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?

The word representation itself holds a clue to its importance. When we see a person, place, object or idea being

represented in a media text, it has in some way been mediated by the very act of representation. A representation is a re-presentation (literally – to present again), and so the images and ideas we see on screen, in print or online are ‘removed’ from the original object. The media intervene and stand between the object and what we see – the act of communicating the image or idea in some way changes it.

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

The Duchess of Cambridge is a person – she is flesh and blood, she exists.

• A photographer takes her picture. If this is an official picture, Kate and the royal team will have given considerable thought to the outfit she is wearing, the location of the image, her pose, facial expressions etc. If this is an unofficial or paparazzi photo, Kate herself may have tried to control the image as much as possible, but the ‘snapshot’ is now controlled more by the photographer.

The photograph, then, is a representation of the Duchess. It may look like her but, in addition to her likeness, it will communicate ideas about her that are created during the mediation process.

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

When analysing representations, it is always essential to question who is creating them, and why. All media products have a specific function which will impact on the representations they construct. Producers will consider:

• the expectations and needs of the target audience

• the limitations provided by genre codes

• the type of narrative they wish to create

• their institutional remit.

Certain choices are made; others are rejected. The representation itself is the combination of these selections and rejections. The elements that are rejected do not carry the meaning the producer wants to communicate. Even a simple element such as the choice of wallpaper used to dress the set of a soap opera family’s living room will help to create ideological meaning – for example, by suggesting that the family are hard-up, show-off and tasteless, or chic and fashionable. Of course, the wallpaper is not ideological in itself, but combined with the other representational choices, it could help to create ideological meaning as just one element of the overall representation.

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

Readers are not passive audiences and so will often make their own interpretations of a text and its representation by using their own social experiences to shape their opinions and viewpoints on the text.

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

With the rise of new media, audience members can now construct and share their own media products, and in websites, video-sharing platforms and social media there are more opportunities for people to represent themselves than ever before. Individuals can now engage in the act of self-representation, often on a daily basis, through the creation of social media profiles and content.

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 sent a free newspaper to 22 million households in England which represented its own concepts of ‘Englishness’ by symbolic references – queuing, the Sunday roast, Churchill and The Queen – to heroes, values and behaviours that the paper (and its owners, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corps) defined as appropriate expressions of ‘English identity’.

This representation may have helped some audience members to identify with a certain idea of national identity and our politicians seemed keen to represent themselves in relation to it, reinforcing The Sun’s messages about what it means to be British. However, social media forums and comment pages allowed many people to voice their rejection of the messages. Through self representation, they were able to show that they distanced themselves from the values in the tabloid newspaper.

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.

Dominant representations we see in Luther is Idris Elba reinforcing the idea of male stereotypes of being dominant and dangerous but changing them a bit around as Luther is a black man which we don't see a lot in films or TV shows. The alternative representations we can see is a female police officer who's in charge and the constable of her police station and is the boss of Luther. This subverts the idea of how females are perceived and again shows that females are more than capable of taking leading roles that normally males would take and shows females can take and be in charge as well. 

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:

Lev-Strauss's theory of ideology and representation can be used here as producers wanted to portray policing done in a brutal but effective way (Luther) and that police do things that viewers at home may not entirely agree on that is needed to get the job done. Another theory is Dyer's theory of power and stereotypes which can also be used in Luther as the main star of the show Luther is shown as a character who is violent and emotionless which again reinforces the idea of male stereotypes. Finally, Medhurst's theory of value judgements can be used for all the characters shown in Luther as each and everyone of the characters had different costumes on which shown what kind of role they played in the clip. Such as for example, Luther wearing casual normal clothing to show that he is a detective undercover and is trying to blend in with normal civilised people.