Representation

Put simply, this is the study of the characters in a text, their actions/behaviour and the settings they are placed in. For example, what sort of man is Jerry Maguire presented as being, what kind of world does he inhabit? The world and characters created in a media text are often complex and dynamic. Representational meanings may be created on a number of levels and they react and develop within the narrative.

An actor plays a character in a film through his appearance and voice, gestures, facial and body language, and articulation of the script. The character is created out of these signifiers as well as others such as camera shots and editing. This is how representation is built up. As a concept, representation is perhaps the most fundamental of all media concepts as it encompasses everything to do with visual, auditory, technical and structural meanings that we may or may not find reflect the meanings we attribute to the world we are part of.

We do not so much seek out media representations for reinforcement of our own perceptions of our reality as allow the media to form and shape those perceptions. The process of media representation is complex. Our relationship with such representation text by text is also complex and dynamic, in line with audience theories about preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings. The relationship of mediated reality/realities to the reality we experience around us first-hand is similarly complex and should not be assumed.

Representation cuts across visual, print and music media. Textual producers create a world, a setting and then ‘people’ it with characters, encoding visual and verbal meanings. Fictionalising is of the essence, even with social realist and documentary texts. The producer is responsible for representations created. It is the task of the student to detect and articulate the layers of meaning a text may seem to contain, consider and discuss their artistic, filmic and cultural significances.

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