Classwork and homework for 10th October - Mrs Hafenrichter

How to write a Representation Essay - Q1b

Apply the concept of representation to one of your coursework productions

·      Identify characters, events or issues within the production to discuss

·      What representational concepts are highlighted?  Eg, race, gender, class, age etc

·      What representations have been generated?

·      Discuss the specific elements of character representation – ie. Mode of address, facial expression, clothing, behaviour etc

·      Have any stereotypical representations been generated?

·      Does the production conform to or subvert any dominant ideologies?

Some useful quotations:

“Identities are not ‘given’ but are constructed and negotiated – David Gauntlett

“Identity is complicated.  Everybody thinks they’ve got one.  Artists play with the idea of identity in modern society.” – David Gauntlett

“Men act and women appear.”  “Men look at women.  Women watch themselves being looked at.” – John Berger

“Women are aware of being seen by a male spectator.” – John Berger

“In a media saturated world, the distinction between reality and media representations becomes blurred or invisible to us” – Julian McDougall

“In advertising, males gaze and females are gazed at” – Jib Fowles

“Female models addressed to women appear to imply a male point of view” – Paul Messaris

Depending on who the main characters were in your AS and A32 productions, choose 1 or more of the following categorisations of people, and discuss how your video represents them.

INTRO – Explain which product (AS or A2) you will be analysing and which social groups you will be analysing the representations of..

MAIN BODY – AGE – How does your film/music video construct representations of different ages?  Consider costumes, props, location, body language, facial expression, sound, edits etc

Repeat for GENDER/CLASS/ETHNICITY/GOOD VERSUS EVIL

Have you included stereotypes and why?  Have you challenged them and why?

CONCLUSION: Why did you create these representations and what was the intended effect upon the audience.

Theorists you could include:

Levi Strauss and binary opposites – which media techniques did you use to create these oppositions and to what purpose?

Laura Mulvey and the male gaze (women seen as sex objects – only two roles for women “virgin” or “whore” in the media)

Vladimir Propp – his theory of narrative suggests that texts often represent characters as particular types in order to make them easily identifiable to the audience – eg. Hero, villain, donor, dispatcher etc

How did you signify this to the audience and why does it engage them?

Angela McRobbie (http://www.angelamcrobbie.com/)

She says that men and women are often represented through stereotypes in the media and are often shown in traditional gender roles.  For example women are often shown as weaker, victims, mothers, carers etc  Men are often shown as aggressive, strong, leaders etc.  Can you apply this to your work?

Stanley Cohen – he believes certain groups in society are ‘demonised’ and ‘marginalised’ through negative representations which cause moral panic when the majority of society fears that social group.  Did you do this?  Why?  What was the effect?

Any audience theory can be applied in the conclusion – eg. Two step flow; Stuart Hall’s Reception Theory (preferred reading) etc.

More Representation Theories - Marjorie Ferguson (1980) and Trevor Millum (1975)

On both your coursework blog and your exam blog post examples from music videos to illustrate these two theorists. If your band/artist is female use Marjorie Ferguson; if male, use Trevor Millum. Remember, these theories were regarding the representation of gender in magazine front covers and adverts so make this clear.

Theories on Representation - Post on your exam blog

Laura Mulvey - "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" (1975 academic paper). Apply Mulvey's theories on the male gaze and the quality of "to-be-looked-at-ness"to the video for "She's so Lovely" by Scouting for Girls.

Look at this blog for revision

Teenagers and generational Identity.

(Mr Lane's Note - This is a long post; please don't forget to click 'read more' to see all the detail (and clips) for the different youth generations. )

Jon Savage's book (and documentary) establishes that although the idea of adolescence being a separate state from childhood and adulthood begins to exist in the 18th Century, with children working in the industrial revolution, the term 'Teenager' as a concept, as a collective identity, doesn't exist until 1945 and the end of the second world war. Savage defines a teenager as between 13-24 years old. 

Click below for more details

Introduction to G326 Section B

Here is my presentation introducing collective identity and G325.

Make sure you note down the thoughts about  Collective Identity from Polletta and Jasper,  and Gauntlett's ideas about identity and role models.

G325 Homework -

Find specific examples of what Dave Harrison describes as the common representations of Youth in the media.

For each example, write a sentence or paragraph explaining how your example fits this representation. 

1. Youth are often represented in accordance with popular or hegemonic notions of adolescence
2. Youth are often ‘demonised’ by the mass media.
3. Youth are represented as being let down by adults
4. Youth are represented as part of a subculture
5. Alienation – youth are represented as being estranged from parts of society, particularly adult society.
6. Youth are product of the society they were born into, and often embody the faults and fears of adult society.
7. Representations of UK Youth are often nostalgic and romanticized

Put this on your G325 blogs for your double lesson next week

- Mr Lane