This document discusses several key concepts related to values and representations in media: 1) Your values are shaped by your environment and experiences but remain relatively constant, while your attitudes are more likely to change as you encounter new people and situations. 2) People and media have an impact on what we value at all stages of life and influence our behavior and views of different groups. 3) Representations in media can reflect the social values of the society that produced them, though audiences may not consciously notice embedded values that seem natural.

1. Values &Construction
ofTheme
AEMPA.
Syllabus Points:
- the process of
constructing
representations
- the effects of using
stereotypes
- construction of theme
in media work

2. Values in Media What are some things in our lives that may
impact what people Value?

3. Values in Media What are some things in our lives that may
impact what people Value?

4. Values &
Media
You values shape your behaviour towards other people and your
attitudes towards particular groups and issues.While your values
remain relatively constant, there will be subtle shifts in what you
believe in and values as you mature and society and your subcultural
groups evolve.Your attitudes are likely to change significantly as
you experiences become more diverse and your interests and
ambitions change.
At all stages in our lives, the people we mix with or see in the media,
social trends, current events and issues have an impact on what we
value and how we conduct our lives. We can also be deeply
influenced by stories across all forms of media that make us more
aware of what is happening in the world and encourages to
question government or hierarchical policies.

5. Values &
Media
You values shape your behaviour towards other people and your
attitudes towards particular groups and issues.While your values
remain relatively constant, there will be subtle shifts in what you
believe in and values as you mature and society and your subcultural
groups evolve.Your attitudes are likely to change significantly as
you experiences become more diverse and your interests and
ambitions change.
At all stages in our lives, the people we mix with or see in the media,
social trends, current events and issues have an impact on what we
value and how we conduct our lives. We can also be deeply
influenced by stories across all forms of media that make us more
aware of what is happening in the world and encourages to
question government or hierarchical policies.
How are we influenced by Avatar? What message is James Cameron trying to send?
Is he making a comment of an social or political issues through Avatar?

6. Avatar &
Environmental
message
The environmental message in Avatar is one which promotes balance
and harmony between humans and nature. However, this balance is
represented by the film’s essentialized Indigenous population.Thus, as
a foil for Earth's technology-dependent resource-intensive society, the
Na'vi are represented as a stereotypical Indigenous population; they
are cast as closer to nature in their role as the "ecological Indian.”
By using archaic portrayals of Indigenous peoples, the film uses an
"Indigenous" voice to propel its environmental message.

7. Values &
Representations
How can a text can tell us about the society that produced it?
In general, a text will contain the values that its society believes in and
holds to be ‘true’ or ‘normal’.These are social values. For example, a
politician or journalist who calls an action ‘un-Australian’ is expressing a
social value.
For an audience to understand and accept a text, the text will need to
reference a ‘reality’ that the audience shares, and this shared reality
includes a shared set of social values. Audiences may not consciously
notice many of the social values expressed in a text, because these
social values will simply seem natural and normal.
Consider the representation of the character of Grace:
What social values are embedded
through her character?
Is the representation of her character
different to a representation from
years past?

8. To complete:
 1) Select which assessment question you would like to attempt for
Task 2.
Discuss how media codes and narrative conventions contribute to
genre.
Analyse how the changing values of society shape representations
in media work.
Analyse how meaning is encoded by the producer of the film and
decoded by audiences
 2) BeginConstructing an ‘OwnWord’ Glossary for the key terms
we have explored so far in media.
Denotation & Connotation
Archetype
Mono-myth (hero's journey)
Representation
SocialValues
Codes
Conventions
Narrative Elements
Encoding & Decoding