Reprensentation

 Representation: blog tasks

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

Representation - "the action of speaking or acting on behalf of someone or the state of bein so represented." Representation could be seen as a language. The more you learn  how to understand representation, meaning what the producers wants you to know and deeper meaning the more you can understand. 

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

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. 


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


It's a producers job to communicate with representation to the audience. So they have to consider the audience expectations, limitations from genre codes, the type of narrative they want to create and their institutional remit. Communicating in subtle ways if what producers need to learn to effectively communicate with their audience. Like changing the environment, color code, outfits... All these factors come into play when trying to send a message to the audience.


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

Hall argued that audiences do not necessarily accept the ideology of texts passively, but instead draw on their own cultural and social experiences to create their own interpretations. In his view ‘meanings’ and messages are not fixed by the creator of the text, but depend on the relationship between the reader/ viewer, and 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?

National identity is invariably raised during national sports competitions. 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. 

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

With the first scene we can start getting the hints of dominance, the person sitting down in the factory gave us hints of dominance. A dominant representations could be interpreted by the actor. As a male black character with strong facial features including the background, pose and conversation they are having we could sense that he has everything in control and in order. That becomes more prominent when we meet another male person waiting for him by the car. An alternative representation is the female representation and the message its giving. If we analyse her from the conversation. She has a deep voice, speaks in a sarcastic/professional way, and from the conversation we get the message the she could be the boss of this operation. Meaning she could be the dominant person in this situation.

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:

The representation of the female character in this clip does not promote Mulvey theory of the male gaze. She is shown to have more of an authority role, inducing that she has power. This relates to Dyer theory of stereotypes and power. We give certain stereotypes to characters that we relate to. The female character relates to someone that has more power over other characters in this clip.