Before we even start to consider the various theories surrounding representation - let me ask you a question...
What are your opinions of the celebrity and actor Russell Brand?
What words would you associate with him?
Popular words and ideas include...
- Dirty
- Scruffy
- Promiscuous
- Bohemian
- Goth
- Elaborate
- Camp
- Flamboyant
- Hairy
- Charismatic
- Funny
- Charming
- Intelligent
- Overexposed
- Addict
But we must consider where we get these ideas from. Unless we know Russell Brand, or have met him then we have to accept that all we know about Russell Brand comes from different media texts, whether they are magazine articles, TV shows, film or radio.
Regardless or whether you love or hate him, he does have a keen insight into the concept of celebrity.
Watch this interview with Jeremy Paxman, whilst watching think about the answers that Brand provides to these questions:
- Why do people pursue 'celebrity'?
- What do we, the mass audience, use celebrity for?
- How does Brand say that he has been represented by the media?
Lets deal we've these things one by one...
- Brand suggests that we might pursue celebrity due to its glamourous appeal - that it looks like something we should aspire to have - moreover he says that it is something that we see as available and attainable.
- Brand discusses various uses for celebrity. One is the suggestion that we use celebrity at different points to reflect the preoccupations of the time, that a celebrity can be a substitute (or representation) of the concerns and ideas of the society. A second use for celebrity is to replace the 'Big Ideas' in society - he uses the examples of Religion and Communism as things that people may have been interested in at one time and suggests that celebrity fills that void. The other key concept he considers as a use for celebrity is as part of a narrative - he suggests that as a society we all enjoy narratives and that celebrities play out these narratives for us in the media, in addition to that one celebrity can play many different parts - and represent many different things depending on how the media decides to represent them...
- ...which obviously leads to Brand's own representation in the media - he suggests that the media has represented as a 'cad', 'a bounder' and a 'dandy' - but these are all ways in which arguably he represents himself to a certain extent. Brand elaborates on the idea that his representation throughout the Sachsgate scandal was used by the newspaper the Daily Mail to attack the BBC and to try to undermine it as an institution.
Your opinions of Russell Brand may have changed or may even have been reinforced by the interview itself - but then again the interview is a media text which reminds us once again that...
...Everything we know about Russell Brand is from different Media Texts.
To us he is not a person - he IS a media text!
How does this happen? How does a real person exist - and yet become a media text? The answer lies in our first theory of representation...
This is an important theory so it's important that you understand exactly how it works - watch and listen to this video to understand mediation in a little more detail...
Now that we've got a handle on the fact that nothing is as straightforward as it seems - let's consider a definition of Representation...Representation literally means to either:
Depict a likeness through description or portrayal before us.
or
To symbolise or be a substitute for somehting.
OK so this Reflective view of representation - it's a bit rubbish. The suggestion that whatever we see in the media is a straightforward reflection of real life is more than a little bit naive?!
Take the teenagers on the cover of 'Life' magazine on the slide... do we really think that's the innocent 'fun' that teenagers get up to at parties? Even by 1950s standards it's a bit rich to think that they were just sat around playing suggestive parlour games!
You'd have to be a bit gullible to think that everything we see in magazines, adverts and even on the news is real wouldn't you? The Daily Mail may want us all to be scared of the youth of today, Weightwatchers adverts might want us all to think that we will all die alone and miserable if we don't use their product - but surely by now we're all media savvy enough to know that what you see on your screens or in your paper can actually be pretty far from the truth!?
The argument against this theory can be summarised in one word: MEDIATION
(and if you still don't understand it then watch the video again).
Right, so what other theories have we got...
The big point here is - does the media make us believe what it wants us to believe?
In other words... does the media entirely create our understanding of the world?
Let's look at the example on the slide. The image is of the Hollywood movie star Rock Hudson. Hudson was at the peak of his fame in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a leading man in both film and TV and his representation was one of a masculine, rugged heterosexual the kind of guy that 'men wanted to be, and women wanted to be with'. Throughout his career he played the leading man to some of the most beautiful leading ladies in Hollywood. He was married for many years and his wife was envied by millions of adoring female fans.
