stuart hall

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Modules/MC30820/represent.html

Media Representation

Representation refers to the construction in any medium (especially the mass media) of aspects of ‘reality’ such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstract concepts. Such representations may be in speech or writing as well as still or moving pictures.

The term refers to the processes involved as well as to its products. For instance, in relation to the key markers of identity - Class, Age, Gender and Ethnicity (the 'cage' of identity) - representation involves not only how identities are represented (or rather constructed) within the text but also how they are constructed in the processes of production and reception by people whose identities are also differentially marked in relation to such demographic factors. Consider, for instance, the issue of 'the gaze'. How do men look at images of women, women at men, men at men and women at women?

A key in the study of representation concern is with the way in which representations are made to seem ‘natural’. Systems of representation are the means by which the concerns of ideologies are framed; such systems ‘position’ their subjects.

Semiotics and content analysis (quantitative) are the main methods of formal analysis of representation.

Semiotics foregrounds the process of representation.
Reality is always represented - what we treat as 'direct' experience is 'mediated' by perceptual codes. Representation always involves 'the construction of reality'.
All texts, however 'realistic' they may seem to be, are constructed representations rather than simply transparent 'reflections', recordings, transcriptions or reproductions of a pre-existing reality.
Representations which become familiar through constant re-use come to feel 'natural' and unmediated.

Representations require interpretation - we make modality judgements about them.
Representation is unavoidably selective, foregrounding some things and backgrounding others.

Realists focus on the 'correspondence' of representations to 'objective' reality (in terms of 'truth', 'accuracy' and 'distortion'), whereas constructivists focus on whose realities are being represented and whose are being denied.
Both structuralist and poststructuralist theories lead to 'reality' and 'truth' being regarded as the products of particular systems of representation - every representation is motivated and historically contingent.
Key Questions about Specific Representations

What is being represented?

How is it represented? Using what codes? Within what genre?
How is the representation made to seem 'true', 'commonsense' or 'natural'?
What is foregrounded and what is backgrounded? Are there any notable absences?
Whose representation is it? Whose interests does it reflect? How do you know?
At whom is this representation targeted? How do you know?
What does the representation mean to you? What does the representation mean to others? How do you account for the differences?
How do people make sense of it? According to what codes?
With what alternative representations could it be compared? How does it differ?
A reflexive consideration - Why is the concept of representation problematic?
Comparisons with related representations within or across genres or media can be very fruitful, as can comparisons with representations for other audiences, in other historical periods or in other cultural contexts.

Approaches to Teaching Representation

Thematically: e.g. class, age, gender, ethnicity, or more broadly via identity, stereotyping, ‘prejudice’ (typically racial) or ‘bias’ (typically political); also topics such as royalty, motherhood, childhood, nationhood etc.
Generically: e.g. ‘bias’ in news, class in soap operas or sitcoms, gender in ads.
Media-specifically: e.g. in TV, film, comics, magazines (mags useful for representations aimed at specific audiences Television is... the most rewarding medium to use when teaching representations of class because of the contradictions which involve a mass medium attempting to reach all the parts of its class-differentiated audience simultaneously... Its representations of class can perhaps best be approached by teaching how class relations are represented and mediated within different TV genres and forms (Alvarado et al. 1987: 153)

Constructivism vs. Objectivism

Contemporary theories of representation stress the construction of particular realities. Teachers who focus on ‘bias’, ‘prejudice’ or ‘stereotypes’ risk implying that there is a single unchanging ‘true’ reality.

Four Key Themes in Racial Representations
exotic
dangerous
humorous
pitied

focus: the representation of black male youths in UK underground music culture

Alternative Representations

1. chipmunk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/aug/26/chipmunk-a-levels

2. tinchy stryder
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/aug/20/tinchy-stryder-university-east-london

3. dizzee rascal
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3100132.stm

focus: the representation of black male youths in UK underground music culture

theorits to focus on:
1. gaye tuchmen
2. judith butler
3. stuart hall

E media (youtube) texts to focus on:
1. hunt- they know me on the streets



2. joe black- hit em up



3. joe black- day in my life


E media (newspapers)
1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/oct/31/race-bias-drug-arrests-claim

2. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1321429/Black-people-26-times-likely-stopped-police.html

3. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2677098.ece

The hypodermic model
Just like the syringe used to inject a drug into a body, the media ‘injects’ messages directly into the minds of the viewers/listeners/readers; and they can be as addictive as heroin.

This approach draws attention to the power that media producers have, and to the importance of the forms of media to which audiences have access.

