Representation Theory

Representation theory:

The representation theory refers to how many things such as people, places, objects, events and cultural identities are represented in writing, speech, pictures and films. Media products present one version of reality, not reality itself. Realities shown by the media are constructed and, sometimes, biased so the audience’s interpretation is often skewed through how a person, class, gender etc is represented.

Stereotypes – Dyer:

·         The audience’s experiences and backgrounds are used to ‘type’ (quickly present using stereotypes) a character so less time is spent on explaining the characters and more into representation and storylines.

·         Certain representations are continually shown and for the audience, this then becomes a ‘natural’ outlook associated with what is being represented- this becomes their ideology.

·         E.g. Youth stereotypes = reckless, brash, disobedient, selfish. ‘Selling Youth’ article states that ‘youth’ is a construction coming from the U.S. in the 1940s and 1950s as a way of introducing a new

consumer market. The first teenage magazines were released as well as different types of clothing, make-up, home decoration and music aimed at teenagers.

Backgrounded vs Foregrounded:

In media products are selective with representations, some are ‘backgrounded’, some ‘foregrounded’:

o   Foregrounded: made prominent/visible e.g. protagonist’s righteousness – makes the audience like them more, be on their ‘side’

o   Backgrounded: not represented or made clearly visible e.g. protagonist’s mistakes

Gaze – Mulvey:

·         Gaze refers to the way people view things; men viewing women, women viewing men, men viewing men and women viewing women.

·         Feminist Laura Mulvey suggested that men are often represented as the protagonist, women the object of desire, often scantily-clad proving to be the subject of male gaze e.g. Bond girls. Mulvey believes that audiences view the film through the eyes of a male so the film offers voyeuristic pleasures.

·         Women are seen in 3 ways:

o   voyeuristic - as whores

o   fetishistic - 'unreachable Madonnas'

o   narcissistic  - women see themselves reflected on the screen

Hyper reality – Baudrillard:

·         Hyper reality - 'a condition in which what is real and what is fiction are blended together so there is no clear distinction between where one ends and the other begins' i.e. a slight superficial likeness to reality.

·         Baudrillard suggested that today, people do not know the difference between reality and representation; they accept simulation (imitation/representation) as reality. e.g. Geordie Shore presents people from Newcastle as superficial, party animals, promiscuous, fake - tans, eyelashes etc.

·         Youth are represented as wild and reckless who party a lot and experiment with drugs e.g. Skins.

This often influences the audience to mimic the behaviour as they see it as 'reality'.

Semiotics - Ferdinand De Sessure:

·         Uses signs for representation including visual such as paintings and others 'signs' such as words, sounds and body language.

·         The signs present in media products do not reflect reality, they have been constructed to have a meaning which the audience interpret, often with what they have been taught is 'natural' through mediation.

·         In terms of youth 'signs', in shows such as Skins, drugs are represented as being fun and not dangerous

Psychoanalysis - Lacan:

·         Lacan proposed 'the Mirror' theory - the point at which a person develops a sense of self and identity i.e. the moment they acknowledge and recognise their reflection.

·         Mulvey devised the 'Silver Screen' theory from 'the Mirror' which suggests that on screen females are shown through an obscured screen which represents females based on male's ideal perspective of them.

Queer Theory - Butler:

·         Gender should not have a fixed set of stereotypes e.g. not every man is tall and built, and every woman is not short and gentle.

·         Butler says that stereotypes of homosexual people are over exaggerated i.e. boys are girly, wear pink, "fabulous" and girls have short hair, 'punks'. e.g. many characters in Milk (2008) were
homosexual and their homosexuality was not represented as 'girly'

Subcultures - Hebdige:

·         Subcultures may form as a result of the audience's interpretation. May be positive or negative. People usually belong to a subculture as that is their idea of what 'cool' is.

·         'Selling Youth' claims that teenagers seek to be 'cool' and have what is 'cool' hence why there a many products specially targeted to them. So, in this case, teenagers may join a 'hood' subculture of loitering, urban music and wearing hoodies as that may be their idea of 'cool'.