3. Media Representations
The subject matter of the Media is often ordinary,
everyday people and yet they can often be represented
in ways that they would find unrecognisable or even
offensive. When we consider Media Representations
we will be considering:
1. Who is being represented by the text?
2. In what way?
3. By whom?
4. For what purpose?
4. Media Language
An analysis of a media text should include a consideration of
how each of these elements affects our understanding and
response to the text:
1. Connotation and denotation
2. Non- Verbal Communication
3. Positioning of characters or objects
4. Clothing, props, mise-en-scene, sets and settings
5. Sound track, commentary and language
6. Tone
7. Sound and visual techniques (eg. camera positioning,
editing, special effects)
8. Iconography
9. Genre and genre conventions
5. Media Institutions
Media texts do not just appear out of nowhere, they
are produced by often very powerful and wealthy
people. We need to consider:
1. What is the institutional source of the text and
how has it shaped or influenced the text?
2. Who owns and controls the institution?
6. Media Values and Ideology
These people who create media texts will often use
them either intentionally or not to present their view of
the world. This is their ideology. We should ask:
1. What are the major values, assumptions and
themes underpinning the text or
naturalised/embedded within it?
2. What are the criteria that have been used for
selecting the content that has been presented?
7. Media Audiences
You, the audience, are possibly the most important and yet
ignored element in the equation. We all have our own very
different ways of using the media. We will be considering:
1. To whom is the text addressed- what is its likely target
readership/audience?
2. What is the text's likely place in the schedules or
newspaper/magazine?
3. In what ways does the text work to position its audience?
4. What are the likely conditions in which the text will be
received?
5. What is the probable size and constituency of the
audience?
6. What are probable and possible audience readings?
8. You will also be
considering
Genre
We can all tell within a few second of turning on the television
whether we are watching a thriller, a game show or whatever.
We recognise the conventions of the particular genre:
1.What genre does the text fit into? How can you tell- what
conventions does it follow of the genre?
2. What do you know about the actors, stars, writers, directors
etc.? Bearing in mind their associations, meanings and histories
why do you think they have been chosen for this genre piece?
9. And…
Narrative
When you watch a film or a bit of T.V you are basically being told
a story. The study of narrative is the study of this story-telling and
it is just as relevant in the TV News as it is in the latest
blockbuster movie.
1.What is the structure of the narrative or the logic of the order
of its component parts?
2. How have specific narrative techniques been used (e.g. point of
view and identification with one particular character, building of
suspense, use of reversals etc.?)
3. How are characters used- heroes and villains etc. established?
10. Finally…
Wider contexts
No media text exists on its own. We need to think how it
fits in with the wider world and with the history of the
Media:
1.What are the historical contexts relevant to an
understanding of the text ? (generic, institutional, social
etc.)
2. What are the economic determinants: the ways in
which economic factors may have influenced and
shaped the text?
3. What are the political contexts relevant to an
understanding of the text?