The ‘injected’ audience is seen as passive and powerless. This model is mostly used when the effects of media on women or children are the subject of research. The way people use media remains unaccounted for.

Cultivation theory
As audiences watch more and more film and television, they gradually develop certain views about the world, some of which are ‘false’.

This approach draws attention to the fact that audiences gain a lot of their knowledge about the world from the media. It also recognises the important role the media have in our lives.

This approach can encourage views such as: ‘Crimewatch feeds perceptions that Britain’s crime rate is growing’ while not actually measuring this idea against the actual views of audience members. In other words, it’s hard to prove accurately.

Copycat(or modelling) theory
This approach suggests that people will imitate what they see in the media – e.g. if young people watch Natural Born Killers, they will go out on a killing
spree. This is not so much a ‘theory’ as an assumption perpetuated by the Press!

The power of this approach is that it feeds off (and mirrors) the types of concerns that parents have about their kids’ media use. It might encourage parents to stop their children from playing violent computer games, for example.

Firstly: different people see different levels of ‘risk’ in different media! So one person’s threat is another person’s light evening entertainment ... Secondly: while short term effects might be measurable, it is hard to measure long term effects of this kind. This is often the basis for moral panics
– e.g. rap music leads to gun violence.

Uses and gratifications

Instead of researching what the media do to the audience, this approach studies what the audience does with the media. This approach also takes account of people’s personalities and personal needs.

The audience is seen as active, and reasonably intelligent. Life experience in general is regarded as more influential than experience of media. The pleasures that the media offer audiences are not regarded as
negative!

Too much optimism about the ‘power’ and ‘choices’ of an active
audience can distract us from the power certain texts have, or the influence that media institutions and ownership may have on texts
and understandings.

Alternative Representation of Women in Hip Hop

Lil Kim featuring Mr Cheeks – The Jump Off















The title of this video clip- ‘The Jump Off’ connotes that the protagonist Lil Kim is aggressive as the words in slang connote violence, fighting and hooliganism. This is an alternative view of women in hip hop as traditionally the women are subordinated and treated inferior, which connotes by their constant dancing in minimal clothing- connoting sexual objectification. This also connotes the fetihisization of females to attract the male audience’s attention and make them the primary targeted audience, by providing male gaze- the females.

Additionally, the use of props such as the jewellery, fur coat and big sunglasses are usually worn by men and therefore are worn by this masculine character Lil Kim. This adds to the sense that this female wants to be male and so surrounds herself around gangsters like men and refers to women as “bitches” and men as “players” and “goons”. She later confirms any suspicions of her lost masculinity when she states “we keep it gangster”. The use of the word ‘we’ refers to all her male friends surrounding her and herself.




Also, the use of constant reference to things that men would associate wealth to, she repeats over and over again in the chorus- “Hummer, Benz, twenty three inch rims, Jaguar”. By idolising the same things as me she shows that she is accepted by the mob lifestyle. However, she objectifies herself and quotes “I can make a sprite can disappear in my mouth”. This connotes oral sex, an act that all male gangsters-like artists are fixated upon during their music videos. So she identifies herself to once agin be masculine, aggressive and dominant.




With relation to the paragraph above, Lil Kim later says, “Rub on my tits, and squeeze on my ass” also, she screams “sex, drugs and cash”- the three things most associated with the gangster lifestyle, stereotypically by black male, rapper artists. In addition, opposite to men, she represents the female’s desire, it’s against stereotypes of women but due to her aggressive, red blooded, man-like nature she is exempts from judgment and frowning. To some extent it causes moral panic that women are reverting to men’s activities, and to an extent prostituting themselves.




With regards to furthering the concept that Lil Kim is of masculine nature she uses props such as a Land Rover and then exclaims “I bought the range and the rover”. This quote connotes that she too uses expensive items in life, like the male artists in the similar genre, to replace something they have missed in their life. And therefore she has become materialistic and spends money, brags about her dead gangster friends “Biggie” and then uses the excuse of alcohol to rub away any causes of concern by her audience.




Similarly, Lil Kim constantly refers to the gangster lifestyle mainly dominated by men and says “East Coast to West Coast, we keep it fly”. Usually this concept of divide refers to violent gangs rivalling each other in order to gain superiority and fight so they can reclaim the title of who is the ‘hardest’. This connotes that the ‘harder’ the crew of “goons” the more trouble they cause, the more powerful, and the more capable they are to cause damage.

To conclude, the protagonists (Lil Kim) actions and lyrics are aggressively violent, masculine, however, typical of the genre she represents. She is the anomaly.