1. Representation
and
Textual Analysis

2. What is Representation?

3. There are all kinds of pipes!

4. Representation
• Describes the signs that stand in for and take the
place of something else. It is through
representation people know and understand the
world and reality through the act of naming it.
Signs are manipulated in order to make sense of
the world.
• To look like or resemble.
• To stand in for something or someone
• To present a second time to re-present

5. What does this mean?
• This means that media texts are intentionally
composed, lit, written, framed, cropped,
captioned, branded, targeted and censored by
their producers, and that they are entirely
artificial versions of the reality we perceive
around us.

6. So why do we pay attention to these
biased interpretations of reality?
• It is important to note that without the media,
our perception of reality would be very
limited, and that we, as an audience, need
these artificial texts to mediate our view of
the world, in other words we need the media
to make sense of reality. Therefore
representation is a fluid, two-way process:
producers position a text somewhere in
relation to reality and audiences assess a text
on its relationship to reality (your job).

7. Signs
• Signs make help us decipher what exactly is
being re-presented. Signs are the smallest
piece of meaning we can use to decode
meaning. Almost anything can act as a
sign and more than one sign makes up a
code. For example:
•
Glasses + bowtie + pocket protector
= Nerd

8. Signs and Codes you need to use
•
•
•
•
Mise-en-Scene
Sound
Editing
Camera shots, angles, movements and
positions.

9. Why is understanding Representation
Important?
IDEOLOGIES!!!
•
•
•
Cultural beliefs or a way of looking at things.
Often thought of as common sense.
Things we believe are true but aren’t
necessarily true.
• Media creates and nurtures these ideas
creating possible false truths for us to identify
with.

10. Textual Analysis
• Literally means analysing text and in our case
the text will be a 5 minute clip from a
television drama.
• Denotation and Connotation.
• What lies beneath the text. What ideologies
are being created or reinforced?
• How are they portraying the world and
different social groups?

11. What social groups are
we concerned with?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Gender
Age
Ethnicity
Sexuality
Class and Status
Physical Ability/Disability
Regional Identity

12. Find a partner.
Write a list down of all the ways in which you
believe a particular social group can be
represented.

13. Gender
The representation of men and women.
The representation of men and women.
Gender is perhaps the basic category we use for
Gender is perhaps the basic category we use for
sorting human beings, and it is aakey issue when
sorting human beings, and it is key issue when
discussing representation. Essential elements of
discussing representation. Essential elements of
our own identity, and the identities we assume
our own identity, and the identities we assume
other people to have, come from concepts of
other people to have, come from concepts of
gender --what does it mean to be aaboy or aa
gender what does it mean to be boy or
girl? Many objects, not just humans, are
girl? Many objects, not just humans, are
represented by the media as being particularly
represented by the media as being particularly
masculine or feminine --particularly in
masculine or feminine particularly in
advertising --and we grow up with an
advertising and we grow up with an
awareness of what constitutes 'appropriate'
awareness of what constitutes 'appropriate'
characteristics for each gender.
characteristics for each gender.

14. Representation of Women
• Feminism has been around for over 30 years yet media
representations of women are worryingly the same.
Representations of women across all media tend to
highlight the following:
•
•
•
•
•
beauty (within narrow conventions)
size/physique (again, within narrow conventions)
sexuality (as expressed by the above)
emotional (as opposed to intellectual) dealings
relationships (as opposed to independence/
freedom)

15. Representation of Women
• Women are often represented as being part of a
context (family, friends, colleagues) and
working/thinking as part of a team. In drama,
they tend to take the role of helper (Propp) or
object, passive rather than active.
• Often their passivity extends to victimhood. Men
are still represented as TV drama characters up
to 3 times more frequently than women, and
tend to be the predominant focus of news
stories.

16. Representation of Women
• The representations of women that do make
it onto page and screen do tend to be
stereotypical, in terms of conforming to
societal expectations, and characters who do
not fit into the mould tend to be seen as
dangerous and deviant.

17. Representation of Women
• America seems to expect its women to behave
better than their European counterparts British viewers adored the antics of Patsy &
Edina in Absolutely Fabulous, but these had to
be severely toned down (less swearing, NO
drug taking) for the US remake, High Society
(which was a flop).

18. Representation of Women
• Discussions of women's representation in the
media tend to revolve around the focus on
physical beauty to the near-exclusion of other
values, the lack of powerful female role
models, and the extremely artificial nature of
such portrayals, which bear little or no
relation to the reality experience by women
across the planet.

19. Representation of Men
• 'Masculinity' is a concept that is made up of more
rigid stereotypes than femininity.
Representations of men across all media tend to
focus on the following:
• Strength - physical and intellectual
• Power
• Sexual attractiveness (which may be based on
the above)
• Physique
• Independence (of thought, action)

20. Representation of Men
• Male characters are often represented as isolated, as
not needing to rely on others (the lone hero). If they
submit to being part of a family, it is often part of the
resolution of a narrative, rather than an integral factor
in the initial balance.
• It is interesting to note that the male physique is
becoming more important a part of representations of
masculinity. 'Serious' Hollywood actors in their forties
(eg Willem Dafoe, Kevin Spacey) are expected to have
a level of 'buffness' that was not aspired to even by
young heart-throbs 40 years ago (check out Connery in
Thunderball 1965).

