media - representation theories

1. Representation
NASEHA YASMIN

2.  ‘Let’s Restart’ music video, is what my group and I
have established as our coursework production, and it
consists of a female actress, who is singing about lost
love and how to rekindle her romance with her love
interest, a male. Immediately, we can apply Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs theory, in particular, the
psychological needs can be applied, ‘belongingness
and love needs: intimate relationships, friends.’ This is
relevant to our coursework production of the music
video, as the actress provides an audience with a
range of emotions and this is all due to her love
relationship with her partner. Whether the emotion, is
happiness, pain or regret, these are all feelings and
emotions that viewers can relate to and music videos
evoke emotions from audience members.

3. Richard Dyer’s Star Theory
 Dyer proposes that a star is an image, not a real person,
that is constructed out of a range of materials. He
developed the idea that the viewer’s perception of a film,
a music video, etc. is heavily influenced by the perception
of its stars.
 One of the reasons so many pop performers are
described as pop stars, is the fact they are quickly
promoted to this status by their management – stars are
made for money purposes alone. Increasing brand
identity, for example, can benefit the institution, thus
increasing sales in media platforms.
 His theory coincides with hegemony – the idea that the
audience relate to the star because they have a feature
they share or admire about the star. This then leads to
some fans replicating the star’s behaviour and actions.

4. Richard Dyer: Typography of
Representation
 He describes the typography of representation as
consisting of:
1. re-presentation, which consists essentially of media
language, the conventions that are used to represent the
world to the audience
2. being representative of – stereotypes
3. who is responsible for the representation – considering
how the institution creating a media text influences
representation
4. what the audience thinks is being represented to them

5. Berger: Ways of Seeing
 Berger analyses the manner in which men and women
are culturally represented. Women are generally posed
in a way to please the viewer, her gaze is meant to
entice an audience, which is very relevant in today’s
society, with various advertisements, etc.
 Berger argues that a man’s presence is all about
supremacy and is related to what he can do, power
and ability, whereas, a woman’s presence is
undermined – women are reduced to commodities.
 This theory focuses on the way people view what is
exposed to them, the influences it can have on society.

6. Berger: apply to our work
It can be argued that within our music video, there is
evidence of the female being the more passive individual as
there are scenes whereby she is emotional, or walking alone,
looking upset. However, if we look beneath the surface, the
underlying meaning of why she wants to ‘restart’ their
relationship, is because she did something wrong, not the
male – which to an extent, can be seen as subordinate as
why is it that the woman is apologising, however, when we
notice breakups in music videos, we assume it is the male
who causes it.

7. Laura Mulvey: Male Gaze Theory
• The concept of gaze is one which deals with the way an
audience perceives people they are exposed to on screen
• Mulvey established this theory in 1975, as she believes the
representation audiences see of women are dominated by
males and solely used to benefit patriarchal society. Women
are seen as ‘passive,’ and are portrayed in derogatory ways in
media, whether it be film or music, in order to please a male
audience. Not only does this influence men, but women as
well – women feel insecure for being exposed to such
‘idealised’ depictions of women and feel the need to look the
same. It is corrupted as it undermines women as a whole.

8. Mulvey: apply to our work
 Within our music video, we try to portray our female actress as
one to conform to the indie pop style and stereotype; in casual
clothing but including scenes, whereby she is dressed more
glamorously. It can be argued that this is all done in order to
please male audience members, as the female should be
visually appealing. Perhaps, many female audience members
watching would desire to look and appear like the female
actress within our video. This all coincides with Mulvey’s male
gaze theory, as men wish to be with the female and women
want to be the female. It can be argued that our music video
conforms to Laura Mulvey’s ‘male gaze’ theory to an extent, as
we do have pan shots that show the audience members and
viewers the curves of the female actress, thus creating the
representation that the man should pursue the woman.
However, due to our genre, indie pop, we ensured to avoid
explicit images of the female’s body as it is not always typical to
find this in an indie pop music video.

9. Andrew Goodwin: Theory on
Music Videos
• Music videos tend to include a demonstration of typical
genre characteristics
• For example: a video of a stage performance is typical
for a metal video, a dance routine typical for a boy/girl
band and flashy sports cars in a rap video
• Music videos can also link to film genres, this is know as
intertextuality. e.g. many heavy rock songs are
influenced by horror films

10. Goodwin: different
conventions
 A relationship between the lyrics and the visuals,
which illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics.
 Link between music and visuals; complimentary,
contradicting, amplification
 Intertextual references; branding
 Notion of looking: angles used for focus e.g. close
ups, pans
 Voyeurism; direct gaze, insight into artist’s life,
screens and mirrors
 Demands of the record label