Here are the sort of questions you need to ask yourself for each of the possible ‘areas’.
Gender
- how are men/women shown to the audience in the extract?
- what does the programme seem to be saying about the status and experiences of men/women?
- does the programme challenge/conform with stereotypes?
Age
- how are the young and old shown to the audience in the extract?
- what does the programme seem to be saying about the status and experiences of the young/old?
- does the programme challenge/conform with stereotypes?
Sexuality
- how are characters with different sexual orientation/preference shown to the audience in the extract?
- what does the programme seem to be saying about the status and experiences of homosexual/heterosexual/bisexual characters ?
- does the programme challenge/conform with stereotypes?
Ethnicity
An ethnic group (or ethnicity) is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture(often including a shared religion) and an ideology that stresses common ancestry.
- how are characters from different ethnic groups or ethnic backgrounds shown to the audience in the extract?
- what does the programme seem to be saying about the status and experiences of characters from different ethnic backgrounds or different ethnic origins?
- does the programme challenge/conform with stereotypes?
Class and status
Remember class is about more than just money…you need to consider background, status and power.
- how are characters of different social class shown to the audience in the extract?
- what does the programme seem to be saying about the status and experiences of different social groups within society?
- does the programme challenge/conform with stereotypes?
Physical ability/disability
- how are the physically disabled shown to the audience in the extract; how does this representation compare with the representation of the physically able?
- what does the programme seem to be saying about the status and experiences of the physically disabled?
- does the programme challenge/conform with stereotypes?
Regional identity
- how are characters from different parts of the country shown to the audience in the extract?
- what does the programme seem to be saying about the status and experiences of people from different parts of the country?
- does the programme challenge/conform with stereotypes?
Media Representation
Representation refers to the construction of aspects of ‘reality’ such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstract concepts.
The term refers to the processes involved as well as to its products. For instance, in relation to the key markers of identity - Class, Age, Gender and Ethnicity - representation involves not only how identities are represented (or rather constructed) within the text but also how they are received by people. Consider, for instance, the issue of 'the gaze'. How do men look at images of women, women at men, men at men and women at women?
A key in the study of representation concern is with the way in which representations are made to seem ‘natural’.
What does 'representation' mean?
The easiest way to understand the concept of representation is to remember that watching a TV programme is not the same as watching something happen in real life.
All media products re-present the real world to us; they show us one version of reality, not reality itself.
So, the theory of representation in Media Studies means thinking about how a particular person or group of people are being presented to the audience. Audience Identification
In a film, the director wants the audience to be on the side of the protagonist and hope that the antagonist will fail.
This means that the audience has to identify with the protagonist – they have to have a reason to be ‘on his/her side’.
But directors only have a couple of hours to make you identify with the protagonist – so, they have to use a kind of ‘shorthand’. This is known as typing – instead of each character being a complex individual, who would take many hours to understand, we are presented with a ‘typical’ character who we recognise quickly and feel we understand.
Character Typing
There are three different kinds of character typing:
1. An archetype is a familiar character who has emerged from hundreds of years of fairytales and storytelling.
2. A stereotype is a character usually used in advertising and marking in order to sell a particular product to a certain group of people. They can also be used ‘negatively’ in the Media – such as ‘asylum seekers,’ or ‘hoodies’.
3. A generic type is a character familiar through use in a particular genre (type) of movie.
The easiest way to understand the concept of representation is to remember that watching a TV programme is not the same as watching something happen in real life.
All media products re-present the real world to us; they show us one version of reality, not reality itself.
So, the theory of representation in Media Studies means thinking about how a particular person or group of people are being presented to the audience. Audience Identification
In a film, the director wants the audience to be on the side of the protagonist and hope that the antagonist will fail.
This means that the audience has to identify with the protagonist – they have to have a reason to be ‘on his/her side’.
But directors only have a couple of hours to make you identify with the protagonist – so, they have to use a kind of ‘shorthand’. This is known as typing – instead of each character being a complex individual, who would take many hours to understand, we are presented with a ‘typical’ character who we recognise quickly and feel we understand.
Character Typing
There are three different kinds of character typing:
1. An archetype is a familiar character who has emerged from hundreds of years of fairytales and storytelling.
2. A stereotype is a character usually used in advertising and marking in order to sell a particular product to a certain group of people. They can also be used ‘negatively’ in the Media – such as ‘asylum seekers,’ or ‘hoodies’.
3. A generic type is a character familiar through use in a particular genre (type) of movie.
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