21. Sean Connery Thunderball (1965)

22. Representation of Men
• Increasingly, men are finding it as difficult to live up to
their media representations as women are to theirs.
This is partly because of the increased media focus on
masculinity - think of the growing market in men's
magazines, both lifestyle and health - and the
increasing emphasis on even ordinary white collar
male workers (who used to sport their beer-gut with
pride) having the muscle definition of a professional
swimmer. Anorexia in teenage males has increased
alarmingly in recent years, and recent high school
shootings have been the result of extreme body
consciousness among the same demographic group.

23. Representation of Men
• As media representations of masculinity become
more specifically targeted at audiences with
product promotion in mind (think of the huge
profits now made from male fashion, male skin &
hair care products, fitness products such as
weights, clothing etc), men are encouraged (just
as women have been for many years) to aspire to
be like (to look/behave in the same way) the role
models they see in magazines. This is often an
unrealistic target to set, and awareness of this is
growing.

24. Representation of Age
We quickly deem other people too old, or too
young, or criticise them for being immature or
fuddy-duddy (conservative and dull). We
criticise mature women for going about as
mutton dressed as lamb, and young girls for
tarting themselves up as jail bait.

25. Representation of Age
• Thanks to the media, we appear to live in an
age obsessed world: a world obsessed with
youth and its attendant beauty. Old people
are often subject to the most rigid stereotypes
of all (old = ugly, weak, stupid). The future
looks pretty bleak for all of us.

26. Representation of Age
• Things are changing, however; as the baby
boomers of the 1950s and 1960s move on
towards their 'Third Age', they demand the
same consumer comfort they have always
done, and also demand the right to see
themselves fairly represented on TV.

27. Representation of Age
• There have been some high profile
representations of the elderly in recent years
US sitcom The Golden Girls is perhaps one of
the most famous, centering on 4 female
characters all determinedly over 50 (and it can
make Sex & The City look like Sesame Street.

28. Representation of Age
• Soap operas too have their part to play in
eroding stereotypes - usually because the
audience of soaps has a relatively high 'grey'
segment. Old people can provide a deeply
comic element to television whilst balancing
the humour with frightening vulnerability and
pathos. We're all going to die, after all.

29. Representation of Age
What are some common representations of age,
are negative representations always dealing
with the elderly or can it spread to all ages?

30. Common Representations of Age
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Rebellious teen
Senile old woman/man
Cradle robbing woman
Male in a mid-life crisis
Middle-age woman clinging to her youth
Silly old man
And the list goes on.

31. Representation of Ethnicity
• Ethnicity, like sex, is a set of genetically defined,
biological characteristics. However, like gender, it is
also a set of culturally defined characteristics.
Representation of race in the media can consist of
the same sort of rigid stereotypes that constitute
gender portrayal. However, stereotyping of race is
seen as more harmful than stereotyping of gender,
as media representation may constitute the only
experience of contact with a particular ethnic group
that an audience (particularly an audience of
children) may have.

32. Representation of Ethnicity
• Racial stereotypes are often based on social
myth, perpetuated down the ages. Thus, the
media depiction of, say, Native American
Indians, might provide a child with their only
experience of Native American Indian culture
and characters, and may provide that child
with a set of narrow prejudices which will not
be challenged elsewhere within their
experience.

33. Representation of Ethnicity
• The need for a more accurate portrayal of the
diversity of different races is a priority for
political agendas, but, as ever, it seems as
though it will take a while for political thinking
to filter through to programme and filmmaking.

34. Representation of Ethnicity
• Most work on Race & The Media has
concentrated on the representation of black
men and women. This has partly been
because there is a strong African-American
counter-culture which provides viable
alternative role models and demands that
they are represented.

35. Representation of Ethnicity
• In recent years, the success of actors such as
Denzel Washington, Whoopi Goldberg,
Laurence Fishburne and Morgan Freeman in a
diversity of roles has meant that black
characters in movies and on TV are no longer
'stock' types.

36. Representation of Ethnicity
• However, there are many negative
representations of black people, portrayals
which seem deliberately designed to inflame
the fear and hatred of other cultures - how
positive a representation is the archetypal
African-American gangsta? Yet these are
representations coming from within black
culture itself...

37. Representation of Ethnicity
• Attention is now being paid to the
representation of other ethnic groups, notably
Asian Americans and Latinos, who represent
a much larger proportion of the US population
than their TV coverage would suggest. Things
are changing - on the one hand the success of
John Woo and Ang Lee in Hollywood is
pushing the boundaries back for Asian
Americans, and the Latin Music Explosion of
1999 has led to much wider acceptance of
Latino performers.