The truth is that Rock Hudson was gay. The marriage was a cover up to prevent the truth of his homosexuality from reaching the public whereby his fan base would have been severly diminished and unfortunately in less liberal times he probably wouldn't have worked in mainstream Hollywood movies ever again.
Therefore - the media did a pretty good job at presenting the world in the way they wanted to and keeping us from the truth.
But hang on a minute - haven't we discussed this idea before? Can the media just brainwash us into thinking whatever they want, make us do whatever they please? This kind of relationship with the audience is discussed with the Media Effects Debates - and we had no problem with arguing against them for assuming that a mass audience is passive.
So the problems with this theory are clear...
Q. Why won't we just accept the Preferred reading of a media text?
A. Because we know that certain audience members will take a Negotiated or even an Oppositional reading!
Here's something we can use to analyse representations...
This model entirely accepts that Representations can be deconstructed by looking at a combination of factors. Let's break this down to see how 'Auto Workers' (an American term to refer to a mechanic - in this case in a car factory) have been represented by Life magazine.
The Thing Itself
The factory worker stands straight backed with head held high. These things all connote pride, presumably in his work. His serious facial expression suggests that he knows the importance of his job and his look beyond the camera may signify that he is looking to the future. His overalls clearly tell us that he has spent the day working, as does his slightly dirty face. He has masculine qualities as represented by his moustache and large hands. All in all the way in which the factory worker represents himself is of a hardworking and proud.
Opinions of those Doing the representation
In this case the people 'Doing' the representation are the publishers, editors and makers of Life magazine. There are many things we can say about the attitudes of those who have put this text together. They want us to see the factory worker as a man to respect - the photograph has been taken at a slightly low angle. This has the impact of positioning us to literally look up at the man in shot - we see him as dominant and with integrity. The composition of the photo is also significant - the background is clearly visible, the factory. Whilst it looms large in the background, the factory is secondary to the worker suggesting that a factory can never be greater than the men that work there.
The caption which anchors the image is simply: 'Auto Worker' - the man is not identifiable, not given a name - the connotation is that this is the 'everyman' of society that the average factory worker is key to the success of the American economy.
Reaction of the individual to the representation
If the audience were to respond to this text by taking a preferred reading then they would accept all of the ideas outlined in the previous paragraph - and we should assume that those who are targeted by Life magazine would do so. We must consider that this audience is made up of Americans who were interested in current affairs in the second half of the 1940s when the magazine was published.
Dominant Ideologies in society which reinforce the message of Life magazine
If we look at the magazine's preferred reading again we can see that it is clearly a positive message about humble mechanics and factory workers - this would have been completely in keeping with the dominant ideologies of the era.
Like the rest of the world, America had just come out of a grueling war - although it had emerged victorious it was not unscathed and it was important that industry return to normal as quickly as possible, and this front cover entirely embodies that 'back to work' attitude, as well as connoting the importance of industry at that time.
The pride signified by the man would entirely reflect the pride the nation would have felt and this period was one full of optimism and self belief in the United States as families started to believe once more in the American Dream - and, again, the man on the cover encapsulates this hope for the future.
Obviously our own analyses of the Media will rarely, if ever, be based around texts from 1950s America, but it is important to consider such examples to fully understand what an important part the dominant ideologies actually play in any representation.
For that reason it is important that we compile a list of Dominant Ideologies that exist here and now, that is to say in 21st century Great Britain.
Here are just a few:
- A belief in democracy (rather than ruled by monarchy or religion)
- Education is a human right
- Free healthcare for all
- Children should be protected, nurtured and guided
- Freedom of speech
- Equality of gender and race
- Tolerance of homosexuality
- Work ethic
- A free market - a capitalist society
- Marriage is less important than it once was
- Social culture - going out is important
- Celebrity culture - the lives are others are interesting and maybe aspirational
- Champion the underdog
- Physical appearance matters
- A belief in family
- People should be monogamous - one partner at a time!
- The rule of law and the right to a trial by jury
These are obviously not all of the dominant ideologies in British society however you will often find that representations will either reinforce or challenge the Dominant Ideologies and this may affect how the representation is responded to by the decoders.
Hopefully we can now see the Constructionist view as working something like this...
So let's sum everything up to see (and hear) how the representation of domeone very famous can be constructed and deconstructed...
