REPRESENTATION

- The presentation of a form od reality in a media text

- A re-presentation, in which elements of reality are selected, organised and narrated.



What is being represented in a music video?

- A form of reality (e.g. verisimilitude -'the media makes use of various scripts like stereotypes for events rather than for people')
- The lyrics of a song
- The music
- The artist
- A theme within the narrative
- A movement (e.g. feminism)


DAVID GAUNTLETT - COLLECTIVE IDENTITY


- We reconfirm or challenge our identity through watching media texts
- We use texts as a toolbox to check our own identity
- Your identity is not fixed: you will be shaped by what you watch


e.g. stereotype of an indie-rock genre fan, like One Night Only, skinny jeans, scraggy hair, quirky top. Cliché outfit.


LAURA MULVEY - THE MALE GAZE


The camera 'sees' images through male eyes


Objectification of female characters
Identification with an 'ideal ego'


"Pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female." (Mulvey, 1992)


Voyeuristic - controlling gaze, associations with sadism
Fetishistic - overvaluation of the female image


Others argue the gaze could be adopted by both genders.


e.g. applied by tilt upwards in hard lighting, as if scanning female. However, arguably subverted as it is at a high angle, so female appears dominant.


JUDITH BUTLER - GENDER PERFORMANCE


Feminism made a mistake by trying to assert that 'women' were in a group with common characteristics and interests --> reinforced a binary view of gender relations

Gender is seen as a performance: it's what you do at particular times, rahter than a universal who you are.


e.g. the protagonist's flamboyent persona is overwhelming and contradicts 'masculine' characteristics