The document discusses the concept of representation in media. It explains that representations offer a version of reality rather than being objective, and are constructed based on someone's opinion. Key points made include that representations can influence audiences and their perceptions, and the importance of considering who is responsible for creating a representation and how audiences may interpret it. Examples provided analyze how Lily Allen is represented in different photos.

1. What and who
is being represented?

2. RepresentationRepresentation
Representation – How groups, events, places or social
changes are portrayed in the media;
how they are re - presented.
Representations offer a version of reality.
Representations are subjective rather than objective and
are constructed.
Influenced by
someone’s
opinion
Influenced by
someone’s
opinion

3. RE PRESENTATION – presented by someone

4. How can a person be represented differently?

5. Is this image simply reality? NO

6. How can a person be represented differently?
•The way they are photographed (expression/make-up)
•Airbrushed (touch up)

8. Representation can make or break a career

9. Truth or Lies?
• Media representations – and the extent to which we accept
them – is a very political issue
• The influence of media = major impact on the way we see the
world
• Our prejudices can be reinforced or shattered
• Audiences accept that the media are fictional – sometimes!

10. Representation
The audience can also read the representations in a biased
way, or from a particular point of view.
It can be a problem if we see a biased representation so
often that we start to believe it is real or true?

11. Google results for ‘youth/youth culture’

12. Lily Allen
How would you
describe Lily Allen in
this picture?
Write down 3
adjectives.

13. How is Lily Allen represented here?
Write down another 3 adjectives.

14. Studying Representation
Key points to consider when analysing representations:
1.What is being represented?
2.How is it being represented?
3.Who is responsible for the representation?
4.How can the representation be interpreted?
Consider the Lily Allen examples as we
work through each of these points…

15. 1. What is represented?
What information does the text give you about characters, places or subject
matter? Consider denotation and connotation – analyse the technical
elements (camerawork, mise-en-scene, editing, sound) and the meaning
created for the audience.

16. 2. How is this representative of social groups?
Consider what it says about particular social groups (gender, age, sexuality,
ethnicity, physical ability/disability, regional identity and class/status).
Consider positives and negatives and use of stereotypes. Does your
text reinforce or challenge stereotypes?

17. 3. Who is responsible for the representation?
Consider the programme makers and the institutions responsible for
production. What agenda do the producers have? Why would they
want to represent things in a certain way? - think about target
audience, genre, commercial aspect or artistic expression, etc.

18. 4. What does the audience make of it?
Taking all of the above into account what might the audience response be?
However, as we know not everyone will respond to the text in the
same way so there is not one answer to this!

19. Studying Representation
• Who produced it?
• What/who is represented in the text?
• How is that thing represented?
• Why was this particular representation selected?
• What frame of reference does the audience use when
understanding the representation?

20. Reality is subject to mediation

21. Representation
Reality
The real
world
Mediation
The process of
producing a
film text.
Representation
The text itself.
A ‘representation’ of
the real world.

22. Which of the following do you think
accurately represents reality:
• a television newscast?
• a documentary?
• a Reality TV programme?
• a TV drama?

23. Constructed reality
The truth is, that none of these programmes accurately reflect reality.
Reality is mediated in all four examples.
i.e. a newscast story or documentary is never entirely objective.
•It may contain slant or bias.
•It may only show one aspect of an issue.
•It contains many camerawork and editing decisions that will have an effect on
meaning created.Also, the types of stories that
make the news - the "if it
bleeds it leads" approach does
not create a well-rounded
picture of events as they occur
in real life.

24. KEY POINT: reality on television is constructed
TV drama takes a further step into constructed
reality by dealing with characterisations and
dramatic elements within those characters lives.
TV dramas, although fictitious, may perpetuate
stereotypes that influence our perceptions about
different groups of people.

27. Stereotypes
• Short hand
• Not realistic
• Often impolite

28. Stereotyping Involves
• Simplification
• Exaggeration or Distortion
• Generalisation
• Presentation of cultural attributes as being
‘natural’.

