Media Representation Theory

Re-presentation

• Representation theory is a complex concept when applied to the media industry and how the media portray reality.
• It is based on the idea that no matter how realistic things seem, they are merely a construction, a re-presentation.
• The media re-present certain images or stories until they are familiar to the viewer.
• They support this with the exclusion of other images, making them unfamiliar to the viewer.
• Re-presentation is applicable on a personal level, we re-present ourselves on social media all the time.

Refraction

• The media can sometimes give us a real but misleading images or stories.
• Verisimilitude (the sense of reality) is key to ‘believable’ media, but this proposed reality is distorted by the conventions of certain forms, eg. comedy is required to be funny.
• News channels like to tell real stories, but can use refraction to push a certain agenda.
• It is important to note when the media use refraction it can alter the development of said forms.

Stereotypes

• When re-presentations affects an individual’s generalized belief of another person, or group of people they’re called stereotypes.
• This can be applied to how the individual thinks of situations or processes in real life. These stereotypes are sometimes called scripts.
• The main issue of real life scripts is that we perform them in our own lives, making us less authentic.
• Stereotypes are based on categorisation and evaluation. Exaggeration of some easily perceived characteristics of the groups can lead to the suggestion these characteristics are the cause of the groups position in social hierarchy.
• Stereotypes rely on distinct differences & constrained boundaries in order to be sustained. It puts these characteristics at the centre of a group and implies that all individuals of the group denerally adhered to these characteristics.

Gender Representation and Imagery

• In this sense biological sex and gender are two different social aspects. A babies sex says ‘It’s a boy’, but gender roles say that boy needs a blue blue clothes.
• It is closely linked to feminism in the sense that gender roles are damaging & limiting to an individual’s sense of identity.
• The fact that it is reported now that girls outperform boys in school when prior to this shift in academic demographics the media ignored the academic accomplishments of the male population.
• I believe this stems from the stereotype that males outperform females in all areas, hence the media never celebrated accomplishments that were expected from the male population.
• Through female representation in the media, the age at which girls are addressed as sexual beings is lowering while young women are learning to see themselves as ‘looked at’. They then aspire to be the media’s unattainable version of beautiful which can lead to body dysmorphia.
• Graphic reports of sexual violence in newspapers that also advertise sex chat hotlines & lap dancing clubs in classifieds is just one example of how abhorrent the media can be in how they influence the sex industry.