Post 6 - Representaion Theory

Representations is a key concept in Media Studies, much debated and discussed. Some critics highly rate the way media representation affects our world:

Social groups, gender, age, class, race
- Intuition; commercial TV
                Sky TV
                Sell time to advertisers
BBC is not for [didactic-emotional]
Profitable organisation- can go against stereotypes.
- Audience [Expectation]- Susan Boyle; 'we laughed'
-Technical codes; Camera editing
                            Mise en scene
                            Rich represent Gender/class
Genre; Archytype representation
           Narrow structures a women
All media texts are created in a particular institutional context.
This context will modify the representation.
There is an interplay between the target audience, the institution and the generic conventions.

Representations of three existing media products:

Representation of gender in Doctor Who

Doctor Who

Doctor Who represents men as having more power than women. The main female character, Rose, is shown to be Blonde and attractive, her mise en scene in costume wise is set to be sexualised because her clothing seems to be very tight fitted such as fitted trousers and a fitted bright red top however although she may seem all 'pretty' she is smart enough to figure out where she is whereas her boyfriend is the 'not so tough/strong' one who faints straightaway as he sees that their out of space. The main male character, The Doctor, however is shown to be very clever, The Doctor is shown to have authority over Rose because she is like his 'personal assistant' so she does anything he says or in other words following his orders i.e. "off you go".

Representation of Race in Coronation Street

Coronation street today has more complex of representations of Britishness as before with a range of multicultural and working class people. One of the characters was seen cleaning a window which is not a very highly paid job, some of the women however were portrayed as a bit 'chavy' their mise-en-scene consists of large hooped earrings, bright hooded top and very tight fitted clothing and one of the smoking a 'fag' yet they're both mothers which suggests them being irresponsible whilst having an argument in front of their children. 

Feminists approaches on the representation of gender, these consist of Susan Faludi 'backlash' theory [a series of Hollywood films in the late 1980s/1990s featuring very negative representations of career women: Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct
another feminist called Annette Kuhn 'The industry wants to let everyone have their ideological cake and eat it too. In other words you'll see deliberate ambiguities structured into every film to come about strong women.  and finally Gammon and Marshment in the Female Gaze contested the determinism of Mulvey's views.

Post 5 - Narrative Theory

A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non fictional or fictional events.

What does narrative mean?

- The way that stories are told - how meaning is constructed to achieve audience understanding
- The voice of the narrative can vary whose story is being told and from whose perspective?
- Narrative plot- refers to everything audibly or visibly present i.e. selective
- Narrative story- refers to all events, explicitly presented and inferred
- Organises time and space in very compressed form
- Constructed through camerawork, lighting and mise-en-scene
- Group events into cause (something that happens which causes an event) and effect- action and event

Roland Barthes believed that there are 5 action codes within the genre sector, and these are as follows:
1) Hermeneutic (interpretation) code: An element of life story not explained or unanswered questions make us think.
2) Proairetic code: Builds tension - an indication in which something is about to happen, the reader/viewer starts to question.
3) Semantic code: Connotations/extended meanings.
4) Symbolic code: Symbolisms throughout the film.
5) Cultural code: The things we believe throughout our culture.