Representation Theory - Tessa Perkin - Laura Mulvey - Richard Dyer

1. Representation Theory
The

2. Richard Dyer - Star Theory
Richard Dyer’s Star Theory states that Celebrities are constructed by institution for financial reasons and are built in such a
way to appeal to a specific audience. In the theory he cover three main areas that support this.
Audiences and Institutions
The sole purpose of a star is to make money for a specific company. Institutions want to create a star that is considered the
ideal so audiences can consume what they believe is the ideal star. Companies will modify stars by changing their image and
ideology based on what the audience consider ideal. To support this Dyer said “A star is a constructed image, represented
across a range of media and mediums”.
Constructions
Dyer star theory says that stars are not ‘real’ people but are instead constructed by an audience, this is so the audience can
identify them. Stars have different styles and looks to them so audiences can differentiate them from one another. With them
having these set images an audience can decide if they like them or not.
Hegemony
This is based around leadership or dominance of a specific social group. The star theory states that as an audience we can
relate to the stars in current media as they have a feature we admire or a feature that is similar to the audience. This can go
further as many people start to idolise these features, in such a way that they try to replicate what they have. It is argued that
this is negative due to the pressure of media on specific social groups, specifically in the case of a star going ‘wild’. For
example the media pressure girls into being skinny due to the stars that young girls ideolise. Dyer says that “Stars represent
and embody certain ideologies” an audience will understand these ideologies and start to follow them and replicate the star.

3. Laura Mulvey - Male Gaze
The ‘Male Gaze’ Theory focuses on women within media and how they are represented. The theory suggests that women are
represented in a highly sexual manor within the media. She says that women are viewed as passive objects by a male audience.
The theory specifically focuses on how cinematography is used to represent women in this way however it can be applied print
also.
Again this theory has three areas of focus:
-How men view women in the media and how that translates to real life.
-How women see themselves based on how they’re portrayed in the media
-How women see other women based on media.
The theory suggests that as said earlier cinematography and costume is used to emphasis the female body within a video. The
media puts huge emphasis on the body and how it is displayed, men see them as objects because of this, female audience are
encouraged to look that way, and women envy others who do. With the media portraying the female body in such a way it
becomes the social norm, which puts more pressure on the audience and gives men expectations that all women need to look
like that. The idealistic images that the media produce can be damaging to women as they may be considered unattractive
because they do not follow ‘social norms’ this can be very damaging to people's self esteem.
On the other hand some women suggest that this sexual portrayal of the female body in the media is empowering for example
some women find female artists like Nicki Minaj empowering because she is known for wearing revealing clothing in her music
videos, this is not to please a male audience but because many females like to look good for themselves and not males.
Some audience may see this female portrayal as a positive representation of women or they may see it as a negative one.

4. Tessa Perkins - Stereotypes
A stereotype is an assumption of a social group or a person and is often made based on information from the media and not the persons experiences with them. Perkins
believes that stereotyping is not always a simple process and contains assumptions that can be challenged. Perkins identifies 5 assumptions:
1. They are always negative
2. They are always about minority groups
3. They cannot be held about a group you identify yourself with
4. They are fixed and unchanging
5. They are always false
Each of the five assumptions can be challenged as stated by Perkins.
“They are always negative”
This is not true as stereotypes can be positive. Despite youths in the media being portrayed as thugs and being part of the ‘hoodie culture’ they are also portrayed as hard-working
students that are achieving good things. This is also true for other stereotypes such as French people always are good cooks, or Asians being good at video games and
maths.
“They are always about minority groups”
This is again challenged by Perkins. Lower class are often stereotyped by upper class people however lower class people also stereotype upper class people. Similar in a
workplace, many people will stereotype upper management within the company.
“They cannot be held about a group you identify yourself with”
Groups will often welcome stereotypes about themselves for example people who go to the gym often are seen as dedicated and healthy. Certain groups that are large such as
celebrities are stereotyped as a whole however people within that group with stereotype sub-groups such as actor will stereotype how singers are etc.
“They are fixed and unchanging”
Perkins says that stereotypes can change over time and they do so depending on different ideologies that are dominant at that specific time. For example over time
stereotypes of women have changed, previously women used to be stereotyped as domestic who cooked and cleaned however women are now recognised by other
stereotypes.
“They are always false”
Most stereotypes are misleading however they have some truth behind them unless that stereotype would have never come about. Stereotypes help us shape and understand
certain groups.