Representation- The way in which people, events and ideas are presented to the audience.
Stereotypes- Media institutions use stereotypes because the audience will instantly understand them.Stereotypes are thought of as a 'visual short cut'. They are used so frequently that we believe they are normal or true.
Archetypes- The ultimate stereotype.
Counter-types- A representation that challenges the typical stereotype of a person, place or group of people.
Gatekeepers- Any person who is involved in a media production with the power to make decisions about what the audience are allowed to read, hear and see or not see. For example a newspaper editor has the final say on what is shown in the newspaper, the pictures shown and the title's of the different pieces.
Media Moguls- A media proprietor or media mogul refers to a successful entrepreneur or businessperson who controls, through personal ownership or via a dominant position in any media related company or enterprise consumed by a large number of individuals.
Media Consumers- Media consumption or media diet is the sum of information and entertainment media taken in by an individual or group. It includes activities such as interacting with new media; reading books and magazines; watching television and film; listening to radio; and so on.
When analysing representation we have to take into consideration the following things:
Who? (Is being represented? Is the preferred audience for the representation?)
What? (Are they doing? Is their activity presented as typical (normal) or atypical (abnormal)? Do they conform the genre expectations or other conventions)
Why? (Are they present? What purpose do they serve?)
Where? (Are they? How are they framed? Are they presented as artificial or natural? What surrounds them? What is in the foreground? What is in the background?)
Theories
The Male Gaze- Developed by feminist, Laura Mulvey describes how the audience, or viewer, is put into the perspective of a heterosexual male. Mulvey believes that women should enjoy the attention of attracting the gaze, and put themselves in positions to be looked at. The concept of ‘the gaze’ is one that deals with how an audience views the people/person presented. Mulvey states that in film women are typically the objects, rather than the possessors, of gaze because the control of the camera (and thus the gaze) comes from factors such as the as the assumption of heterosexual men as the default target audience for most film genres.
Richard Dyer- Richard Dyer’s Star Theory is the idea that icons and celebrities are constructed by institutions for financial reasons and are built to target a specific audience or group of people. Dyer’s theory can be broken down into 3 sections:
- Audience and Institutions
- Constructions
- Hegemony (Cultural Beliefs)
