This document discusses representations and stereotypes in media. It explains that representations are constructions that re-present individuals and groups in a certain way, rather than reality. The media selectively chooses how to portray people to serve its own purposes. Repeated representations can become stereotypes that are oversimplified and judgmental. Viewers should consider who created a media text and what point of view it supports or does not support. Representations have implications for how people see themselves and others.

1. Year 12 Media - 2012

2. This is not a pipe

3. This is NOT me

4. Huh?
• These are not the actual thing or person –
they are a representation of the thing.
• Representation means to re-present (i.e. show
again)
• Individuals and groups of people are
represented in the media as being a certain
way. This is a construct of reality and NOT
reality itself.

5. Let’s take Snooki

8. How we are represented
• I could represent this class as diligent and hard
working
• Or I could represent you as off-task and
disengaged.
It’s all about HOW I choose to show you, and
what I leave OUT
It’s also about WHO is doing the re-presenting

9. We can show the police as caring and
helpful

10. OR
NOT!

11. MEDIATION
• The media selects (mediates) the way it shows
people to serve its own purposes.
• The way in which a media producer (the person
who made the media product – ad, film, tv show)
represents a person or group is affected by their
own experiences and values and society’s
dominant values.
• The way we as an audience read it will also reflect
OUR values and experiences – a National voter is
going to react differently to the previous images
to how an Occupy supporter might.

12. How representations work
• They are repeated
• We are asked to identify with or recognise the
representation
• They make generalisations about people –
grouping them together – mothers, business,
teenagers
• Representations both SHOW and SHAPE our
world
• Representations are connected to world views –
these are called ideologies

13. Representations
• We’re creating representations all the time – if
you’ve got a Facebook page you’ve definitely
created a representation of yourself.
• Think about what you choose to put on there,
and what you choose not to put on there.
D Sharon Pruitt

14. Stereotypes
• The idea of representation in media is really key,
because if you see the same representation again
and again, you start to believe it is true.
• These repeated representations can become
stereotypes.
• Stereotypes are useful for media producers as
they are like a ‘short cut’ that media consumers
can recognise and decode immediately –
someone with glasses is smart, blondes are ditzy,
people with dreads are?

15. STEREOTYPES
• Stereotypes are often highly judgmental and
over-simplified. They are an extreme form of
stereotyping that become ‘natural’ through
repetition.
• Stereotyping often involves minority groups
and prejudice, and come about due to a
power imbalance between groups in society.

16. Do Now Please
• Use these words in a paragraph about
REPRESENTATION
Repeated
Selected
Shape and Show
World Views

17. What is a representation made up of?
Representations of groups of people are made up of many
layers:
• what we see and hear about the group
• how the group are shown behaving
• their relationship with others
• Production techniques used to show them
(different for each type of media)
Remember everything in the media is SELECTED
(mediated) by the person/group who produces
it

18. Representing US
• Fold your paper into 6 squares
• On the top row Draw and/or Brainstorm
• How YOU would represent teenagers
• How YOU would represent your gender (female
or male)
• How YOU would represent your cultural group
On the next row down:
How the MEDIA would represent each of these
groups. Be prepared to discuss your opinions

19. When viewing/reading any media
text you should ask these questions
• Who made it?
• When was it made?
• What was it made for?
• Who benefits from this representation or whose
point of view does it support?
• Who does not benefit from this representation or
whose point of view is not considered?
• Who or what is not shown?

20. For this standard you will learn about:
• features that create the representation
• the difference between the representation
and reality
• the stereotypes/messages/values that are
created by the representation
• the selection and/or omission of material
• who created the representation.

21. Achieved
• Can describe what the representation is
• How features of the media texts create the
representation
• The effect of the media representation
What is it?
How do they do it?
What’s the effect of that?

22. Merit Why is it
like that?
Demonstrate in-depth understanding involves providing
reasoned explanations for the effect of the
representation. This includes such aspects as
• Reasons for the difference between the representation
and reality
• Reasons for stereotypes, messages, and/or values
created by the representation
• Reasons why the selection and/or omission of material
reinforce stereotypes, messages and/or values
A reasoned explanation involves a logical argument
supported by specific evidence.

23. So what? Excellence Why does it
matter?
Demonstrate critical understanding involves examining likely
consequences of the representation and drawing conclusions
based on the evidence. The examination includes aspects of
the representation such as:
• the effectiveness of the features in creating the
representation
• implications of the difference(s) between the
representation and reality
• the implications and/or effectiveness of the stereotypes,
messages, and/or values that are created by the
representation
• the implications and issues associated with the selection
and/or omission of material.

24. "Taken as a whole, these films provide audiences, young and old
alike with a peculiarly jaundiced view of American society and
the role of adolescents within it...In looking at the images in
these films, it is necessary therefore to consider, not only what
we see and are told, but what we do not see and are not told.
The adolescent, still in the process of establishing his or her own
self-image, may well fall prey to mistaking the screen image for
the self he or she is to become. Adolescence itself is a time of role
and identity experimentation. Standing in the wings of life,
waiting to be cued, the young person may well mistake the cues
Hollywood sends.....For some adolescents, the film industry's
repetitive images and stereotypes offer the opportunity for a
pre-packaged identity that subverts the natural emergence of an
authentic self".[p276]
Cinema of Adolescence – David Considine, 1985