intro to representation wjec
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
The Media and Representation
What will you be studying?
• What is meant by representation?
• What kind of world is being constructed by the media text?
• Who is in control of the text? Whose ideas and values are expressed through representations?
• How will audiences interpret/decode the representations in the text? Who is the text aimed at?
• The ‘Effects debate’ how representations in the media effect the audience – our opinions and attitudes of people/groups/issues.
What is Representation?• When you switch on your TV the images on the screen look like the ones
you see when you look through your window.
• TV is often described as a ‘window on the world’
• However TV ( and the media) is not a window on the world or could ever be.
• Every televised image is a product of many decisions about how reality should be transformed.
• TV/ the media can only ever offer versions of reality …
• …influenced by the decision making processes of media producers and the technical constraints of the media/ medium.
• “The media, therefore, is not a window on the world.” (Stuart Hall)
• It is a “distorting mirror.”
(John Pilger)
What is Representation?
• Representation is how the media re-presents reality.
• It is not simply an accurate reflection of reality.
• People, places, events and issues are all things that can be given a specific representation.
Moving Image Examples
• TOWIE/ Made in Chelsea
• Triumph of the Will
• The X- Factor
Key points to remember:
• A representation is never the whole truth about what is represented – it is only one version or perception of the truth
• A media representation is a construction – an image made by a team of people, each of whom has some influence in shaping the final product/text.
• This shaping process is known as MEDIATION
Mediation• MEDIATION = The way the media represents/
recreates reality.
( it selects, constructs and focuses upon particular elements. Choices are made about what to leave out and what is drawn to our attention.)
• Simply it is the idea that when the medium (TV. Film, newspapers) carries a message it is mediating it.
• Mediation is the act of ‘going between’ - in this case between the ‘real world’ and the ‘audience’.
Mediation
• When you think about it you may come to the conclusion that much of what you know and most of your experiences are merely mediated.
• Task: Think of as many words/things/ideas that you would associate with the country Egypt.
Construction and Focus
• So media texts ( and representations) are all constructions – they are built.
• Focus – mediation also encourages the audience to focus upon a particular aspect of the media texts to push us towards a certain perspective.
• E.g. in a drama the camera may focus upon a particular chaarcter or in newspapers and magazines our eyes are drawn to the headlines and coverlines
Representation is a Controversial Concept
• Our beliefs, views and values (and prejudices) are shaped by representations in the media…