Representation

Representation

 Representation is how the media shows us things about society through careful mediation. Hence            re-presentation.

For representation to be meaningful to audiences there needs to be a shared recognition of people, situations, ideals, etc.

All representations therefore have ideologies behind them. Certain paradigms are encoded into texts and others are left out in order to give a preferred representation.

Richard Dyer's posed questions on representation in media

-What sense of the world is it making?

-What does it imply? Is it typical of the world or deviant?

-Who is it speaking to? For whom? To whom?

-What does it represent to us and why? How do we respond to the representation?

3 Avenues of Representation

-Bluntly, a stereotype is a label that involves a process of categorisation and evaluation. In media, stereotypes are shorthand to narratives because such simplistic representations define our perception of media. Stereotypes can be used to enhance realism - many forms of media will use conventional images that are associated with the realism that audiences will identify with. As humans, we often judge a text's realism against our own "situated culture". What is "real" can therefore become subjective.

In ideological terms, stereotyping is a means by which support is provided by one group's differential against another.

-Marxism - a hegemonic view of society - fundamental inequalities in power between social groups. Groups in power exercise their influence culturally rather than "typical" force.

Ties with Marxism that the ruling class are able to protect their interests by using this influence.

Most media texts reinforce dominant ideologies through representation in order to undermine challenging ideologies.

-Feminism - A label that refers to a broad range of views sharing the idea that society is inherently a patriarchy, dominated by men and leaving women to be "weaker" than men, leaving women to either submit to inferiority or constantly fight against the system that pushes them down.

Particularly in video form, the objectification of women's bodies in media had been a constant theme. 

Laura Mulvey argues that the dominant point of view is masculine, where the female body is displayed for the "male gaze" to give men pleasure. Women are therefore objectified by the camera lens and whatever gender the spectator/audience is positioned to accept the masculine POV.