1. Meaning,
Representation &
Values pt. 2
Year 12 Media Production & Analysis ATAR
Audience Reception
How the influence of
media can be
understood by
applying media
theories
How media work
reinforces or
challenges audience
perceptions, values
and attitudes.
2. “How we are seen, in
part, determines how we
are treated, how we
treat others is based on
how we see them; such
seeing comes from
representation”
- Richard Dyer Film Studies Professor
3. Representation
The media– press, radio, television, cinema and so on – have become the areas
through which people receive most of their entertainment and information about
the world, so they are the primary sources for how we see the world.
This is not to say that the media always set out with this educational – teaching –
agenda in mind, or that they are necessarily even conscious of what they are
doing. It is possible for the media to give many different explanations of the world,
many contrasting ways of making sense of things, but we often find that there is a
tendency to give broadly similar views of the world on certain topics that
outweighs view-points, and sets up what a ‘normal’ worldview is.
4. The media are
just one of the
ways by which
people make
sense of the
world.
The media are not the only social forces to make sense of the world
for us, nor do they have total control over how we see and think
about the world. They combine with other forces of socialisation.
Most significant for children will be the socialisation they receive
through family, religious, and education systems, which teach
them about how to understand and act in the world.The media
provide just one arena in which views are presented and
popularised. The media generally act to reinforce values that a
part of the whole society.
As we grow older, other views about how
to behave, about social morality, are
disseminated through a range of legal,
cultural, and political forces.
5. IdeologicalState
Apparatuses (ISAs) –
The institutions of
socialisation and
persuasionthat
societies useto control
people, forexample,
religion, family,
educationandthe
media.
ISAs do not force people; they work more like
hypnosis, convincing people or winning their
consent to a dominant ideology.
How do the media work ideologically? What values
and beliefs do they construct as normal, natural
and desirable?
The basic answer to these lingering questions is
that the media tend to support the dominant
ideology. They do this by producing content and
products that support the values of white,
patriarchal, capitalist culture.
Dominant Ideology – A world view that
supports the ruling class as dominant,
the status quo, yet is shaped by the
majority of people.
6. To successfully
produce content
and products that
support the values
of white,
patriarchal,
capitalist culture,
the media have to
overcome two
problems.
1) In order to win support for the dominant ideology the
media must also win the support of subordinate and
minority groups (women, indigenous people, the
working class, and so on).They must create products
that give these groups pleasure, since these groups
comprise the bulk of the audience.
2) The media are often drawn to addressing social
tensions, focusing on social conflict and problems.
Drama, fiction and film are nearly always based on
conflicts between characters and value systems.
They are often focused on moments of, and places of
associated with Social breakdown. E.g. Blood
Diamond. Producers choose to to explore crimes,
and other social causes of crime, touching on
poverty, inequality, drugs and so on – major social
issues that threaten to disrupt society.
7. Thus the media often draw our attention to social
problems. But this does not mean that they will call
into question the ultimate desirability of the current
social system.What is of interest here is the various
ways these programs deal with and resolve the social
issues raised while still supporting the dominant
ideology.
Ultimately the resolution of these programs and products will not disturb
society. Rather, they allow the predominant ideology to be maintained.
Does this theory fits with the resolution of the film Blood Diamond?
8. By masking and
displacing social
issues and problems
Social issues are simply
avoided or rendered
invisible.
Social problems are
masked as being within a
moral framework of
good and evil rather than
in social terms.
By incorporating or
containing other
ideological positions
Neutralising alternate
voices by allowing them
space but containing
them within the overall
system.
Eg. Challenges thrown
out by youth culture
incoroporated into an
ideology that recognises
teenage years as a
natural time of rebellion.
By giving audiences
texts that are
pleasurable
Audience member’s
emotional responses
may be more important
than their ideological
understanding of the
media.
Films andTV programs
offer us the pleasure of
looking at and
identifying with beautiful
people and places
portrayed.
Three ways in which the media validate the dominant ideology…
9. Consideration
It is important to remember that the media and their
producers and consumers are capable of representing
and engaging with alternative ideas: ideological
assumptions and norms can be challenged and changed.
The theory of dominant ideology can be considered too
rigid and simplistic. It does not allow for contradiction
and variations within the development and
establishment of ideology.Technologies are now more
accessible, so people can write their own blogs, produce
their own videos and so forth, means that the media are
no longer controlled by elite groups.
It’s important to be aware of situations in which the
media are an expression of the dominant ideology but
also to see them as a site for competing and
contradictory ideologies as well as a place where you as
journalists and film-makers can do positive and creative
work.
“If we accept that the
media…encourage racism in certain
ways of reporting the world, then we
have to believe that they can
influence…for positive change as well
as negatively…that the media are
forces for progressive social change as
well as for negative social
stereotyping”
- John Hartley Australian University
Professor of Culture and technology.
