RepresentationWhat does ‘representation’ mean?The easiest way to understand the concept of representation is to remember that watching TV programme is not the same as watching something happen in real life. All media products re-present the real world to us; they show us one version of reality, not reality itself.So, the theory of representation in Media Studies means thinking about how a particular person or group of people are being presented to the audience.

Stereotypes

The media represents people in such a way that the human brain adapts the ways and it sinks in, making everyone believe that it is the norm “status quo”.

Antonio GramsciAntonio Gramsci (1891 – 1937). He was an Italian

political theorist. A founding member and onetime leader of the Communist Party of Italy, he was imprisoned by Mussolini’s Fascist regime.He is renowned for his concept of cultural hegemony as a means of maintaining the state in a capitalist society

Hegemony

Hegemony is the way in which those in power maintain their control.Dominant ideologies are considered hegemonic; power in society is maintained by constructing ideologies which are usually promoted by the mass media.

Gramsci and HegemonyIn “advanced” industrial societies hegemonic cultural innovations such as compulsory schooling, the mass media, and popular culture have indoctrinated workers to a false consciousness.

Cultural Hegemony

Cultural hegemony is the philosophic and sociological concept that a culturally-diverse society can be ruled or dominated by one of its social classes.

It is the dominance of one social group over another, e.g. the ruling class over all other classes.

The theory claims that the ideas of the ruling class come to be seen as the norm; they are seen as universal ideologies, perceived to benefit everyone whilst only really benefiting the ruling class

Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the purchase of goods and services in ever-greater amounts. Criticisms of consumption are already present in the works of Thorstein Veblen.

Consumerism

TheoristsJudith Butler

In her most influential book Gender Trouble (1990), Butler argued that feminism has made a mistake by tying to assert that ‘women’ were a group with common characteristics and interests. That approach , Butler said, performed ‘an unwitting regulation and reification of gender relations’ – reinforcing a binary view of gender relations in which human beings are divided into two clear-cur groups, women and men. Rather than opening up possibilities for a person to form and choose their own identity , therefore, feminism had closed the options down.

Laura Mulvey coined the term ‘Male Gaze’ in 1975. She believes that in the film audiences have to ‘view’ characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male.

Laura Mulvey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ABNEjPxWEg

Watch the video and be prepared for some questions

What colour top was he and she wearing ?

What bowling lane was used?

What colour belt did she wear

What colour shoes did she wear?

What colour eyes did she have ?

Quick Questions

Why some of you may not have known the answers to all the questions.

You were too busy looking at the woman

theorists…

Jean Baudrillard