Representation (last assessment 2023) Notes

Media Representation is all about the way in which producers choose to portray something in a media text.

It might be useful to think of representation as ‘re-presentation’ – rather than showing audiences reality exactly as it is, media texts take aspects of reality and manipulate them (sometimes very subtly) before presenting them to audiences. This is because reality is very complex. Representing every single aspect of a person, issue, event, etc. in all its complexity is impossible.

Therefore, producers agree on a target audience and ‘re-present’ aspects of reality in a way that this audience can relate to. In doing so, producers construct a version of reality for this particular audience, as opposed to a reflection of reality itself. Producers pick and choose what they want to represent in a text through a process of selection, combination and mediation:

• Audience Positioning – The various techniques used by creators of a media text to help the audience consume and interpret the text in the way that was intended, e.g. lifestyle magazines will often use a direct mode of address positioning audiences to be inspired by what they read in the magazine
• Audience Identification – When creators identify the core audience for a media text so they can construct representations that will appeal to this audience, e.g. it is clear that more and more women now enjoy playing video games. The video game industry has responded by creating more female protagonists to help appeal to this audience.
• Positive Representation – When a media text emphasises the positive qualities of a particular person, social group, issue, etc., e.g. the British media generally represents the NHS in a positive light
• Negative Representation – When a media text emphasises the positive qualities of a particular person, social group, issue, etc., e.g. tabloid newspapers have been regularly accused of negatively representing migrants
• Stereotyping – Representations that reduce a person or group to a narrow set of traits and characteristics, e.g. mainstream cinema has historically represented Arabian people as villains and fools  
• Countertyping – Representations that emphasise the positive attributes of a person or group, often combating stereotypes in the process, e.g. Pride magazine celebrates the beauty and achievements of black women: a group that has been, historically, stereotyped in the mainstream media

The media’s use of stereotypes concerns people because stereotypes do not allow for individual uniqueness – stereotypes involve a shared understanding that allows people to get along in day-to-day life. Stereotypical representations make for an oversimplified version of reality based on just a small grain of truth. The representation of places, people, idea, etc. creates certain messages and values. This is called ‘ideology’ and it plays a major part in how audiences relate to, and use, media texts.