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MEDIA

REPRESENTATION THEORIES

1/26/2019

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Stuart Hall has a number of ideas about representation:
  • the idea that representation is the production of meaning through language, with language defined in its broadest sense as a system of signs
  • the idea that the relationship between concepts and signs is governed by codes
  • the idea that stereotyping, as a form of representation, reduces people to a few simple characteristics or traits
  • the idea that stereotyping tends to occur where there are inequalities of power, as subordinate or excluded groups are constructed as different or ‘other’ (e.g. through ethnocentrism).

Richard Dyer (1983) posed a few questions when analysing media representations in general.

1. What sense of the world is it making?

2. What does it imply? Is it typical of the world or deviant?

3. Who is it speaking to? For whom? To whom?

4. What does it represent to us and why? How do we respond to the representation?

Dyer (1977) details that if we are  to be told that we are going to see a film about an alcoholic then we will know that it will be a tale either of sordid decline or of inspiring redemption.

This is a particularly interesting potential use of stereotypes, in which the character is constructed, at the level of costume, performance, etc., as a stereotype but is deliberately given a narrative function that is not implicit in the stereotype, thus throwing into question the assumptions signaled by the stereotypical iconography.

Dyer (1977) summed up the importance and concept of Representation the best.  He said: “How we are seen determines how we are treated, and how we treat others is based on how we see them.  How we see them comes from representation.”

Tessa Perkins (1979) says stereotyping is not a simple process.
​She identified that some of the many ways that stereotypes are assumed to operate aren’t true:

1. Stereotypes are not always negative, e.g:
  • Italians are very family orientated
  • Asians are good at maths
  • Homosexual men are stylish
(These are still over-simplified and take no account of individuality)

2. Stereotypes are not always about minority groups or the less powerful
Upper class twit of the year
  • Upper class = usually the most powerful social class
  • Male/Female stereotypes = stereotyping half the population

3. Stereotypes can be held about one’s own group
  • e.g. teenagers/football supporters, etc.

4. They are not rigid – they change over time
  • e.g.: the poor uneducated working class stereotype as seen with Harry Enfield – The Working Class (1930/40s) and the Royale Family  (1990/2000s).

5. They are not always false
This seems obvious, but stereotypes by their nature are based on some kind of reality and common experience.  This is why people share these perceptions.

David Gauntlett (2002) argues that “identities are not ‘given’ but are constructed and negotiated.”

In 2007, Gaunlett argued that “Identity is complicated. Everybody thinks they’ve got one. Artists play with the idea of identity in modern society.”

Gauntlett is suggesting that:
  • the idea that the media provide us with ‘tools’ or resources that we use to construct our identities.
  • the idea that whilst in the past the media tended to convey singular, straightforward messages about ideal types of male and female identities, the media today offer us a more diverse range of stars, icons and characters from whom we may pick and mix different ideas.

Jean Baudrillard (1981) was concerned with the effect that the media was having on society as a whole, and representation was a big part of his theory. In his book Simularca and Simulation, 1981, Baudrillard argued that our media-focused society has become reliant upon representations.

Baudrillard discussed the concept of hyper-reality – we inhabit a society that is no longer made up of any original thing for a sign to represent – it is the sign that is now the meaning. He argued that we live in a society of simulacra – simulations of reality that replace the real. 

This means that we have lost contact with the real, and we can no longer tell the real from the artificial. This state of affairs is what Baudrillard referred to as hyper-reality. The sign or representation of reality is now of more importance or has replaced what it was representing.

These simulations of reality that have replaced the reality itself were what Baudrillard referred to as simulacra.

The representation of the ‘thing’ comes to replace the reality - what we are represented with is now more important than what it is actually like. This is an example of simulacra. The copy is more important to most of us than the reality.

