2. According to the oxford dictionary
representation is ‘the description or portrayal
of someone or something in a particular way’.
In society today, many representations are
created by the media so that they may control
audiences perceptions or convey and force
their own ideals and messages about certain
topics or stereotypes onto mass audiences.
3. When representing a person, media texts often focus on their:
Age
Gender
Race/Ethnicity
Financial Status
Job
Culture/nationality
It's impossible to portray every aspect of an individual in a film, so
certain features of their personality and appearance get highlighted,
and are often enhanced, when constructing the representation that
the audience will see.
4. There are many negative representations that have been made public in recent years all
of which have been due to the increase in mediation a term where the media exaggerate
or tell a story with key information missing so that they can create a stereotype/
representation of their choosing. A major negative representation of late is the
representation of young black males.
There have been many cases in the news and in
films where young black males have been
shown in a negative light. Many people have
tried to speak out about this but still the media
continue to show these young teens negatively.
A lot of work on Race & Media has focused on
the representation of black men and women.
This has partly been because there is a
strong African-American counter-culture
which provides viable alternative role models
and demands that they are represented, and
partly because some of the early racial
stereotypes were so obvious and offensive.
5. The success of actors as diverse as Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Halle Berry, Naomi
Harris, Laurence Fishburne, Keke Palmer and Morgan Freeman in roles across the board
has meant that black characters in movies and on TV are no longer 'stock' types. Some
of the time. However, there are many negative representations of black people,
portrayals which seem deliberately designed to inflame the fear and hatred of other
cultures - but audiences are left asking themselves how positive is the representation of
the archetypal African in American gangster.
6. Our Protagonist; Eldon Livermore is a 30 year old black male who is
currently living and working as a high school teacher in London.
Eldon is also, a alcoholic with multiple commitment issues. This is
seen during the early scenes of Implosion as his ex wife tries to
contact him about there daughter and Eldon neglects the two by
ignoring the constant phone calls and voice mails.
We decided to conform
Eldon to the stereotypical
mediated view on black males
that being said we still tried
to give the character some
form of closure as the closing
scenes of the film show Eldon
regretting everything he has
done leading up to the films
climax.