38. Common Representation of
Ethnicity
African decent
- Gangster
- “Token black guy’’
- Impoverished
- Criminal
- Victim
- Hero

39. Common Representations of
Ethnicity
Asian decent
• Intelligent
• Martial artist
• Obsessed with electronics
• Quirky or weak
• Lack emotion
• Women can be seen as
ditzy in some cases

40. Common Representations of
Ethnicity
Latino decent
• Ugly
• Uneducated
• Silly/not taken seriously
• Illegal aliens
• Partiers
• Involved in drugs
(dealing/taking)
• Sex symbols (Antonio Banderez,
Penelope Cruz, Salma Hayek).

41. Common Representations of
Ethnicity
Middle Eastern (Arabic) decent
• Terrorists/violent
• Very religious
• Physically strong
• Strict/stern/not a push over
• Serious
• Victims
• Villains/rarely seen as heroes

42. Common Representations of
Ethnicity
White British/American
• Powerful:
physical/intellectual
• Often the hero
• Serial killer
• In charge (dominant race)
• Lead role

43. Representation of Sexuality
How is one’s sexual orientation constructed?
There are many types of sexual orientations out
there, our main focus will be on:
- Heterosexuality (most common type)
- Homosexuality (gay and lesbian)
Sexual orientation is biological, although
sceptics think it is based on choice. What we
are concerned with is how is sexual
orientation expressed?

44. Representation of Sexuality
Heterosexual Women
• Loving/Respectable/averag
e (monogamous)
• Promiscuous
• Frigid (uncomfortable)
• Pure (virginal/naive)
• Alternative (‘gold digger’,
‘pregnant teen’, ‘cougar’)

45. Representation of Sexuality
Heterosexual Men
• Respectable (monogamous)
• Promiscuous
• ‘Ladies Man’, ‘Heart throb’
• Bumbling man who has
trouble talking to women

46. Representation of Sexuality
Homosexual women (Lesbian)
• Monogamous
• Promiscuous
• Embarrassed (In the closet)

47. Representation of Sexuality
Homosexual Males (Gay)
• Promiscuous
• Monogamous
• Overbearing
• Embarrassed (In the
closet)

48. Representation of Sexuality
Important points to consider
• Gender closely ties in with
sexuality.
• Sexuality is often expressed
through physical means; clothes,
props, setting, acting.
• Understanding how a particular
characters gender is constructed
will help you analyse how their
sexuality is being represented.

49. Class and Status
•
•
•
•
How is class represented?
What are status symbols?
How is a certain class being misrepresented?
Is there another class being represented in a
better light?
• Is class being linked to race?

50. Representation of Class and Status
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Poor/moneyless/bum
Lower class
Lower middle class
Working class
Upper middle class
Upper class
Elite/rich/millionaire

51. Status Symbols
•
•
•
•
•
•
Clothing or lack of it
Cars
Jewellery
Brands
Houses/mansions
Gadgets

52. What are status symbols used for?
• To establish class
• To silently assert power
over those who aren’t
quite as fortunate or
successful.
• To fit into a stereotype
or set of individuals.

53. Physical Ability/Disability
• Who are we talking about
• Those who are physically disabled (paralysed, deaf,
blind, amputees).
• Those who are limited in how much they can do due to
morbidly obese, cancer, aids, etc).
• Those who are in good shape i.e. star athletes,
superheroes, average person, one with special abilities.

54. Questions to ask yourself
• Are there any disabled people represented
within the show? Why or why not?
• How are these people being represented? Are
they victims? Does everyone have pity on
them? Are they treated like everyone else?
• What part do they have within the show, is it
a crucial role?

55. Questions to ask yourself
• What message are you getting about this specific
disability or ability being represented in the clip?
• Are the actors within the show actually disabled?
If not why do you suppose they chose not to use
an actor with a disability?
• Is it right for actors to pretend to be something
they are not. Can this be compared to the times
when white men wore black makeup to play black
men in minstrel shows.

56. Regional Identity
• This constitutes the representation of
individuals from a certain geographical area.
• The most importand question to ask yourself
is: How are these people represented?
•
•
•
•
Costume
Setting
Staging/acting
Depiction
Do these things contribute in a positive or negative way
representing this certain area of the world.

57. Regional Identity
• How do you define a region?  a show will
do this for you.
• They may be talking about regions that are
very close to one another or very far.
• A good example is the OC most of the
characters are from Newport while Ryan the
outsider is from Chino (represented as a
nearby working class/ghetto area).

58. Regional Identity
• Places to consider are London and New York. These
cities are often portrayed in TV Dramas.
• Being someone who does not live in either of these
cities you can base your ideas on who the people
who live there are on depictions you have seen from
television and film.
• This is why considering regional identity is important.
This maybe the only way people can begin
identifying with other from different areas in the
country or world.

59. Regional Identity
• For instance, Friends takes place in New York,
how do these characters represent New
Yorkers or how do certain settings and
situation represent life in New York? Does it
seem true to the city they are living in or are
they masking/misrepresenting the city. Or are
they only concentrating on one tiny part of
the population that lives within New York?

60. Regional Identity
• This is very interesting to analyse when the
creator is an outsider, a stereotypical
representations can easily be formed; Rumble
in the Bronx.