Representation Theory

Laura Mulvey

Representation of women in the media

Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze Theory looks at how women are represented within the

media, especially how they are sexualized to appeal to a male audience. The idea behind Mulvey’s theory is that women are defined in the media as objects to viewed by an active

male heterosexual audience. Mulvey’s theory originally focused on films however the theory can now be related to music videos and other

formats of media such as magazines, newspapers and TV programs.

Laura Mulvey continued….

Laura Mulveys concept looks at:

How the audience view women who are presented in the media. She states that women are there to be seen and that the use of camera portrays them as sexual objects through shot types and movement.

Her focus is on:

1) How men look at women from those images.

2) 2) How women look at them selves from those images.

3) How women look at other women from those images. (do they also see them as sexual objects or unrealistic ideologies they are supposed to conform to?)

From my understanding of the theory, cinematography and costume are the key elements to the Male Gaze theory, as women are typically objects, rather than possessors this is displayed by the control of the camera. For example the camera focuses on the curves on the woman’s body. The camera uses specific movements to perceive women in an idealistic view. As the media portray this view of women, it encourages the audience to see women in this way too, becoming the norm. Another ideology from this theory is that the man emerges as the dominant power within the created film fantasy; the woman is passive to the active gaze from the man. Due to the fact that the media ‘force’ this representation onto the consumers, it makes all audiences to see women from the perspective of a male audience. So therefore women feel they need to look a certain way or perhaps meet a specific criteria to be seen as attractive or desired. Mulvey also states that the female gaze is the same as the male gaze because women look at themselves through the eye of men.

Richard Dyer

Richard Dyer’s Star Theory is the idea that icons and celebrities are constructed by institutions for financial reasons and are built to target a specific audience or group of people. Dyer’s theory can be broken down into 3 sections:

1. Audience and Institutions

2. Constructions

3. Hegemony (Cultural Beliefs)

Audience and Institutions

Dyer’s theory states that stars are made to make money and for that purpose alone, audiences want to consume what they think is the ideal (or made to believe is the ideal. The institution then modifies the stars image around the target audience. The institutions make their star based on what they believe the audience want, for example in the popular TV show the X-factor during the audition stages the judged often make the comment ‘we are looking for the full package’ this because they want to please the audiences as they are what will make the star a success or not. The ‘full package’ can be the individuals look, personality and voice.

Constructions

The star is built specifically for an audience and is not an actual person as they have a new persona and look to be this star that the audience want. A persona is created for the audience to identity with and so stars can differentiate between different stars and why they like them or not. Each star that is created is built specifically with someone’s signature to them that differentiates them from other stars, for example Lady Gaga’s extreme fashion choices, Biffy Clyro’s covered in tattoos, Amy Winehouse’s beehive and bold black eyeliner.

Examples

Here are some of my own examples of how various different stars from diverse genres are created to appeal to specific audiences and their certain signature styles. Die Antwoord are a rap-rave duo that

originate from South-Africa, they are styled to be very distinctive and indie. For example in this picture they aim to shock through their choice of outfit and make-up which appeal to this specific target audience that listen to rap-rave.

The artsit ‘Pink’ dyes her hair the colour pink to link to her stage name which is signature to her. This makes he stand out and become recognisable to the audience.

Hegemony (Cultural beliefs)

In society we relate or admire the stars that are created in the media as they have a certain feature that we appreciate or even share with them, this develops from an admiration into an idolization. If this idolization becomes antagonistic some people may attempt to replicate what they admire about the star. Sometimes this can have a negative affect if the star becomes a role model, as they can be bad role models as the pressure of the media takes its toll and they engage in behaviour which may be negative. So if the audience witness this behaviour they make act upon their idols actions and copy negative actions as they believe this to be ‘cool’ and ‘in’. An example of this is the pressure in which girls often tend to want to be slim and attractive, and men want to be fit and muscular.

Tessa Perkins

The definition of stereotypes is; ‘Stereotypes are assumptions we make based on groups of people.’

Perkins identifies 5 such assumptions;- Stereotypes are not always negative (e.g. 'The French are good cooks').- They are not always about minority groups or the less powerful ( e.g. 'upper class twits').- They can be held about one's own group.- They are not rigid or unchanging.- They are not always false.

Stereotypes continued….

Stereotyping is not a simple process and various assumption can be challenged, firstly the majority of people assume that stereotypes are negative, for example teenagers are always seen as troubled youth due to the hoodie culture and previous events that have made this stereotype be seen as negative for example the mods and rockers fights are Brighton beach. However not all youths behave like this and can be seen in a positive light but the media does not promote this positive attitude. People assume that stereotypes are largely aimed and targeted towards the low class and less powerful, however this can be argued against as we can make assumptions and stereotypes about upper call minorities in the same way, for example we immediately associate the words posh, business men and snotty with the upper class.

They can be held about ones own group- collectively people are stereotyped within groups for example at college people are categorized into certain groups. ‘Together as a representation of people we are based as a group within Wyke college, within our own group we stereotyped people demonstrating even though we all belong to the same institution and hold the same ideologies as a whole, within the group we stereotype based on our assumptions. This makes each of us feel part of the larger community.’