Media Representation and Identity Flashcards
9/11 Effects
Gilroy argues that 911 manufactured a simplistic ‘West versus extremist Muslim’ racial binary. Afterwards, the media routinely represented Middle Eastern groups as terrorist ‘others’
Abjection
a repulsive or highly negative media representation. Butler suggests for example that gay identities are often vilified by the media
Abject Representations
where white male cishet being the norm is reinforced through the suggestion that alternatives to those identities are disturbing, repellent or unnatural
Absent Representations
where the sheer lack of alternative representation reinforces white male cishet power as the norm
Active Audience Engagement
active audiences are in control of the way they watch or interact with media, so Gauntlett would argue that audiences use or make media products to craft their own identities
Active Masculinity
van Zoonen suggests that media representations of men typically frame males as more active than those used to depict women. Masculine framing might emphasise movement, skill or action
Albionic Nostalgia
a representation of Englishness that is marked by historical sentimentality and that constructs an idealised depiction of the UK as a rural country with a predominantly white population
Alvarado’s Theory
theories related to ethnicity and are based on the idea that people from different cultures tend to be defined by their ‘otherness’. Representation focuses on racial characteristics and preconceived audience perceptions drawn from other media texts rather than reality. Alvarado believed that the representation of ethnic groups can be divided into four categories
The Dangerous
some texts represent ethnic minorities as a threat to society are often blamed for social problems. The ghettoization of some social groups reinforces the idea of difference as they become marooned communities who are seen as apart from the norm. This lack of personalisation makes it easier to blame them for a range of social problems
The Exotic
this presents the individual in terms of how different they are from us, linked to what Stuart Hall called ‘the secret fascination of otherness’
The Humourous
this occurs when the audience is encouraged to laugh at ethnic stereotypes within the text. These stereotypes have been built up over time and, as with all stereotypes, they exaggerate recognisable features and attributes. In the early days of sitcom, racist humour was seen as an acceptable way of making people laugh
The Pitied
this stereotypes ethnic minorities as victims, occurs when certain countries only appear in the news when linked to disasters such as famine and earthquakes
Americanisation
the formation of a regional cultural identity through global village theory
Aspirational Narrative
media product that offers audiences self-improvement advice or that provides readers with lifestyle ideals that they might want to copy. These stories provide identity change tips
Audience Needs
audiences gain enjoyment from recognising the use of genre-driven tropes, but they also gain pleasure in identifying moments that depart from those expectations, providing moments of audience pleasure or delivering products with unique selling points
Audience Targetting
Neale highlights the way that genres are crafted to create appeal for specific audience segments
Aunt Jemima
overweight asexual representations of black femininity, often depicted as maids or servants who serve their white employers without complaint, a spin-off of the mammy stereotype
Auteur Effects
argues that genre subversion is often caused by the effects that key contributors have in production (directors, actors and so on). Auteurs style genre driven content using individual hallmarks
Baroque Era
the era from 1600 to 1750, recognised by its use of repetition, scale sand sequences
Baudrillard’s Theory
states that prior to the dissolution of the metanarrative, media was real, but media has now moved away from reality and now shows a representation of reality which may be entirely artificial, causing a loss of reality, and that audiences are able to tell the difference between reality and the edited version but no longer care about the difference
Faithful
where images reflect profound reality by creating an obvious replacement of the real thing, eg photo
Perversion
where images mask and denature a profound reality. A side effect of the industrial revolution, when the difference between the original and the copy became impossible to tell apart, so the copy questions the authority of the original and if no difference can be found, both are deemed to be of equal value, eg orange juice
Pretence
where images mask an absence of profound reality. Whilst pretences claim to be faithful representations of reality, Baudrillard states there was never a reality being copied and the copy proves that humans have a need to mask the absence of reality, so create a sense of stable reality by selling copies as real, eg Fanta, Disneyland
Pure
image now has no relation to reality whatsoever, creating its own pure simulacrum. Baudrillard believed this was a side effect of capitalism, causing originality to lose all meaning and the unreal to replace real so efficiently that the replacement no longer matters
Beauty Ideals
a socially constructed definition of what physical beauty ought to be, often resulting in audiences feeling a pressure to conform to the narrow ideals suggested
Bechdale Test
a measure of female representation in the media, asking if there is a scene in which two women discuss something other than a man
bell hooks