30. The Countertype
• A countertype is a positive stereotype
• It emphasizes the positive features about a
person.
• An example of a countertype is
that all religious people are kind.

31. ARCHETYPES
Characters seen again and again

32. Analysing Representation
The factors of representation most commonly
addressed are:
• Sexuality
• Ability/Disability
• Regional/National identity
• Class & Status
• Age
• Gender
• Ethnicity

33. Representation of Gender in health magazines

35. Representationofwoman

36. Representationofmen

37. How to the
representations
differ?

38. Chris Redfield
Resident Evil
Lara Croft
Tom Raider 1996
Representations of gender in Video Games

39. Up until quite recently female characters
tended to play secondary roles, and were
often represented in sexualised ways -
again perhaps an an aspiration or fantasy
image of a girlfriend for many gamers?
Representations of gender in Video Games

42. CONTEXT – Historical representation
Bounty Advert 1950s
Bounty 2000
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3Mzwi2pTEI

43. 2018
https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/maltesers-shines-spotlight-misrepresented-women-

44. Representation of
Ability/Disability
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/disability-45601646?ocid=socialflow_facebook&ns_campaign=bbcnews&ns_mchannel=social&ns_so

45. WHO has created the representation?
Gatekeeping
‘gatekeepers’ - that is the people who are part
of the decision making process in the
construction of media texts.

46. WHO has created the representation?
Gatekeeping
Who do you consider to be
gatekeepers?

47. PRODUCER
FILMMAKER
MESSAGE/
INTENDED
MEANING
DENOTATION CONNOTATION DIFFERENT
INTERPRETATION
Gender
Age
Nationality
Ethnicity
Political
Representation
The Gatekeepers

48. Representation Theory

49. Richard Dyer’s Typography (1985)
1.What is represented?
2.How is this representative of social groups?
3.Who is responsible for the representation?
4.What does the audience make of it?

50. Questions we would ask when analysing
representations:
WHO or WHAT is being represented?
HOW is the representation created?
WHO has created the representation?
WHY is the representation created in that way?
What is the intention?
WHAT is the effect of the representation?
Richard Dyer’s Typography (1985)Richard Dyer’s Typography (1985)

51. Reception Theory
Stuart Hall’s Reception Theory
(encode/decode)
•Preferred/Dominant reading
•Oppositional reading
•Negotiated reading
Mr Hunter YouTube Reception Theory
Mrs Fishers Reception Theory

52. STUART HALL
• Meaning in texts is encoded through media language.
• The ways in which texts are decoded often reflect the encoded
meaning although this cannot be guaranteed.
• These ‘preferred’ readings are likely to be dominant due to the
positioning of the audience through media language.
• Other possible readings can be described as negotiated or
oppositional, reflecting resistance to the encoded meaning.

53. • PREFERRED READING: Attractive young
people drink Coca-Cola… I want to be like
that so I will buy a coke
• OPPOSITIONAL READING – I hate big
companies selling junk trying to appealing
to our material desires
• NEGOTIATED READING – I now they just
want us to buy their brand but actually
this ad is quite fun and I do like the drink
so I may consider buying next time I’m in a
supermarket

57. You could have 3 reactions to this representation

59. Mrs Fishers Stuart Hall Representation Theory
Media Representations
Stuart Hall’s Representation Theory
Media Representations reinforce and
construct stereotypes that support
‘dominant ideologies’.

