Representation

Representation

Representation is the process by which the media presents the 'real world' to an audience. Representation is concerned with the way that people, ideas and events are presented to us. This could be representation in magazines, news, soap operas, films and so on. An example is, when we watch a football match, they replay the actions on the TV when we are watching it and they do close ups of the footballer using loads of different camera angles and reduces and uses hyperbolic sound, but in real life you won't be able to see that. Things can be described as a re-presentation of things. So the media, re-present the world to the audience.
When representing a person, media texts often focus on:

• Age
• Gender
• Race/Ethnicity
• Financial Status
• Jobs
• Culture/Nationality

The problem with representing any kind of reality in a media text is that its never going to be 100%accurate. Representation always involves the construction of a version of reality, not reality itself, so media producers have to make choices; what to put in, what to leave out.
Sometimes representations can turn into stereotypes. A stereotype is a simplified representation of character, appearance and beliefs. The media may use a stereotype because they are easily recognised by the audience and can convey ideas to the audience. In films, they present male and females in a certain way. Men are often seen as: Competitive, Physically strong, Ambitious, Ruthless, Competent and independent and woman are often seen as: Sensitive, weak, Emotional. Co-operative, Passive and submissive.

Male

In Horror/thriller films, men are normally known as the saver of the day, as they are the ones who are seen as brave and goes and saves everyone from evil. Or in a lot of cases a woman. They are just seen to have more power and energy than woman and therefore seen as more ruthless and very independent as in films, male characters only depend on themselves. An example of this is the James Bond films, Casino Royal.


You can even see by this picture that they are stereotyping because we see the man at the front and the woman at the back. This represents that the man has more power than the woman and are in led of her. The movie is a about the protagonist James Bond having to go on all these spy missions and try and catch all the terrorists with his girlfriend. Although he has a partner with him he was taught not to trust anyone. He is independent and does this all himself. This shows us that James Bond is very strong and powerful and that he is dominate.

Female

In horror/thriller films, woman are often seen as vulnerable and doesn't know what she is doing and seen weaker than the other sex. In most horror films, you see that woman screaming and running away from the evil. This makes them seem needy and need a man to come save them. This also suggests that they are not powerful. In some cases, more of them now, films show that the woman is actually the independent one and they live till the end. An example for this is the film Salt.


In this movie, the character Angelina Jolie is the last one standing. As she is the protagonist, in the film she is dependent on herself and trusts no one. Although men are still seen as more independent and powerful, in this particular film, Angelina Jolie is the powerful one and who destroys everyone.

This is how the media describes men and woman. They represent them as them.