – is part of the essential self, that it is fixed, immovable – in other words Queer theory suggest that our male or female gender does not control all aspects of our identity or how we perceive other peoples identity. In other words gender, particularly as it is represented in performance – on TV, Film etc, is fluid, flexible depending on the context in which it is seen. For example an audience can see Tom Cruise playing a “straight” pilot in The Right Stuff and interpret his gender, although male, as having very “queer” or “gay” attributes. The theory developed as a way of combating negative representations of gay sexuality in the Media. It combats the idea that people should be divided and categorised, indeed marginalised, due to their sexual orientation or practice and that a persons’ identity should not be limited to their sexual preference. It asks us to consider how the media constructs gay representation.
Subculture
Representation of Groups
Dick Hebdidge
In his book, Subculture and The Meaning of Style, Dick Hebdidge said that a subculture is a group of like minded individuals who feel neglected by societal standards and who develop a sense of identity which differs to the dominant on to which they belong. Ken Gelder lists 6 ways in which a subculture can be recognised: 1) Often have negative relationship to work 2) Negative or ambivalent relationship to class 3) Through their associations with territory ( The street, the hood, the club) rather than property 4) Through their stylistic ties to excess 5) Through their movement out of home into non-domestic forms of belonging (social groups as opposed to family) 6) Through their refusal to engage with they might see as the ‘banalities’ of life. Other ways of recognising a subculture might be symbolism attached to clothes, music, visual affectations like tattoos etc. (Examples – Ben and his friends in Knocked up representing a subculture some of the values of which Alison and as such the America she initially represents might benefit from). Subcultural values often associated with being ‘cool’.
Anthony Giddens
Traditionalist vs Post Traditionalist views of society
Media representations of society can be seen as traditional or post traditionalist. Traditional societies are ones in which individual choice was limited by its dominant customs and traditions. Whereas post traditionalist societies are one where the ideas set by previous generations are less important that those of individuals. Post traditional societies no longer feel so dependent and limited to time and place. Giddens says, we are living in a post traditional society where we are much less concerned with precedents set by previous generations and that our options are only limited by what the law and public opinion allows. We have replaced seen/discreet systems with remote ‘expert’ systems, institutions and corporations.
Bell Hooks
Interconnectivity of race, class and gender.
Pen name of Gloria Jean Watkins. First major work “Ain’t I a woman? Lack, women and feminity” written in 1981. Focused on the perpetuation of systems of oppression and domination in the media paying particular attention to the devaluation of black womanhood. The idea of ‘lack’ or ‘otherness’ refers to the way that women and ethnic minorities are usually represented as ‘other’. Their primary purpose is simply to be other than the norm (usually a white male hero). They are therefore known more by the context of lack than by a realised or complex identity. This theory can be linked to ideas of the monstrous feminine found in feminist analysis of literature and art.
Representation
Acland - Argued that representations of delinquent youths help reinforce dominant hegemony. Referred to as the 'ideology of protection' model. (Deviant Youth, 1995). 'Normal' adult and youth behaviour, contrasted with deviant youth behaviour, allows the state to have more control. Young people need constant surveillance and monitoring.
Chris Allen – studied the representation Muslims in the media.
‘Television is... the most rewarding medium to use when teaching representations of class because of the contradictions which involve a mass medium attempting to reach all the parts of its class-differentiated audience simultaneously...’
John Berger – performance narrative. Berger’s most famous written work, the 1972 book Ways of Seeing, offered not just an idea but also an invitation to see and know the world differently. He says, “The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled.” Berger’s idea that looking is a political act, perhaps even a historically constructed process – such that where and when we see something will affect what we see – comes across most powerfully in the second episode of Ways of Seeing, which focused on the male gaze.
Judith Butler: theorist of power, gender, sexuality and identity. She wrote ‘Gender Trouble’. Butler suggests that gender is not the result of nature but is socially constructed e.g. male and female behavior and roles are not the result of biology but are constructed and reinforced by society through media and culture. Furthermore, rather than being a fixed attribute in a person, she argues that gender should be seen as a fluid variable which shifts and changes in different contexts and at different times. However, the media reinforces and exaggerates stereotypical ‘male’ and ‘female’ behaviour, which we adopt as ‘normal’. In this way, gender becomes a performance, with the media providing the script.
Queer Theory explores and challenges the way in which heterosexuality is constructed as normal and homosexuality as deviant. (Queer Theory isn’t just about homosexuality. It also explores cross-dressing, gender-ambiguity, gender-corrective surgery and intersexual identity).
The media has historically limited the representations of gay men and women. Hollywood films, TV ads, and other mainstream texts often construct images of ‘normal’ happy heterosexual couples, but homosexual couples are often represented in terms of sin, sickness or shame. Thankfully this is changing…
Stanley Cohen defines 'Moral Panic' as "... a mass response to a group, a person or an attitude that becomes defined as a threat to society." He argues that the media, especially news media, often create and/or enforce moral panics in the public. The term 'Folk Devil' is the name given to the object of the moral panic.
Corner, John Examined the process of realism/verisimilitude within media texts.