60. STUART HALL
• Representations in texts are established through media language.
• Media Representations are often reliant upon stereotypes which
reduce social groups to simplistic characteristics or traits.
• These stereotypes reflect inequalities in power leading to the
subordination of certain social groups (e.g. ethnic minorities,
women

63. Daily Mail owner:
Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Viscount
Rothermere Ranked 4th in the Publishing,
Advertising, and PR section of the Sunday
Times Rich List 2013 with an estimated
wealth of £720

64. Liesbet Van Zoonen
Representations of gender in
the media reflect ‘patriarchal’
society.

65. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=73GzwfKFqXc&index=7&list=PLm6BhMZgdGbBGcK-GI2IGeXXVS8n4g4b6&t=0s
Liesbet Van Zoonen’s Theory

66. Laura Mulvey The Male Gaze
The male gaze is the act of
depicting women from a masculine,
heterosexual perspective that
presents and represents women
as sexual objects for the pleasure of
the male viewer.
Active/male and passive/female

67. • Read the article and answer the
questions
HOMEWORK

68. Tide to the kitchen sink questions
•What might give you a good indication of society’s values, ideologies and aspirations?
•How is mass media funded?
•The new America sought to reward returning servicemen with “homes fit for heroes”.
What did this mean according to the article?
•Who created the Tide adverts?
•Name the two traumatic events the US had recently emerged from?
•Discuss why policy makers feared women at that time.
•How was this fear reflected in film?
•What was the focus of the media and the government in persuading women to revert back to mothers and wives?
•The image of the ‘perfect’ housewife embracing her box of Tide contains a deeper meaning? What is it?
•How might Laura Mulvey and Stuart Hall sum up the situation?
•Discuss the ideal woman in a Tide advert.
•What female identities were unacceptable?
•In the advert on page 39, what do the love hearts connote?
•Discuss what ‘isms’ were common and examples of its use.
•What was encoded and decoded in the Male Gaze media?
•This pressure to conform led to medical problems and social change. Discuss what these were.

69. David Gauntlett
Modern media offers
audiences the’ tools’ to
construct alternative
identities that challenge
traditional stereotypes.

70. David Gauntlett’s Identity Theory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTRk3Y6BnqA
1: Identities that teach us about ourselves
2: Old representations were simple (men
strong, women housewives)
NOW they are more complex and non-binary

71. The study of signs =
SEMIOTICS
DenotationDenotation - what we see/read
ConnotationConnotation - how we interpret these things

72. SEMIOTICS
Roland Barthes’ Semiotic Theory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bow0Y9QUlBU
1.Symbolic Code – symbols that connote meaning
2.Semantic Code – Connotation eg colours that symbol a meaning
3.Proairetic/Action Code – an action/body language that infers
something
4.Hermeneutic/Enigma Code – a mystery that lures you in
5.Cultural/Referential Code – esoteric – can exclude if not part of
that group. In joke/code

73. Guardian Advert 1986
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=_SsccRkLLzU

74. 1971 advert for a
mini automatic
1.How is this
character being
portrayed?
2.Why?
3.Is it a stereotype?
4.Who is the
gatekeeper?
5.Who is the target
audience?

75. How are these represented in adverts?
• Children
• Women
• Young males

76. PROPP’s STOCK CHARACTERS
Vladimir Propp (Russian scholar
1928) studied folk tales and
concluded that all narratives have
some/all of the following 8
characters

77. Vladimir Propp’s Theory
of Stock Characters

78. The Hero
Defeats the villain, saves the day and marries the princess

79. The Villain
Struggles against the hero

80. The Princess
Usually in distress and in need of saving
‘The prize’ and usually marries the hero

81. The Helper
Perhaps a Nobel steed or a friend of the heroes that helps him along the quest.

82. The False Hero
Tries to take the heroes place and claim
the reward

83. The DonorPrepares the hero and provides him with tools that could save the day

84. The Dispatcher
Character who makes the ‘lack’ known and sends the hero
off.

85. Vladimir Propp’s Stock characters
• The Villain – struggles with the hero
• The Dispatcher – sends the hero off
• The Helper – helps the hero in their quest
• The Princess or Prize –the hero’s journey often finishes with a
uniting with the hero (saves, marries)
• Her Father – gives the task to the hero (not as easy to indentify)
• The Donor – gives the hero something that will help n his quest
• The Hero (or victim)
• The False Hero – takes credit for the hero’s action and tries to get
the princess

86. EXTENSION
Representation of gender in Video Games

87. Representations of gender
Many early video games were designed by and
for teenage / 20-something young men.

88. Representations of gender
Male characters tended to be strong, muscular, brave and
powerful - perhaps an aspiration or fantasy of the ideal self for
many gamers?
Alpha Male
Macho

90. Representations of gender
Female characters tended to play secondary
roles, and were often represented in
sexualised ways - again perhaps an an
aspiration or fantasy image of a girlfriend
for many gamers?

