Representation: blog tasks

 Read the Media Magazine feature 'Representation old and new'. This is in MM51 on page 6 - go to our Media Magazine archive to find the article. Complete the following tasks:

1) Why is representation an important concept in Media Studies?

They create meaning in pieces of media texts and communicates different ideas to an audience.

2) How does the example of Kate Middleton show the way different meanings can be created in the media?

In this example it shows how editing can create different meanings through rerepresentation as it could frame Middleton to have a drinking problem or just having a drink depending on the editing.

3) Summarise the section 'The how, who and why of media representation' in 50 words.

When looking at representations in media texts we should look at how, who and why they have been represented like this as producers consider their audience, genre, narrative and institutional remit. After this consideration, producers use a variety of media language choices, for example cutting clips to create a certain meaning to binary oppositions, in order to create a specific representation.

4) How does Stuart Hall's theory of preferred and oppositional readings fit with representation?

Some audiences will not passively accept all representations and ideologies of a media text.

5) How has new technology changed the way representations are created in the media?

People can create their own UGC and provide alternate representations.

6) What example is provided of how national identity is represented in Britain - and how some audiences use social media to challenge this?

During the 2014 world cup, The Sun (owned by Rupert Murdoch) sent free newspaper to 22 million houses in England which contained representations of what British culture meant but social media allowed people to project their opinion and reject this representation of Britain.

Watch the clip from Luther that we studied in class (Season 1, Episode 1 - minute 7.40-10.00 - you'll need your Greenford Google login to access the clip). Now answer these final two questions:

7) Write a paragraph analysing the dominant and alternative representations you can find in the clip from Luther.

In this clip, I believe that the dominant representation of the main character is that he is a strong, leading character who is strict and austere with himself as he keeps him self looking formal as he wears a suit and tie but also maintains a professional but casual atmosphere with the way he talks and interacts with other characters. The alternative representation would be that hes too casual and doesn't even attempt to remain professional as from that clip an audience would presume he has been fired for doing something against his work guidelines which would make him seem as a rebellious character despite his field of honest work.

8) Write a paragraph applying a selection of our representation theories to the clip from Luther. Our summary of each theory may help you here:

In this clip, theory of the "male gaze" is hard to apply to. The only female character we see seems respectable, modest and educated in comparison to what this theory suggests how female character seem like in media texts. This creates questions such as whether this theory is applicable to modern texts such as this clip from Luther as representation of women in this post-feminist era is different. Furthermore, Dyer's theory suggests that people of a higher class are the ones creating stereotypes, presumably negative ones, but this cannot be applied to this clip either. This is due to the fact that the main character in this clip, who is black, is represented in a positive and realistic manner rather then being unrealistic and offensive which shows how although BBC is ran by white men of an upper class, this clip of the show Luther forms no negative stereotypes - however, this depends on each viewers perspective of the character. We could apply Perkins theory that some stereotypes can be positive and true as the characters work in law enforcement and are hard working which is a positive and true stereotype that people working under the law enforcement are hard working and are people who do good.

Levi-Strauss: representation and ideology

Mulvey: the male gaze

Dyer: stereotyping and power
Medhurst: value judgements
Perkins: some stereotypes can be positive or true