Were he alive today, Baudrillard would say that Facebook represents a hyper-reality. Our Facebook profiles are a representation of ourselves. However, we now live in a time where to many this representation is more important than their actual personality, and their interactions on Facebook hold more meaning than their real-life interactions. To some, their Facebook profile is a replacement for their real personality -  a simulacra.
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SEMIOTICS

1/26/2019

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Semiotics - Roland Barthes
  • the idea that texts communicate their meanings through a process of signification.
  • the idea that signs can function at the level of denotation, which involves the ‘literal’ or common-sense meaning of the sign, and at the level of connotation, which involves the meanings associated with or suggested by the sign.
  • the idea that constructed meanings can come to seem self-evident, achieving the status of myth through a process of naturalisation.
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NARRATIVE THEORY

1/26/2019

 

What does narrative mean?​
  • The way that stories are told, how meaning is constructed to achieve the understanding of the audience.
  • Groups events into cause and effect - action and inaction.
  • Organises time and space in a very compressed form.
  • The voice of narrative can vary; whose story is being told and from whose perspective?
  • In a film, narrative is constructed through elements like cinematography, sound, mise-en-scene and editing.
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Lev Kuleshov
Lev Kuleshov in the 1920’s advised that when we watch a film or programme we try to create meaning and connect events to see a line of cause and effect. Even if there is no connection between people or events we try to make one to make sense of what we are watching. If films are not shown chronologically we try to order the events in our minds and quickly link flashbacks to the present.
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Tzvetan Todorov
Todorov proposed a basic structure for all narratives. He stated that films and programmes begin with an equilibrium, a calm period. Then agents of disruption cause disequilibrium, a period of unsettlement and disquiet. This is then followed by a renewed state of peace and harmony for the protagonists and a new equilibrium brings the chaos to an end.

The theory is simply this:
  • The fictional environment begins with a state of equilibrium (everything is as it should be)
  • It then suffers some disruption (disequilibrium)
  • New equilibrium is produced at the end of the narrative
     
    There are five stages the narrative can progress through:
  1. A state of equilibrium (all is as it should be)
  2. A disruption of that order by an event
  3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred
  4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption
  5. A return or restoration of a NEW equilibrium

​Here narrative is not seen as a linear structure but a circular one.
The narrative is driven by attempts to restore the equilibrium.
However, the equilibrium attained at the end of the story is not identical to the initial equilibrium.
Todorov argues that narrative involves a transformation. The characters or the situations are transformed through the progress of the disruption.
The disruption itself usually takes place outside the normal social framework, outside the ‘normal’ social events.
E.g.      a murder happens and people are terrified
            Someone vanishes and the characters have to solve the mystery
 
So, remember:
  • Narratives don’t need to be linear.
  • The progression from initial equilibrium to restoration always involves a transformation.
  • The middle period of a narrative can depict actions that transgress everyday habits and routines.
  • There can be many disruptions whilst seeking a new equilibrium (horror relies on this technique)

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Vladimir Propp
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Vladimir Propp’s theory was formed in the early twentieth Century. He studies Russian fairytales and discovered that in stories there were always 8 types of characters evident. These are: the hero, the villain, the donor, the dispatcher, the false hero, the helper, the princess and her father. He did not state these characters were all separate people e.g. the provider could also be the helper. However, this is easily relatable to films and programmes today.

Film as Fairy Tale
Vladimir Propp, a Russian critic, active in the 1920’s, published his Morphology of the Folk Tale in 1928. While the Soviet cinema was producing excellent films, Propp was essentially interested in the narrative of folk tales. He noticed
Folk tales were similar in many areas. They were about the same basic struggles and they appeared to have stock characters. He identified a theory about characters and actions as narrative functions.
Characters, according to Propp, have a narrative function; they provide a structure for the text.

