Representation&

StereotypingWhat is it and why is it important?

What Representation is….

Representation is about the relationship between people, places, events, ideas, values and beliefs in the world and their re-

presentation (or mediation) in media texts

e.g. the relationship between actual people seeking asylum in the UK and the ways in which tabloid newspapers

represent “asylum seekers”

What Representation is……….

representation is a selective process

any representation contains only a fraction of what could have been presented

as a media audience, we are so used to reading media texts that we can forget that a representation has been through a process of selection and mediation

as media students, we need to be able:

•to analyse a representation and the process that produced it

•to evaluate the realism / accuracy / truth of representations, by deconstructing the texts

•to consider the values behind the representation

• to consider how different audiences make different readings of these representations.

how representation works

the media make categories of people, events and ideas

the text making the representation makes assumptions about its audience

the audience is invited to identify with, or to recognise, the representation (and the values behind it), but they may read the text differently

the elements of a representation are repeated to the point where the representation comes to seem natural (the representation is naturalized)

a representation of one of these contains the point of view and values of those who made it

types & stereotypes

read the handout on Representation by type and Stereotypes (from David McQueen’sTelevision: a Media Student’s Guide)

•why do the media need to use types?

•make a definition and give an example of

• A stereotype

highlight the key points that Tessa Perkins makes about stereotypes

why representation is important(and political)

most common representations in our culture reflect the interests of the dominant interests in society

dominant groups have achieved their power and status through complex processes of history, economics and social politics

dominant groups tend to control institutions like government, the law, education, the media – enabling them to sustain their position

dominant groups promote themselves as “normal” while marginalizing others as “different” or “abnormal”

subordinate groups have to struggle, often for a long time, to challenge these representations and to gain recognition

Analysis of Stereotyping & issues surrounding representationConsider the representation & stereotypes (Essex) offered in the

following sequence. - who is being represented?

-how are they being represented?-why are they being represented in this way?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zeoL5cIqJI

Analysis of Stereotyping & issues surrounding representation

How does this differ from the stereotypes/ representations offered of the same group (age) here?

Why is it different?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sprSMdXK1MY

So how are these representations constructed?

Let’s go back to the two extracts………

How do the micro elements (Cinematography, editing, sound & mise-en-scene) work to construct the representations that we uncovered?

The Only Way is Essex

Made in Chelsea

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sprSMdXK1MY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zeoL5cIqJI