RepresentationDVLA

 Representation

The representation of media is the ideas it conveys to its audience. This may include the dominant stereotypes of certain groups in society and their individual countertypes, archetypes of other groups and even binary opposites to unify the medias viewership against a select group.

Straying away from the news, many forms of media represent themselves in a certain way such as advertisements for products resulting in products loosing their meaning and intention - this is called post modernism an example of this would be Jordans being used for everyday footwear. These advertising companies also sometimes portray unrealistic messages thus alienating their audience, making them feel abnormal and thus more inclined to buy their products - this is called hyperreality - where consumers reality is warped by unattainable standards, objectives and items.

There are many media theorists that discuss representation in media-

One  well known example would be Liesbet Van Zoonan who discussed representation in media from a feminist perspective. She states that ‘gender is performative’ and how our ideas of femininity and masculinity are shown through our roles in media and states how gender is ‘contextual’ and changes with culture and history. She essentially believes that our gender is shown through our actions and is not as simple and set in stone. Zoonan does not believe that the internet is tailored to women and believes the internet as a collective views men’s and women’s body’s and roles in a vastly different manour.

Representation in media is demonstrated to many groups, these groups can be separated into a simple acronym-

C-CLASS

A-AGE

G-GENDER

E-ETHNICITY

D-DISABILITY

Each of these groups are affected and treated differently in the media industry and leads to many conflicts which are admittedly improving- an example of this would be advertisements in the early 2010s often had very little representation of different groups such as ethnicity. This is evident in the advert linked here - https://youtu.be/QU4-_Z3LV00?feature=shared . This advert was shown nationwide to kids and showed 2  white children and on the box of the product was 3 more white and seemingly able bodied children. The lack of representation was unjust as even in 2010, around 7% of UK residents were not born in the UK. These adverts (shown to children) pose a risk as it could alienate those who don’t fit into the same ethnic groups and even give young children close minded views about their country and residents. Changes are being made though! https://youtu.be/v5l0XINFQao?si=wXpBoM361GnZe2tg

Disney

There is also increasing representation in the cinema industry. An example of this is Disney who have recently created more culturally diverse films and even starred different ethnicities to highlight other cultures. This is evident in the film 'soul', a film about a teacher named Joe who is struggling to reach his dream of being a piano player in a jazz band. This film does a great job of showing the world other cultures and increasing the representation of the African American community in film.

Representation in media is also an increasing problem due to advertisements and general media sources conveying unreachable standards for appearance. This is called hyperreality - when your reality is permeated with hyperreal images - personal perception on what's real becomes warped - end up chasing the unattainable - the photoshopped picture becomes the norm and you become abnormal. This has cause MANY issues for the vast population of young people as the bodies and appearances seen on tv are often edited or rare however because its so widely viewed, it becomes expected of people to look like those unrealistic appearances.