agrees with Butler and Van Zoonen but focuses on intersectionality stating that black women are the lowest status in media representations so they are not only not represented but are also not allowed to look, or if they do, must adopt an oppositional view as looking implores a sense of power that is removed in order to play the role of object in direct relation to white female existence
Black Atlantic Culture
identified by Paul Gilroy, who argued that the themes and techniques used in black Atlantic culture go beyond ethnicity and nationality, producing something new, and that Black Atlantic Culture is not specifically any culture, but every culture all at once
Butler’s Theory
Judith Butler compared gender to a social drama, suggesting that men and women are the protagonists in the narrative and are expected to play social roles, concluding that gender is not a stable signifier but a social construct and performance, and therefore cannot be internalised
Character-Driven Motifs
where characters define genre by having certain attributes or follow genre-driven narratives; for example, crime dramas use anti-heroes as leads
Civilisationism
a stark representation of the world in which Western democracy is pitted against extremist others
Classical Era
the era from 1750 to 1820, characterised by improvisation and minimalist ideas
Closure and Exposure
media products help to exclude groups from positions of social power as a result of negative representations, often positioning marginalised groups as unworthy of social inclusion
Commodities
something which makes money
Communism
the idea that nobody should have power over anybody else
Compulsory Heterosexuality
a phrase used by Butler to describe the expectation that we assume a traditional heterosexual male or female identity
Contextual Influences
media makers adapt genre-driven content as a result of historical, political or social contexts
Cosmopolitan Conviviality
a term used to describes the high levels of racial harmony that mark most people’s day-to-day lives, a direct contrast to the media’s routine use of racial disharmony as a narrative trope
Countertype
a positive representation of a social group, usually created by reversing the negative traits or behaviours usually associated with a media stereotype
Dan Gillmor (2004)
argued that grassroots journalists are a serious threat to the monopolies enjoyed by big media conglomerates, because the official news organisations are no longer writing the first draft of history because the audience is learning how to get a better, timelier report
Deconstructed Stereotype
deconstructed stereotypes occur when texts explain the affects of stereotyping. They might outline ‘why’ a character behaves negatively, thus producing audience empathy
Discourse
communication from the media
Disinformation
a term coined by Jean-Francois Lyotard to describe ‘fake news’
Drag Queens
Butler tells us that drag queens are subtly subversive in that they draw attention to the idea that our gender-based identities can be altered or performed
Duplication Effects
in postmodern media, commercially successful products are repurposed, remade, serialised or copied to attract and maintain audiences
Early Modernity
covers the period from the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution. In this stage, cultural products such as literature, music and art map closely to what Baudrillard calls a profound reality. Culture creates an authentic experience when consumed and mass culture is dominated by the lone voice of religion which connects the masses to a singular ideology
Economic Influences
falling sales or poor audience engagement creates commercial imperatives to adapt genre-driven content
Female Gaze
this concept arguable cannot exist due to the matriarchal power imbalance; the male gaze supports the patriarchal status quo, perpetuating women’s real life sexual objectification. Alternatively, it can be argued that the female gaze does exist, and shows more emotions, tenderness and sensualness
Female Genres
genres like soap operas that provoke alternative readership patterns that challenge the patriarchy
Female Identification
van Zoonen suggests that female spectators internalise traditional gender stereotypes that are acted out on screen and so come to regard media beauty myths as something to aspire to
Feminising Rituals
Butler suggests that female identity is constructed through ritualised behaviours, such as by the daily application of makeup or the styling of hair in a way that signals a female identity
Feminism
hooks claimed you could only describe yourself as a feminist if you actively opposed the opposition of females
Feminism Theory
the theory that all conflict and depiction of conflict is because men are in charge and dominate over other women
Feminist Backlash
a media backlash against 1960s feminism that attempted to reinstate traditional femininity as a social ideal. This form of media produced highly objectified representations of women
First Wave Feminism
the period of feminist activity from the 19th century to the early 20th century, including the Suffragettes
Fixed Identity
suggest that audiences don’t have a great deal of choice about who they can be, instead identities are fixed by religious beliefs or traditional gender norms
Fluid Identity
suggest that audiences don’t have a great deal of choice about who they can be, instead identities are fixed by religious beliefs or traditional gender norms
Fourth Wave Feminism
the current period of feminist activity, ushered in by the dawn of the internet
Gender Performance
gender is reinforced via the performance of everyday rituals. Wearing gendered clothing, for example, or styling our hair in socially acceptable ways nurtures a male or female identity