Emile Durkheim – Labelling theory holds that deviance is not inherent to an act, but instead the result of the externally-imposed label of "deviant". It focuses on the tendency of majorities to negatively label minorities or those seen as deviant from standard cultural norms. The theory is concerned with how the self-identity and the behaviour of individuals may be determined or influenced by the terms used to describe or classify them. The theory was prominent during the 1960s and 1970s, and some modified versions of the theory are still popular today .
Erik Erikson – he created an eight stage theory of identity and psychosocial development. Erikson was heavily influenced by Sigmund Freud; he explored three aspects of identity: the ego identity (self), personal identity (the personal idiosyncrasies that distinguish a person from another), social/cultural identity (the collection of social roles a person might play).
Barbara Fredrickson – objectification; she explored the consequences of being female in a culture that sexually objectifies the female body. Objectification theory posits that girls and women are typically acculturated to internalize an observer's perspective as a primary view of their physical selves. This perspective on self can lead to habitual body monitoring, which, in turn, can increase women's opportunities for shame and anxiety, reduce opportunities for peak motivational states, and diminish awareness of internal bodily states.
Giroux - Focused on youth representations as 'empty categories' because most media representations are constructed by adults.
Hall, Stuart – Reception theory and Mediation is the process by which all media products are read by audiences. Theories of representation are linked to encoding and decoding. Hall says there are three ways the audience decodes (reads) texts:
- The audience fully accepts the preferred meaning, showing they agree with dominant values.
- The audience takes a negotiated position, meaning that they only agree with some-not all of the preferred meaning.
- The audience takes an oppositional position, whereby they understand the preferred meaning but decide to reject this and make their own interpretation
- An extension of this is a fourth reading called the aberrant reading, where a completely unintentional meaning is taken away by audiences.
Hebdige (1979) Studied British youth subcultures (Late 1970’s) He focused on the reality of youth cultures. Subcultures = Youths to express themselves and to challenge hegemony (Mostly through style). By looking at this theory we are able to see that the media in society tends to ignore the good and the hard working and focuses on the fun and the trouble. This therefore makes adults believe that all Youths behave in this manner.
Kaplan - Feminism - defined women as a distinct group in two approaches - essentialist approach and anti-essentialist approach (women constructed by male society).
Kilbourne – Suggests women are more often shown “dismembered” (just parts of their bodies shown), associated with products, shown as smaller than a man, engaged in various forms of ritualized subordination, prostrate or recumbent, bent or leaning back, infantilized (with finger coyly in their mouth, standing pigeon-toed, wearing little girl clothes, sucking on lollipops, etc.) and looking dreamy and introverted, overcome with emotions, or symbolically silenced with hand over the mouth.
Lippmann – representation theory. He tried to explain how pictures that arise spontaneously in people’s minds come to be—a simplification of his theory is that we live in second-hand worlds. Because we are aware of much more than we have personally experienced our own experience is mainly indirect. Lippmann felt that the only feeling that anyone can have about an event, that they did not experience, is the feeling aroused by their mental image of that event.
Meehan - conducted a Study of feminist representation in the 1970s - useful to contrast to modern day studies.
Mulvey, Laura: Feminist Theory - the concept of women as objects in media and men as subjects. Contested in some modern films/adverts of today. In her 1973 essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema she argued that classic Hollywood cinema puts the spectator in a masculine position, with the figure of the woman on screen as the object of desire.
Because the viewer is gendered as male (even if she’s a woman!) the woman on the screen is ‘controlled’ and made an ‘object’ of male desire. "In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female"
- Historic power roles: directors tend to be male, thus presenting a ‘male’ representation of their subject. Therefore, even if you’re a woman, you’re seeing the world of the film through a man’s eyes.
- Viewers are encouraged to identify with the protagonist of the film who, more often than not, is a man. Therefore, even if you’re a woman, you’re identifying with a man’s view of the cinematic world.
In both these examples, the ‘male’ is active (the one doing the looking) and the ‘female’ is passive (the one being looked at). Male characters may also be looked at, but it is still a male viewpoint. Mulvey believes that women take on the male gaze because they view media from the perspective of men – they then view other women the way men would and objectify them in the same way. She believes that the female gaze is negated, or ‘drowned out’ by the dominant male gaze.
Nakamura - defines cybertyping as the distinctive ways that the internet propagates, disseminates, and commodities images of race and racism.
Perkins - counter argument that the use of stereotypes can be good, that stereotypes can change and even be positive (1979). Perkins also argues that stereotypes are not simplistic, they contain complex understanding of roles in society. Not always negative and often contain truth.
Jonathan Schroeder - Viewing such recorded images gives the viewer's gaze a voyeuristic dimension., 'to gaze implies more than to look at - it signifies a psychological relationship of power, in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze' (Schroeder 1998, 208).
Carol Vernallis describes how verbal, musical, and visual codes combine in music video to create defining representations of race, class, gender, sexuality, and performance. "In video our attention to the song shapes the way we perceive the image, but to an equal extent what we attend to in the image helps determine how we hear the music".
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