Characters that perform a function

  • The Hero – a character that seeks something
  • The Villain – who opposes or actively blocks the hero’s quest
  • The Donor – who provides an object with magical properties
  • The Dispatcher – who sends the hero on his/her quest via a message
  • The False Hero – who disrupts the hero’s success by making false claims
  • The Helper – who aids the hero
  • The Princess – acts as the reward for the hero and the object of the villain’s plots
  • Her Father – who acts to reward the hero for his effort 

CRITICISMS

Propp’s theory of narrative seems to be based in a male orientated environment (due to his theory actually reflecting early folk tales) and as such critics often dismiss the theory with regard to film. However, it may still be applied because the function (rather than the gender) of characters is the basis of the theory. E.g. the hero could be a woman; the reward could be a man.
Critics argue that Propp’s strict order of characters and events is restrictive. We should rather apply the functions and events randomly as we meet new narratives. E.g. the hero may kill the villain earlier than Propp expects. Changing the traditional format will change the whole way the text is received.
Some critics claim there are many more character types than Propp suggests and we should feel free to identify them. E.g. the stooge in a sci-fi film, who is usually nameless and usually killed early on to suggest the power of the alien force, is a typical modern character type.
 It applies to Fairy Stories and to other similar narratives based around 'quests' IT DOES NOTAPPLY TO ALL NARRATIVES.

WHY THE THEORY IS USEFUL

It avoids treating characters as if they are individuals and reminds us they are merely constructs. Some characters are indeed there just to progress the narrative. 

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Claude Levi-Strauss
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He stated that there need to be a binary opposition within a film or programme. This is usually presented through good vs. evil. Other binary oppositions include:
  • Peace versus war
  • Man versus nature
  • Humanity versus technology
  • Democracy versus dictatorship
  • Civilised versus savage

Binary oppositions in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ (Dir. Peter Jackson)
  • Peace vs. War
  • Good vs. Evil
  • Hope vs. Fear
  • Compassion vs. Indifference
  • Bravery vs. Cowardice
  • Nature vs. Machinery

Joseph Campbell
In this book, Campbell studies many hundreds of fairy tales, folk tales and legends in order to unearth a common “pattern” in the structure of stories. Campbell defines this as the “monomyth” – the typical trajectory of a story, across all cultures and religions. This monomyth is known as the “hero’s journey”.
Comprising three stages – separation, initiation and return – the hero’s journey offers a narrative framework for understanding the progression of a character, namely the protagonist. The journey, Campbell argues, usually includes a symbolic death and re-birth of the character. The religious idea of “cleansing” is also important, giving a sense of the character transforming from old to new – the character arc.
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AUTEUR THEORY

1/26/2019

 
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“The auteur theory is a way of reading and appraising films through the imprint of an auteur (author), usually meant to be the director.”

Andre Bazin was the founder, in 1951, of Cahiers du cinema and is often seen as the father of auteurism because of his appreciation of the world-view and style of such artists as Charlie Chaplin and Jean Renoir. It was younger critics at the magazine who developed the idea further, drawing attention to significant directors from the Hollywood studio era as well as European directors.

The idea of the auteur gained currency in America in the 1960s through Andrew Sarris. He devised the notion of auteur theory (the French critics had never claimed the concept to be a ‘theory’). He used it to tell the history of American filmmaking through the careers and work of individuals, classifying them according to their respective talents.
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“Over a group of films a director must exhibit certain recurrent characteristics of style, which serve as his signature.” (Andrew Sarris)

Today, the notion of the individual as auteur is less theoretically constrained, so that we might consider actors as auteurs as well as directors and producers. The key thing is that a recognisable imprint is left on a body of films, and this may involve varying levels of creative input. For example, in the Laurel and Hardy partnership, Stan Laurel made the significant decisions about their act whilst Oliver Hardy did little more than turn up and get on with his job. But on screen we are only aware of the combined and instantly recognisable effect of the two performing together. When considering an actor, the important question to address is the kind of identity he/she projects and how this identity is created through their performances. Is their persona stable, or does it vary? Sometimes, actors are cast against type or give a markedly different performance to that with which they are associated – what is the effect of this?


​The following filmmakers/actors are considered auteurs:
  • Wes Anderson
  • Tim Burton
  • Sophia Coppola
  • David Lynch
  • Baz Luhrmann
  • Sergio Leone
  • Alfred Hitchcock
  • Leni Riefenstahl
  • Jean-Luc Godard
  • Francois Truffaut
  • Agnes Varda
  • Edgar Wright
  • Tommy Wiseau
  • Tom Cruise
  • Orson Welles
  • Plus many more...

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