Gender Subversion
a media representation that challenges heteronormativity or traditional male/female gender roles
Gender Trouble
where people act outside of traditional strict gender roles
Genre Piggybacking
products can cash in on relative popularity of genre-driven products by including elements of motifs of the genre
Globalisation
allows individuals to transcend the rigid expectations of their immediate communities
Global Village Theory
theory by Marshall McLuhan which describes how the world has become increasingly interconnected and smaller due to media saturation, the rise of the internet and propagation of media technologies, leading to representations of race, gender and class becoming intentionally globalised; cultures clash and evolve, leading to them merging
Hypermasculinity
a psychological term for the exaggeration of the male stereotypical behaviour such as an emphasis on physical strength, aggression or sexuality, became prominent in the 1950s-1980s
Hyperreality
where audiences can no longer tell the difference between reality and simulacra or prefer the simulacra. Simulacra try to make out that they are real but have nothing to do with reality
Hall’s Theory of Representation
argues that within a media text, people and ideas can be represented according to the producer’s own VALs, therefore different meanings can be bestowed in the media by people with social power and privilege. Stereotypes are often used in the media, and often, this is how stereotypes are created
Heteronormativity
the dominance of heterosexuality as a normal or preferred identity, usually accompanied by a view that gender is binary
High/Low Cultural Remixing
a common form of genre hybridisation that blend pop culture ingredients with motifs from more serious genres
Hybridisation
using the styles, narratives or other motifs form multiple genres in one product
Iconography
refers to the visual components in a media product that are genre driven, including mise en scène elements (setting, costume & acting) as well as other stylistics (camerawork, editing or typography)
Individual Product Character
hybridisation allows products to construct originality by mixing ingredients from pre-existing media products
Institutional Gender Biases
the media reflects patriarchal ideals, van Zoonen tells us, because it is made mostly by men, as such, media representations of women are problematic because they are framed by a male viewpoint
Institutional Mediation
the effect that institutions have in shaping genre driven output
Internalisation
occurs when marginalised groups of individuals assimilate the behaviours of negative media representations
Intersectionality
refers to intersections of gender, race, class and sexuality to create a ‘white supremacist capitalist patriarchy’ whose ideologies dominate media representation
Intersectional Media
media products that deliberately include or allude to an intersectional viewpoint
Intertextual-Relay
refers to the marketing materials that identify a product, plays a crucial role in fixing the genre label that audiences use to describe a product
Jezebel Stereotype
a black female stereotype that constructs a highly sexualised representation of black femininity that are usually sexually aggressive or predatory
Late Modernity
began in the years following the Second World War and is characterised by a relaxation in rigid social roles, allowing individuals to realise that they can shape their own outlooks and beliefs and engage in a ‘reflexive project of the self’
Laura Mulvey
defined the concept of male gaze in 1975 in her article Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. She theorised that the objectification of women means that a woman’s purpose in media is not to enhance or drive the narrative, that the woman is the bearer of meaning, not the maker and that women are characterised by to-be-looked-at-ness, because they are the spectacle for the men, who are bearers of the look
Legacy Influence
a term used to describe the long-standing affect of outdated ideas. For example, traditional femininity is advocated by some despite the widespread view that traditional gender roles are old fashioned
Levels of Verisimilitude
different genres have different amounts of reality
Lone Wolf Stereotype
a representation of masculinity that constructs males as independent and disconnected from any family or social ties
Madonna Stereotype
the opposite of whore stereotypes, emphasises innocence and incorruptibility as a socially desired female ideal
Male Eroticism
van Zoonen suggests that male objectification rarely occurs in the media. When present, sexual depictions of the male body are often softened by romance-oriented contexts
Male Gaze
defined by patriarchal perspective and the view that men are in power and women are not, the idea that the camera shows a male perspective; everybody can look through the male gaze because women can internalise the male gaze. Provides a binary opposite to everything other than male, white, able-bodied, cisgender and heterosexual, othering everything else
Mammy
a stereotypical depiction of a motherly black woman
Manosphere
umbrella term for all misogynistic communities
Marxism Theory
the theory that all conflict and depiction of conflict is because power is held by the few and sought after by the many
Meaning Implosion
the sheer volume of media and the multiplicity of voices within the contemporary media landscape produces a cocktail of opinion and counter opinion that audiences cannot disentangle
Media Blending
media forms in the postmodern age blur; the narrative strategies of news, for example, become absorbed into fiction and vice versa
