Representations

Representation is the way in which people, events and ideas are presented to the audience.

Definitions

• Stereotypes - they are used because the audience will instantly understand them. they are a 'visual shortcut' and are often repeated so you think they are normal.
• Archetypes - this is the 'ultimate' stereotype.
• Countertype - a representation that challenges traditional stereotypes.  

Gatekeepers

Gatekeepers control what is presented to us and they decide what representation we will see. A gatekeeper is any person involved in a media production with the power to make a decision about something the audience are allowed to read, hear or see.

Moguls  

In the example of a newspaper editors will not be allowed to make there decisions there self. They will be controlled by a media mogul who would  most ;likely be the owner of the newspaper.

Media consumers are unaware of these decisions because the gatekeepers actions must be 'transparent' to the audience. They influence the way we perceive the news by the way they write.

The Male Gaze

Hollywood puts the audience in a masculine subject position with the woman on screen seen as a object of desire. Protagonists tend to be men. Mulvey suggests two modes of male gaze...

• Voyeuristic - woman as whores
• Fetishistic - woman as unreachable madonnas  

The Bechdal Test

1. Has to have at least two named women
2. They have to have a conversation with each other...
3. ...about something besides a man