Representation

Representation

 

Definition: representation is the way in which meaning is given to the things which are depicted that stand in for something. The word suggests something was there already and has been represented by the media.

Representation can change overtime as many people believe that media is powerful, so it changes people’s attitudes and beliefs.

The seven areas of representation are;

• Regional identify (e.g. an unnecessary disliking of each other, just because you’re from a different part of the country)
• Age (a separation of people by which generation they come from)
• Sexuality (e.g. people who are really deep inside and what they want to make themselves happy, no matter what the situation)
• Gender (a separate by physical nature, but being brought together by being so opposite)
• Physical ability/ disability (e.g. people whose body’s do not function as well as others)
• Ethnicity (e.g. racism and the discrimination there is in the world)
• Class and status (e.g. a huge divide in the human species due to money. Having high status is having lots of material possessions whereas being poor is having the lack of the basic human necessities).   

An example of regional identify TV drama is EastEnders. From what I already knew from EastEnders, it’s the accents that point us towards their regional identify. Their accents are very ‘east-end’ and they use cockney rhyming slang ever now and again.
The setting of the show is in a little village and meeting places like the pub could represent that they are in London village. 



An example of how media represents age is ‘Skins’ a TV Drama series. ‘Skins’ is a young adult’s television drama series which follows the life of teenagers in their everyday lives. In one of the series opening scenes we see a character (Tony) watching an older woman, through his windows, getting ready. This shows how teenage boys are stereotypically shown constantly have sexual fantasises.


Sophie Webster in Coronation Street goes against the typical stereotype of homosexual women. This is because she appears to be very feminine looking with long brown hair; she wears a fair amount of makeup and wears costumes that consist of fashionable clothes of the latest trends. She is considered to fit in as she has both male and female friends and has a job at the local shop and gets on with everyone in the street without controversy

Female characters’ professional lives are usually ignored, or more often, they are portrayed as housewives who take care of children and family chores everyday, but not ambitious at all in building a career. For the relatively small amount of women who try to further their professional lives, they invariable seem to fail. For example Samantha from EastEnders left her husband to purse a career in modelling, but was unsuccessful.  In this way, female characters are often punished for pursuing their own careers at the expense of their boyfriends or husbands.



In need of pity and charity- Barnes claims that this is stereotype has grown in popularity in recent years because of television appeals such as Children in Need. Disables as victims- Barnes found that when people with disabilities are featured in television drama, they are three times more likely than able-bodied characters to be killed off.

Class of status- Made in Chelsea- social class is very important in made in Chelsea as even the name of the TV show states where the characters are from. The characters are very posh and rich, and appear to lead simple lives without stressful nine to five jobs.


ethnicity- Misfits- each of the character are represented in completely different ways. three different ethnicities are shown in the exact; black British, white British, Irish and mixed race. Curtis, who plays the black British male character follows the typical stereotype. the Irish character, Nathan , follows a typical Irish stereotype as he has charm and is quite humorous. the white character is gob and aggressive in the extract, and the mixed race character is glamorous and feminine in the extract.