1. Representation
U6 Media

3. Representation…
How groups, events, places and experiences are represented in media texts.
A depiction or description of something, someone or an event.
May involve symbolising or standing in for what is being represented.
It is not possible for the media to present the world as it really is... The media CONSTRUCTS meanings about the world. They change or MEDIATE what is really there.

4. Representing Reality
Every time we encounter a media text, we are not seeing reality, but someone’s version of it.
It is important to remember that a text will have been highly mediated before it reaches you.
Eg. Comedy panel show such as ‘Mock the Week’.

5. Mediation – 3 things to look for
1) Selection
Whatever ends up on the screen/in the paper, much more will have been left out.
2) Organisation
Mise-en-scene and narrative will have been arranged in a particular way.
3) Focusing
The audience will be encouraged towards concentrating on one aspect of the text – tabloid headline, camera close up etc.

6. What, if anything, are the following symbols of?
Nelson Mandela
Britney Spears
Madonna
David Beckham

7. What is your opinion of the following...
Paris Hilton
Jennifer Lopez
Camilla Parker-Bowles
Star Trek fans
Immigrants

8. Militants unleash wave of attacks across Iraq
Freedom fighters bravely defend their country

9. Reflective v Constructionist
Media representations reflect values, ideologies and political/cultural concerns of the moment
Media RESPONDS to change.
Focuses on relationship between texts and reality and way in which reality may be distorted in the interests of powerful groups.
CONSTRUCTIONIST
Audience knowledge and understanding is constructed.
Media INFLUENCES change.
Concerned with who has the power to ensure their version of reality is the accepted and dominant one.
**Add further notes to your worksheet**

10. About a Texan senator who gave American money and weapons to Afghanistan after they were invaded by the Soviet Union.
The film can be seen as a reflection of the growing public opposition to American foreign policy in the Middle East and American involvement in Iraq/Afghanistan.
OR, the film constructs audience knowledge and understanding of the history and therefore contributes to the development of anti-war sentiment.

11. Constructionist approach in action...
British people in film represented as upper-class idiots.
There must be some British people who the producers either encountered in reality or in another media text.
They formed an opinion of them that they were stuck up idiots which they used as the basis of their representation.
As an individual watching the film, you chose whether to believe the representation was valid or not.
In doing this, you were influenced by the fact that you yourself are British – an American watching the film would have probably come to a different conclusion.

12. Reality TV Read and make notes on pages 4-7.
**Homework** Choose a reality TV programme you have seen recently. Note examples of voyeurism, symbolic violence, transformation, realism, entertainment values and emotional realism. Does the programme have inter-media links?