Representations

Year 12 Media - 2011

This is not a pipe

This is not Miss Webber

Huh?

• These are not the actual thing or person – they are a representation of the thing.

• Representation means to re-present (i.e. show again)

• Individuals and groups of people are represented in the media as being a certain way. This is a construct of reality and NOT reality itself.

Let’s take Snooki

How we are represented

• Remember when we watched the Charlie Brooker video – they were able to manipulate what was happening onscreen in order to tell the story they wanted to tell. Media does this all the time.

• I could represent this class as diligent and hard working

• Or I could represent them as off-task and disengaged.

We can show the police as caring and helpful

• The media selects (mediates) the way it shows people to serve its own purposes.

• The way in which a media producer (the person who made the media product – ad, film, tv show) represents a person or group is affected by their own experiences and values and society’s dominant values.

How representations work

• They are repeated• We are asked to identify with or recognise the

representation• They make generalisations about people –

grouping them together – mothers, business, teenagers

• Representations both SHOW and SHAPE our world

Representations

• We’re creating representations all the time – if you’ve got a Facebook page you’ve definitely created a representation of yourself.

• Think about what you choose to put on there, and what you choose not to put on there.

D Sharon Pruitt

Stereotypes

• The idea of representation in media is really key, because if you see the same representation again and again, you start to believe it is true.

• These repeated representations can become stereotypes.

• Stereotypes are useful for media producers as they are like a ‘short cut’ that media consumers can recognise and decode immediately – someone with glasses is smart, blondes are ditzy

• Stereotypes are often highly judgmental and over-simplified. They are an extreme form of stereotyping that become ‘natural’ through repetition. Stereotyping often involves minority groups and prejudice, and come about due to a power imbalance between groups in society.

• Brainstorm – how are teenagers represented in the media? Think about where you see them. What you see them doing? Think tv, ads, news stories.

When viewing/reading any media text you should ask these questions

• Who made it?• When was it made?• What was it made for?• Who benefits from this representation or

whose point of view does it support?• Who does not benefit from this representation

or whose point of view is not considered?• Who or what is not shown?

For this standard you will learn about:

• features that create the representation• the difference between the representation

and reality• the stereotypes/messages/values that are

created by the representation• the selection and/or omission of material• who created the representation.

Merit

• how the representation has been created by the features• reasons for the difference between the representation

and reality• how the stereotypes/messages/values are created by the

representation• reasons why the selection and/or omission of material

reinforce stereotypes/ messages/or values• the connection between the representation and the

world view/ideology of the creator(s) of the representation.

Excellence

• the effectiveness of the features in creating the representation• implications of the difference(s) between the representation

and reality• the implications and/or effectiveness of the

stereotypes/messages/values that are created by the representation

• the implications and issues associated with the selection and/or omission of material

• the effect of the connection between the representation and the world view/ideology of the creator(s) of the representation.