Media Proliferation
refers to the explosion of media products and channels that started to occur in the early 1980s; this means producers are increasingly produced for niche or specialised audiences
Media Representation
how the media text deals with topics such as gender, age, ethnicity, national and regional identity, social issues and events to a wider audience and the ways in which the media portrays particular groups, communities, experiences, ideas and topics from particular perspectives
Metanarrative
holds our understanding of life together
Modernism Theory
originated in 1945, when the metanarrative changed to people believing in God, the church, the class system, the government and the ruling classes to believing in morality, love fate, and the idea of good triumphing over evil
Modernity
covers Industrial Revolution to Second World War, where religious certainties began to fragment, eventually giving way early mass media forms like cinema, radio and photography; Baudrillard argues that during this time, the authenticity and collective truths of early modernity began to dissimulate breaking down into competing version of reality
Monstrous Feminine
a term coined by Barbara Creed to describe the widespread use of female bodily functions (child birth, menstruation or pregnancy) to create screen horror
Multi-Protagonist Drama
a media product that features multiple lead characters. Gauntlett suggests that multi-protagonist narratives enable audiences to identify with any one of a number of characters
Narrative Image
refers to the set of expectations and persona built for a media product via its marketing which often crafts narrative images that exaggerates genre driven ingredients to target audience interest
Narrative Similarities
allow audiences to identify genres
Naturalisation
the repeated message of stereotypes can suggest that groups have a natural disposition towards certain types of behaviour. Repetition of such representation over a period of time makes these representations become normalised. Essentially, this is the process of establishing
Neophiliac
someone who loves technology and media
Objectification
a representation that depicts someone as an object of sexual gratification. Usually used to describe the sexualised portrayal of women in the media
Other
Hall suggests that those groups who are excluded from social power or mainstream culture are ‘others’
Otherness
hooks suggests that those who are not white or male are ‘others’ and, as such, are subject to the various oppressive practices of white masculinity
Otherness Theory
Edward Said’s expansion on post-colonialism theory by emphasising the concept of ‘otherness’ by focusing on how predominantly white Western cultures tend to classify non-Western cultures by arguing that non-white is a ‘social construct’ created to other whiteness, argues representation is a product of power dynamics where the West imposes its perspective on the East, therefore justifying colonialism, showing how historical representations continue to influence modern media and political discourse through perpetuating stereotypes
Parodic Representation
a distorted or exaggerated representation, usually constructed for comedy purposes
Passive Femininity
van Zoonen suggests that media products encode women as passive subjects, using soft focus photography or invitational gesture codes to suggest female vulnerability
Patriachal Ideology
a set of ideas or outlooks that forward the idea that men are superior to women
Paul Gilroy’s Post Colonialism Theory
the idea that colonialism from the 1500s-1900s still exists and its impact is still present in the media. The media reinforces the idea of otherness with white being hegemonic and dominant and non-white being secondary
Performative Struggle
Butler tells us that alternative gender identities are difficult to maintain. Performing a gay identity for example is hard given the widespread social expectation surrounding heteronormativity
Phallocentric
focus on the penis as a sign of male dominance
Post-Modern Condition
a theory by Jean-Francois Lyotard (1984) that states there is a crisis in the role and place of knowledge in Western culture, anticipating that fake news is so pervasive as a process of culture discourse and debate. Lyotard believed fake news was an unhelpful term and should instead be referred to as disinformation. He stated the metanarrative has collapsed and been rejected
Post-Modernism Implosion
refers to the theory that postmodernism signifies an implosion of a wide and deep range of certainties that have underpinned culture for so long, suckh as religion, good and evil, humanity, fate and karma
Power Circulatory
stereotypes both reflect social attitudes and simultaneously reinforce them through prosses such as internalisation
Pick and Mix Theory
a theory by Gauntlet that suggests people pick and choose elements of media that they like to create their own identity
Postcolonial Melancholia
a term used by Gilroy to describe the collective sense of loss and shame felt by the English populace in the aftermath of the breakup of the British Empire
Post Colonialism Theory
developed by Paul Gilroy, suggests that media reinforces the notion of ‘the other’, specifically those of ethnic minorities. This links to binary opposites, as in media, white and non-white are seen as binary opposites. Gilroy suggests that this creates a myth of ‘black criminality’
Post-Feminism
the idea that feminism is now redundant because equality has been achieved
Post-Modernism Theory
