Representation How the media shows us things about society but this is through careful mediation Hence representation For representation to be meaningful to audiences there needs to be a shared recognition of people situations ideas etc ID: 189042
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Slide1
RepresentationSlide2
Representation
How the media shows us things about society – but this is through careful mediation. Hence
re-presentation.
For representation to be meaningful to audiences there needs to be a shared recognition of people, situations, ideas etc.
All representations therefore have
ideologies
behind them. Certain paradigms (patterns) are encoded into texts and others are left out in order to give a preferred representation (the preferred syntagm) (Levi–Strauss, 1958).Slide3
Representation
(Dyer, 1985)
As ‘being representative of’ in the sense of being typicalIn the sense of speaking for and on behalf of somebody or a group
In recognising the existence of audience responses, with different audiences respondng to different kinds of representation
As re-presentation: re-presenting reality over again to us. Reality is mediated through representation available in the cultureSlide4
What is ideology?
Tim O’ Sullivan et al (1998) Ideology - refers to a set of ideas which produces a selective view of reality.
Ideology – beliefs which are seen as ‘common sense’ and become naturalised (what we expect)Slide5
Gender
Representations of Femininity
representations of women remain worryingly constant. Does this reflect that the status of women has not really changed or that the male-dominated media does not want to accept it has changed?Slide6
Representations of Women
Representations of women across all media tend to highlight the following:
beauty (within narrow conventions)size/physique (again, within narrow conventions)sexuality (as expressed by the above)emotional (as opposed to intellectual) dealings
relationships (as opposed to independence/freedom)Slide7
Representations of Women
Women are often represented as being part of a context (family, friends, colleagues)
and working/thinking as part of a team. In drama, they tend to take the role of helper (
Propp
) or object, passive rather than active.
Often their passivity extends to
victimhood
.
Men are still represented as TV drama characters up to
3 times more frequently
than womenSlide8
Representations of Women
The representations of women that do make it onto page and screen do tend to be stereotypical, in terms of conforming to societal expectations, and characters who do not fit into the mould tend to be seen as
dangerous and deviant and they get their comeuppance
America seems to expect its women to behave better than their European counterparts - British viewers adored the antics of Patsy & Edina in
Absolutely Fabulous
, but these had to be severely toned down (less swearing, NO
drugtaking
) for the US remake,
High Society
(which was a flop).Slide9
Representations of Women
Discussions of women's representation in the media tend to revolve around the focus on physical beauty to the near-exclusion of other values, the lack of powerful female role models, and the extremely artificial nature of such portrayals, which bear little or no relation to the reality experience by women across the planetSlide10
Representations of Men
'Masculinity
' is a concept that is made up of more rigid stereotypes than femininity. Representations of men across all media tend to focus on the following:Strength - physical and intellectual
Power
Sexual attractiveness (which may be based on the above)
Physique
Independence (of thought, action
)Slide11
Representations of Men
Male characters are often represented as isolated, as not needing to rely on others (the lone hero).
If they capitulate to being part of a family, it is often part of the resolution of a narrative, rather than an integral factor in the initial equilibrium. It is interesting to note that the male physique is becoming more important a part of representations of masculinity. Even older male actors are expected to have a level of '
buffness
‘.Slide12
Representations of Men
Increasingly, men are finding it as difficult to live up to their media representations as women are to theirs. This is partly because of the increased media focus on masculinity - think of the burgeoning market in men's magazines, both lifestyle and health - and the increasing emphasis on even ordinary white collar male workers (who used to sport their
beergut with pride) having the muscle definition of a professional swimmer. Anorexia in teenage males has increased alarmingly in recent years, and recent high school shootings have been the result of extreme
bodyconsciousness
among the same demographic group.