1. Representation
&
Stereotyping
What is it and why is it important?

2. What Representation is….
Representation is about the relationship between people, places,
events, ideas, values and beliefs in the world and their re-
presentation (or mediation) in media texts
e.g. the relationship between actual people seeking asylum
in the UK and the ways in which tabloid newspapers
represent “asylum seekers”

3. What Representation is……….
representation is a selective process
any representation contains only a fraction of what could have been
presented
as a media audience, we are so used to reading media texts that
we can forget that a representation has been through a process of
selection and mediation
as media students, we need to be able:
•to analyse a representation and the process that produced it
•to evaluate the realism / accuracy / truth of representations, by
deconstructing the texts
•to consider the values behind the representation
• to consider how different audiences make different readings of
these representations.

4. how representation works
the media make categories of people, events and ideas
a representation of one of these contains the point of view and
values of those who made it
the elements of a representation are repeated to the point where
the representation comes to seem natural (the representation is
naturalized)
the text making the representation makes assumptions about its
audience
the audience is invited to identify with, or to recognise, the
representation (and the values behind it), but they may read the text
differently

5. types & stereotypes
read the handout on Representation by type and Stereotypes
(from David McQueen’sTelevision: a Media Student’s Guide)
•why do the media need to use types?
•make a definition and give an example of
• A stereotype
highlight the key points that Tessa Perkins makes about
stereotypes

6. why representation is important
(and political)
most common representations in our culture reflect the interests
of the dominant interests in society
dominant groups have achieved their power and status
through complex processes of history, economics and social
politics
dominant groups tend to control institutions like government,
the law, education, the media – enabling them to sustain their
position
dominant groups promote themselves as “normal” while
marginalizing others as “different” or “abnormal”
subordinate groups have to struggle, often for a long time, to
challenge these representations and to gain recognition

7. Analysis of Stereotyping
& issues surrounding representation
Consider the representation & stereotypes (Essex) offered in the
following sequence.
- who is being represented?
-how are they being represented?
-why are they being represented in this way?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zeoL5cIqJI

8. Analysis of Stereotyping
& issues surrounding representation
How does this differ from the stereotypes/ representations offered of the
same group (age) here?
Why is it different?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sprSMdXK1MY

9. So how are these
representations constructed?
Let’s go back to the two extracts………
How do the micro elements (Cinematography, editing, sound &
mise-en-scene) work to construct the representations that we
uncovered?
The Only Way is Essex
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zeoL5cIqJI
Made in Chelsea
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sprSMdXK1MY