An Introduction to Representation
Key Questions You Should Ask:
* Who or what is being represented?
* How are these peopl or objects represented?
* Why was this image, or series of images chosen rather than another representation?
* Who is presenting the images and why?
* How do the people receiving the images react to them?
* Over a period of time what do the images suggest about a certain group of people?
* What points of view are neglected or ignored?
This is a central, underlying concept in Media Studies. You should remember that all media output is a representation. The term refers to the construction, in any medium of aspects of ‘reality’, such as people, places, objects, events and identities. Representations may be conveyed through still or moving pictures, as wel as through speech and writing. Representation determines how a group or individual is presented and recognised and necessarily entails the use of codes and conventions.
In Media Studies, it is important for us to make a clear distinction between reality and media representations and “to remember that the media operate in the spaces between the viewing, listening, or reading audience and the world outside” (Downes & Miller).
This means that we should consider the media as systems through which we experience the world. The media quite literally mediate between us, as the audience, and the reality of events within the world. In short, they create a version of reality for our consumption.
One of the main debates hinges on the question of whether the media offers us truth or fiction. Of course, the simple answer is that what we see are only images of the real thing: news for example, presents us with the reporting of an event, not the event itself.
Media texts are constructed, therefore what we see or read is literally a RE-PRESENTATION of the ‘real’ world.
Presence V Absence
The first thing to consider is the process of selection that has taken place. Who or what is being represented and who or what isn’t?
Example 1: Neighbours – which members of the Australian population are not represented in the programme?
Example 2: National TV News – what stories are represented about Wales? What doesn’t usually get represented? What is the effect of thison the audience?
Appearance
This is not as simple as saying that positive representations are reducible to those that make a person or place appear attractive. For example, if you were making a tourist advert for Wales / Cardiff, what would you show?Would these images give fair representation of Wales / Cardiff?
If you were making a documentary about the problems facing the country or city, what images would you show?
But do these images tell the whole story?
It gets complicated in relation to representing people:
Women: Female stars are judged much more on their looks than their male equivalents. List all the male film stars that do not conform to stereotypical notions of what is good looking. Now do the same for women.
This relates to age: Women in films have to be younger than their male equivalents. List the films you have seen in which the female star appears to be over 35. Now do the same for male stars. What does this tell you?
Activities, Occupations & Roles
As well as what people look like, what they do is important too. Consider the occupations we see different ethnic minorities undertaking on televisions. Does there seem to be typically white, asian or black jobs?
Also think about what they do other than work. Think about the young characters in soap operas – what storylines are they involved with? What does this tell you about the representation of young people in the media?
This can be linked in with Propp. For example, we might argue that women play a more active role in narratives – they are not simply the princess. However, how often are the roles of hero and villain performed by a female character?
Obviously, this does not directly apply to the representation of places. With places we should consider the extent to which they are the locations for certain types of activities and occupations. For example, the East-End of London is usually the site for criminal activities whereas North London is usually the setting for love affairs between the upper-middle classes.
What about Wales? Is there a type of narrative or occupation usually associated with this country?
Relationships
Relationships are often a key aspect to representations. Characters are represented at least in part through their interactions with others.
The types of relationships a character has romantically as well as with their family and friends, are often key to the construction of the representation.
You could argue that Sex in the City provides positive representations of female identity because it shows women who are independent and it rejects the traditional model of women as wives and mothers.
However, you could argue that it provides negative representations as the female characters are motivated by the desire / need to become wives or mothers/
Stereotypes
The traditional view of stereotypes is that:
1. They make assumptions.
2. They are used by the media as a kind of shortcut, but that their usage may also end up labelling groups or individuals.
3. They have been built up through years of representation in the media as well as through everyday assumptions in conversation.
Stereotypes work by simplifying individuals and by exaggerating certain traits in order to label that individual (and generalise about all people who share that particular trait).
What are the stereotypical traits of blondes, the French and the Germans?
Stereotypes may dehumanise people and create situations where resentment and hatred can build up towards that particular group. For example, what stereotypes are there of young black men?
Stereotypes carry moral connotations – ie. some people are judged as better than others.
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