What is Representation?

Representation in Media means, by definition, all media texts are re-presentations of reality. This means that they are intentionally composed, lit, written, framed, cropped, captioned, branded, targeted and censored by their producers, and that they are entirely artificial versions of the reality we perceive around us. Representation is a fluid, two-way process: producers position a text somewhere in relation to reality and audiences assess a text on its relationship to reality. Wikipedia The action of speaking or acting on behalf of someone or the state
of being so represented. Also, the description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way or as being of a certain nature

What Representation theorists can you find?

Tim Osullivan 2002 key concepts in communication and cultural studies - Representation
is the way in which ideas, objects, people, groups and life forms are depicted by the mass media and is the method used by the mass media to create meanings.

Michael Maffesoli Globalism, Nationalism, Tribalism: Bringing Theory Back 2006.

Identified the idea of the urban tribe members of the small groups tend to have similar worldwide views, dress styles and common behaviours. However, this leads to the decline of individualism.

Louis Althusser on ideology 2008, the media can manufacture a representation which
then influences society thus the society becoming that representation. When a perception is created by the media which takes over society and then it becomes a reality. Stereotypes, e.g. women are vulnerable and victimised and dominated by men.

What Representation theorists can you find?

Laura Mulvey is a British feminist film theorist. The concept of gaze is one that deals with
how an audience views the people presented, for feminists it can be thought of in three ways. 1 How men look at women. 2- How women look at themselves. 3 How women look at other women. Laura Mulvey created the Male Gaze theory in 1975. She believes that in film, audiences have to view all characters from the perspective of a homosexual male. Argues that cinema positions the audience as male. The camera gazes at the female object on screen. It also frames the male character watching the female. (We watch the girl; we see the male watching the girl; we position ourselves within the text as a male objectively gazing at the female. Can be applied to other media forms also).

Bell Hooks developed interconnectivity of race, class and gender theory. 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.

Judith Butler created the Queer Theory which emerges out of field of gender studies (the

What Representation theorists can you find?

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 s fixed, immovable in other words Queer theory suggest that out male or female gender does not control all aspects of our identity or we perceive other peoples identity. In other 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 males, 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. (Apply to representation of gay sexuality in Knocked Up? What about Graham Norton?)

Lacan theory of Psychoanalysis and 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 begins to consider how others perceptions of how others see 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 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.

What Representation theorists can you find?

Dick Hebdidge subculture- representation of books. In this book, Subculture and The Meaning
of Style, Dick Hebdidge said that a subculture is a group of 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 that property 4) Through their stylistic ties to excess 5) Through their movement out of home into non-domestic forms of belonging (social groups opposed to family) 6) Though 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 affections 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 on where the ideas set by previous generations are less important that those of individuals. Post traditionalist societies are no longer feel so deepen were 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.

What Representation theorists can you find?

Representation of Youth and Teenagers considering Quadrophenia this film is great for
thinking about subculture. The film looks at mods and their interaction with the rockers. Think about how fashion, music, language, drugs and sex are used symbolically to make meaning and represent values like rebellion, anger and disillusion. Dick Hebdidge said that subcultures use style to represent their resistance to the dominant ideologies of a corrupt society. They take symbols like the smart clothes or mopeds and modify or customise them to show their alternative values.

What Representation theorists link to the Horror genre?

Laura Mulveys male gaze theory directly links to Horror as they are usually
constructed to follow how a male would view it. Horror movie audiences are stereotypically male, therefore films are produced to best fit the male gender. The suspect is usually a rugged, ugly and extraordinary looking male where as the victim is usually a cute, innocent and good looking couple or female. By giving audiences this information, media texts extend experience of reality. Therefore, not only do they suit the audience, they suit experiences of males and females in reality. For example, a male or female being savagely murdered.