Media Representations

What Media Representations covers

Media Representations is examined in both written papers — the four areas of the theoretical framework and the contexts run through every section of the course, and are applied to whichever set products a centre has chosen. It covers selection, combination and the construction of reality; mediation, verisimilitude and claims about realism; stereotypes and countertypes; the under-representation and misrepresentation of social groups; producers' choices and the economics of representation; the social, cultural and historical contexts of representation; the reinforcement of values, attitudes and beliefs; discourse, ideology and the positioning of audiences; audience responses; and self-representation and the curated self. It also covers the theorists Stuart Hall on the constructionist approach, Gauntlett on pick-and-mix identity, van Zoonen on the patriarchal gaze, bell hooks on intersectionality and the oppositional gaze, Butler on gender performativity, and Gilroy on the Black Atlantic and postcolonial melancholia.

The 18 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Selection, combination and the construction of realityRecall questions on representation as re-presentation, selection and combination, absence, framing, editing and captions, mediation, social identity, and why a representation is a construction rather than a reflection.Open →
• Mediation, verisimilitude and claims about realismRecall questions on generic and cultural verisimilitude, claims to realism, the conventions of social realism, handheld and documentary techniques, constructed reality formats, live reporting and public footage, and why definitions of realism change.Open →
• Stereotypes, countertypes and their usesRecall questions on stereotypes and countertypes, why producers use them, Perkins on their accuracy and structure, positive and negative uses, symbolic annihilation, archetypes, and Stuart Hall on stereotyping as a practice of power.Open →
• Under-representation and misrepresentation of social groupsRecall questions on under-representation and misrepresentation, tokenism and whitewashing, the range of roles a group is given, Alvarado's categories of ethnic representation, global markets and national context, and nothing about us without us.Open →
• Producers' choices and the process of representationRecall questions on how target audience, genre, gatekeeping, interviewee choice, production teams, deadlines, platform, brand identity, editorial values and regulation shape a producer's representations, including own-voice representation.Open →
• Industry context and the economics of representationRecall questions on how advertiser, public service and subscription funding, global distribution, risk aversion, franchises, co-productions, budgets, age classification, audience data and mergers shape the range of representations produced.Open →
• Social and cultural context in representationRecall questions on how law, faith, gender attitudes and moral panics shape representations, dominant culture and cultural appropriation, subcultures becoming mainstream, regional and national media, and contexts of production and consumption.Open →
• Historical context and changing representationsRecall questions on the historical context of a representation, texts made in and about a period, how war, technology, economic hardship and genre history shape representations, remakes, content warnings and reading a text retrospectively.Open →
• Values, attitudes and beliefs, and their reinforcementRecall questions on how endings, casting, mise-en-scène and sound convey values, the naturalisation of a value, the dominant value system, makeover formats, and the systematic reinforcement of beliefs across media and genres.Open →
• Discourse, ideology and the positioning of audiencesRecall questions on ideology and discourse, how texts position their audience, hegemony and common sense, news frames, the discourse of crime reporting, and asking who benefits from a representation.Open →
• Audience response and interpretation of representationsRecall questions on why audiences read representations differently, identification and oppositional responses, reading positions, the effects of class, national identity and historical moment, online responses, and the difficulty of audience research.Open →
• Self-representation, social identity and the curated selfRecall questions on self-representation and the curated self, Goffman's self-presentation, the imagined audience and context collapse, platform design, personal brands and influencer authenticity, and the limits of self-representation.Open →
• Hall and the constructionist approach to representationRecall questions on Stuart Hall's constructionist approach and how it differs from the reflective and intentional approaches, preferred meaning and power, stereotyping as a signifying practice, and his critique of the anti-stereotype.Open →
• Gauntlett, identity and the pick-and-mix audienceRecall questions on Gauntlett's pick-and-mix identity, identity as choice, what traditional and online media offer, identity built through everyday creativity, how the theory differs from effects models, its application to magazines, and its criticisms.Open →
• van Zoonen, the patriarchal gaze and gender as performanceRecall questions on van Zoonen's account of women's bodies as objects, gender as contextual and performed, her rejection of essentialism, how she differs from Mulvey's male gaze, applications to music video and advertising, and criticisms.Open →
• bell hooks, intersectionality and the oppositional gazeRecall questions on hooks's definition of feminism, the interlocking system she names, the oppositional gaze, and who actually coined intersectionality.Open →
• Butler, gender performativity and gender troubleRecall questions on gender performativity, why it is repetition rather than a single act, how it differs from performance, and what Butler means by gender trouble.Open →
• Gilroy, the Black Atlantic and postcolonial melancholiaRecall questions on Gilroy's Black Atlantic, ethnic absolutism, double consciousness, postcolonial melancholia and conviviality, and how his theory applies to migration news, colonial dramas and popular music.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Media Representations further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Stereotype vs Archetype

  Stereotype: a simplified and widely recognised set of characteristics attached to a whole social group and repeated across many texts. Archetype: A recurring character function in storytelling, such as the hero or the trickster.

• Under-representation vs Misrepresentation

  Under-representation: a group appearing far less often than its place in society would suggest, or appearing only within a narrow range of settings. Misrepresentation: A group appearing regularly but being consistently tied to a narrow, distorted or false set of characteristics.

• Countertype vs Positive stereotype

  Countertype: an image that deliberately reverses what an audience expects of a group, showing its members in an unfamiliar light. Positive stereotype: A flattering but still fixed set of traits attached to a whole group, which individual members are then judged against.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Define the term representation as it is used in media study.

   Model answer

   Representation is the process by which the media construct and convey meaning about events, issues, individuals and social groups through the signs they select and combine.

2. 2

   What does it mean to call a media text a re-presentation rather than a record?

   Model answer

   It means the media do not deliver reality directly but rework it, so what an audience receives is a constructed version of an event, issue, individual or group.

3. 3

   What is meant by selection in the construction of a representation?

   Model answer

   Selection is the choice of which people, places, details, images, sounds and words to include, and by implication which ones to leave out.

4. 4

   What is meant by combination in the construction of a representation?

   Model answer

   Combination is the way the selected elements are arranged together, through editing, sequencing, framing and juxtaposition, so that they generate meaning as a whole.

5. 5

   Why is absence as important as presence when analysing a representation?

   Model answer

   What is consistently left out shapes meaning as strongly as what is shown, because audiences judge a group by the range of things the media routinely omit about it.

6. 6

   Explain how the framing of a shot contributes to a representation.

   Model answer

   Framing decides what falls inside and outside the image, directing attention to some details and excluding others, and it can make a subject appear dominant, isolated or threatening.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Media Representations revision questions

What does Media Representations cover in OCR A-Level Media Studies?

18 subtopics: selection, combination and the construction of reality, mediation, verisimilitude and claims about realism, stereotypes, countertypes and their uses, under-representation and misrepresentation of social groups, producers' choices and the process of representation, industry context and the economics of representation, social and cultural context in representation, historical context and changing representations, values, attitudes and beliefs, and their reinforcement, discourse, ideology and the positioning of audiences, audience response and interpretation of representations, self-representation, social identity and the curated self, hall and the constructionist approach to representation, gauntlett, identity and the pick-and-mix audience, van zoonen, the patriarchal gaze and gender as performance, bell hooks, intersectionality and the oppositional gaze, butler, gender performativity and gender trouble and gilroy, the black atlantic and postcolonial melancholia. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Media Representations organised?

By the OCR H409 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.