representation power

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R is for REPRESENTATION

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Page 1: Representation power

R is for

REPRESENTATION

Page 2: Representation power

The Treachery of Images

Page 3: Representation power

REPRESENTATION

Definition:

(Simple…ish) Image, sound or combination of the two that stands in for reality.

(More Complicated) A series of signs and symbols that convey an idea – often suggesting a value or ideal.

(Really Complicated) As postmodern criticism emerged, the line between reality and representation has blurred so that representation replaces.

(See Baudrillard)

Page 4: Representation power

REPRESENTATION

The earliest forms of figurative representation date back as far as 32,000 years.

It seems that making representations of reality has some intrinsic value or fulfils some essential urge within human beings.

Spoken language is itself a form of representation.

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REPRESENTATION

One of the oldest rock carvings (25 – 30 thousand years old) clearly depicts the female form, but there is obviously more meaning within this representation than simple face value (pun intended).

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REPRESENTATION

Key Words

Class

Age

Gender

Ethnicity

Disability

Sexuality

Regional

Identity

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REPRESENTATION

Key Words

Stereotype

A commonly held belief about a person, group of people, place or thing.

Archetype

The perfect example, or original example of something. May be where

the stereotype comes from.

Countertype

A representation that suggests ideas that go against the stereotype.

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REPRESENTATION

Key Words

Positive

A representation that attempts to suggest something good

about the thing being represented.

Negative

A representation that suggests something bad about the

thing being represented.

Neutral

A representation that attempts to place no specific value on

the thing being represented.

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REPRESENTATION

Key Words

Radical

Breaking down stereotypes

Reactionary

Conforming to stereotypes/Old fashioned

Realistic

Attempting to present things as they are

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REPRESENTATION

Key Words

Hegemonic

Representations that help to define or more

often maintain the dominant ideology are

called hegemonic.

Pluralistic

Representations that challenge the

hegemonic perspective.

Page 11: Representation power

REPRESENTATION

Key Words

Positioning

Preferred Reading

Negotiated Reading

Oppositional Reading

Alternative Reading

Page 12: Representation power

REPRESENTATION

Key Words

Diegesis

Narrative World

Verisimiltude

True to the rules of the Narrative World

Constructed Reality

Each member of the audience takes part in

their own construction of the narrative reality

Page 13: Representation power

THEORISTSKARL MARX - MARXISM

(Cultural Hegemony)

The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force. The class which has the means of material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it.

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MARXIST MEDIA THEORY (In a nutshell):

The people who own the media and decide upon its output, control the ideas that are being presented to the general population and therefore control their ideology (beliefs/values/morals). This is how Hegemony (The Dominant Ideology) is constructed, by presenting representations that conform to the ideology of the ruling class and by suppressing (either consciously or subconsciously) those that don’t conform to the dominant ideology.

Page 15: Representation power

THEORISTS

MULVEY (Feminist Reading)

The Male Gaze:

‘In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active /male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure which is styled accordingly’

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In a nutshell:

In a nutshell:

The patriarchal (male dominated) control of the media and representation for thousands of years means that everyone looks at gender (in particular women) the way that men look at gender. Therefore women tend to be objectified and men are generally dealt with in a more multi facetted way or presented as strong and capable.

Page 17: Representation power

OBJECTIFICATION EXAMPLES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdjG-clD81A

Look at these examples of women being objectified. Can you imagine representations of men being presented in this way?

Consider the result of constant objectification of women on the audience (male and female).

Page 18: Representation power

THEORISTSWALTER LIPMANN

(Stereotypes and social cohesion)

“The systems of stereotypes may be the core of our personal tradition, the defenses of our position in society. They are an ordered more or less consistent picture of the world, to which our habits, our tastes, our capacities, our comforts and our hopes have adjusted themselves. They may not be a complete picture of the world, but they are a picture of a possible world to which we are adapted. In that world, people and things have their well-known places, and do certain expected things. We feel at home there. We fit in. We are members.”

Page 19: Representation power

THEORISTSWALTER LIPMANN (continued)

“It is not merely a short cut. It is all these things and something more. It is the guarantee of our self-respect; it is the projection upon the world of our own sense or our own value, our own position, and our own rights. [...] They are the fortress of our traditions, and behind its defenses we can continue to feel ourselves safe in the position we occupy.”

Page 20: Representation power

THEORISTSWALTER LIPMANN (In a nutshell)

Unlike Mulvey and Marx, both of whom seem to be suggesting something manipulative and overpowering about representations, Lipmann remains fairly neutral about them, instead concentrating on the way that they are used by human beings to define both their ideas about reality and their place in it. This may be very good, very bad, or anything in between. He seems also to be suggesting that they are not just a simplistic and arguably lazy tool for conveying ideas, rather that they are an essential feature of human interaction with the world.

Page 21: Representation power

THEORISTSRICHARD DYER (On Stereotypes)

“it is nor stereotypes, as an aspect of human thought and representation, that are wrong, but who controls and defines them, what interests they serve,”

“the use of stereotypes, has to be acknowledged as a necessary, indeed inescapable, part of the way societies make sense of themselves, and hence actually make and reproduce themselves,”

“an agreement about a social group, as if that agreement arose independently of, the stereotype. Yet for the most part it is from the stereotype that we got our ideas about social groups,”

Page 22: Representation power

THEORISTSRICHARD DYER (In a nutshell)

Dyer seems to be largely in agreement with Lipmann that societies need stereotypes to confirm social order and solidify group ideology, or at least that this is their function. However, he seems more cautionary, suggesting that literate audiences should think more carefully about the political agenda of the person or organisation making the representation because this will inevitably bias the representation. It is also important to note that Dyer suggests that it is not just characters and how they look/sound etc. that creates stereotypes but also that narratives can be stereotypical too, shaping our ideas about love, honesty, justice etc.

Page 23: Representation power

THEORISTSRICHARD DYER (continued)

Dyer’s work on social groups and stereotypes is really interesting. You may wish to inform yourself about some of his work on race, gender and sexuality.

Three particularly good essays of his are:

Dyer, Richard. The Matter of Images: Essays on Representation. London: Routledge, 1993.

Dyer, Richard. White: Essays on Race and Culture. London: Routledge, 1997.

Dyer, Richard. The Culture of Queers. London: Routledge, 2002.

Page 24: Representation power

THEORISTS

BAUDRILLARD

The Four Phases of Images:

The image is the reflection of a basic reality;

The image masks and perverts a basic reality;

The image masks the absence of a basic reality;

The image bears no relation to any reality whatsoever: it is its own pure simulacrum

Page 25: Representation power

THEORISTS

BAUDRILLARD (An attempt at a nutshell)

Baudrillard’s ideas are not easy to define. But, I think that he is

suggesting that the saturation of media representation means

that media audiences have come to believe in a version of reality

that doesn’t actually exist. He seems to suggest that the ideology

of audiences has been so radically shaped by the bombardment

of images that we have come to think reality is the way it is

shown to be, when this representation we have come to accept

is actually none existent. It is wise to think of this in more political

rather than literal terms. For example, Baudrillard is more

interested in concepts like terrorism and how it is represented

than he is with concrete things like trees.

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REPRESENTATION

ANALYSIS

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