Representation revision notes

Revision notes

Representation is a mixture of :

-       the actual thing being represented

-       the values/attitudes and lifestyle (VALs) of the people/institutions constructing the representations 

How truth is represented in the media (Hillsborough – the front of the SUN newspaper)

Representations of people in reality TV - stereotyping

Truth is ‘contested’

Stuart Hall – theories of representation

Visual representation – the image

‘Representation and the media'

The 3 main approaches:

-       Reflective – the media is a reflection of real life eg documentaries, the news !NOT horror films!

-       Intentional – that representations are all from the producer eg propaganda (persuasive)

-       Constructionist – a mix of reflective and intentional, seen ad a response to the weaknesses in those other 2 responses

Representation in advertising –

Types of audiences:

-       mass: catering to a broad and nonspecific mainstream audience

-       niche: a narrowly defined group on nonmainstream consumers

-       primary: the readership who the magazine is most directly targeted at

-       secondary: other demographics who may purchase the magazine but are not that interested ( can spread info – advertising )

Circulation – how many people buy the magazine

Readership – how many people read the magazine

Dominant reading – the Audience uncritically accepts the preferred (or intended) meaning of the text

Negotiated reading – the message is partly accepted and partly rejected

Oppositional reading – the audience rejects the message

Target Audience – a specified audience or demographic group which a media text is designed for

Demographic – the characteristics of human populations and population segments used to identify consumer markets

Social grade boundaries

A: upper middle class

B: middle class

C1: lower middle class

C2: skilled working class

D: working class

E: those at the lowest end of subsistence

Mode of address – how the text speaks to the audience and involves them

Intertextuality – the shaping of a texts meaning by another text – referencing a film in a different film

Polysemy – lots of meanings

Anchorage – fixing the meaning if the advert with a logo etc