91. Representation and gender
These representations seem old-fashioned now.
The audience for video games includes a lot of
older people, and a lot of girls and women.
But these stereotyped representations of men
and women have carried on in many games.

92. Representation today - gender
A study of the main (playable) characters in the 150
most popular games in America in 2012 showed:
o ? % were adult males?
o ?% were female?

93. Representation today - gender
A study of the main (playable) characters in the 150
most popular games in America in 2012 showed:
o over 80% were adult males
o less than 20% were female

94. Representation today - ethnicity
A study of the main (playable) characters in the 150
most popular games in America in 2012 showed:
o ?% were black ?
o ?% were Asian ?
o ?% were Hispanic ?
o ?% children or old people ?

95. Representation today
What is your overall evaluation of the
representation of video game characters?
o over 80% were adult males
o less than 20% were female
o over 80% were white
o 15% were black
o 4% were Asian
o almost none were Hispanic
o there were very few children or old people

96. Tropes vs women in video games
This series suggests a key stereotype of women
in video games is the Damsel in Distress, a
woman who needs rescuing, by a male
character.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=LjImnqH_KwM

97. Tropes vs women in video games
This series suggests a key stereotype of women in
video games is the Damsel in Distress, a woman who
needs rescuing, by a male character.
1. The Damsel in Distress - part 1
2. The Damsel in Distress - part 2

98. Women are stereotyped in video games?
Do you agree?
Can you think of any games where women are
NOT the damsels in distress?
Or games where they have other roles?

99. Stereotypes sell games
Video games sell better when they use stereotypes.
The audience finds stereotypes (e.g. the tough aggressive
soldier, the damsel in distress) easy to recognise and easy to
understand.
Using stereotypes makes it easier to market (sell) a game.
But it also means that people who don’t fit the stereotype
aren’t represented in games – they become ‘invisible.’
Do you think this is true? And if it is true, is it OK?

100. Comparing representations
Comment on these aspects of representation Chris Redfield
Resident Evil 6
Lara Croft
Tomb Raider
body size and shape - what features are
emphasised?
costume- what do they wear?
props - what items to they tend to have / use?
facial expressions?
gestures?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ0TlRKrKKQ

101. Chris Redfield
Resident Evil

102. Lara Croft
Tom Raider 1996

103. Lara Croft is often cited as the first
Strong woman role model in films and
video games
The evolution of Lara Croft
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Auuf8ePOoLc

104. Grand Theft Auto V
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0gotQ06I8I 3’24” – 4’32”
• Traditional representation?
• Modern/challenges traditional
representations?

105. Grand Theft Auto V
Traditional representation?
Nagging wife
Bikini clad blonde
‘Poor white trash’ ‘Trailer Trash’
Modern/challenges traditional representations?
A crook with an analyst (a sensitive side?)
Main black characters
Music by Queen – well known gay lead singer

106. Gaming today: The gamers
What % are female?
What gender are the seerious gamers
Which gender uses the console the most?
Which gender uses the smartphone or DS Wii more?
Average age of a gamer?

107. Gaming today: The gamers
Over 40% of video gamers are female. Women tend to
play on smartphones, on Nintendo DS consoles and on Wii
consoles. They are more likely to be casual or social
gamers.
Men still tend to dominate the console (X-box, PlayStation)
market, and over 70% of serious gamers are male.
The average age of gamers is 37 years (although younger
people tend to put in more gaming hours).