the theory that media is an integral part of society, which individuals actively use to construct their identities, giving them a sense of playfulness, creativity and unpredictably as they are doing this, and that the metanarrative has dissolved so everything is now meaningless
Postmodernity
the phase we live in now, where mass media forms dominate culture, replacing the singular voice of religion with the multi-channel, multi-media whirlwind of contemporary mass media; we now live in an age of hyperreality, where cultural products no longer reference the deeper unified significations that religion once provided
Bricolage
where a producer takes one or more media products and uses them in their own media product
Fragmented Narrative
where the narrative is not told in a linear fashion
Homage
when the producer or director includes traits of one media product in their media product to make fun of it
Intertextual References
where a producer or director makes a reference to another media product
Irony
when the opposite happens to what viewers think should happen
Parody
when the producer or director includes traits of one media product int heir media product to make fun of it
Self-Reflexivity
where characters in a media product show awareness of the fact that they are in a media product
Post-Traditional Society
a term used by Gauntlett to describe a society that doesn’t ask individuals to adopt rigid gender-based roles or identities. Post-traditional societies began to form after the Second World War
Queer Theory
in theory, this would deconstruct gender-based power dynamics and stereotypes such as the emergence of gay male and straight female alliances, eradicating the othering of gay people
Radical Otherness
the demonising of racial groups by society and their subsequent construction by the media as villainous or undesirable
Reflexive Project
Gauntlett’s outline of the ‘reflexive project of the self’ suggests that our identities are self-penned stories that individuals can adapt or re-author
Representational Effects
suggests that genres might be recognisable through their application of gender based representation, for example, horror films depict women as victims
Representation Theory
reality, a version of reality is reinforced, shaped or criticised shaped by the VALs of the media producer, these become naturalised or internalised by the audience over time and become myth, and a new reality develops
Romanticism
originating in the 18th century, this was characterised by emphasis on the imagination and emotions
Sapphires
a comedic depiction of black women that is common of talk shows and reality TV; sapphires typically appear as angry mothers who cannot control their emotions and vilify black women who have power or do not conform to the ‘mammy’ stereotype
Scopophilia
where men are assumed to derive pleasure from portraying women as objects to be possessed
Second Wave Feminism
the period of feminist activity beginning in the 1960s to early 1990s
Self-Representation
a representation authored by the group depicted in a media product, usually resulting in a realistic or positive appraisal of a social group
Simulation
defined by Baudrillard as ‘imitation of a process in the real world’
Slave Legacies
hooks suggests that the huge racial inequalities experienced by black Americans is partially caused by the legacy affects of America’s past as a slave state
Stereotype Theory
a theory by Tessa Perkins that describes the process of stereotypes, relying on 5 assumptions: stereotypes aren’t always negative, aren’t always about minority groups, can be held about one’s own group, aren’t rigid and unchanging and aren’t always untrue
Subversion Representation
a representation that challenges a set of social ideas. Van Zoonen calls upon women to create subversive representations of femininity to undermine patriarchal ideologies
Symbolic Annihilation
a term by George Gerbner to describe the absence or representation or underrepresentation of a group of people in the media
Symbolic Violence
stereotypes that demonise groups offer us moments of symbolise violence in that they lead to exclusion of those groups from social power
Third Wave Feminism
the period of feminist activity beginning in the 1990s, focusing on topics such as intersectionality, transfeminism, sex positivity and postmodern feminism
Technophiliac
someone who loves technology
Traditional Society
a term used by Gauntlett to describe a society that channels individuals to adopt rigid roles or identities and traditional social structures are dominated by fixed social norms
Transcoding
occurs when media makers challenge negative stereotypes, can be enabled through the use of countertypes or deconstructed stereotypes
Transformation Blueprints
media stories in which characters change their behaviours or outlook telling audiences that they too can change
Triple Oppression
the idea that the inequalities experienced by women, non-whites and the working class are interconnected. hooks tell us that the root cause of that inequality is white, middle-class patriarchy
Underrepresentation
when a topic is specifically left out or shown less by the media
Van Zoonen’s Theory
developed by Liesbet van Zoonen, this theory suggests that the generic portrayal of woman in the media reinforces the patriarchy. This is a feminist perspective questioning why women are generally portrayed as damsels in distress, kind mothers, evil stepmothers, or seducers
Van Zoonen’s Theory Principle 1
we get our ideas about gender from discourse. If we repeatedly consume media with specific ideas, we adopt and internalise the same ideas
Van Zoonen’s Theory Principle 2
ideas about gender have to be looked at in terms of historical or cultural context. You also need to consider what media people were consuming in those time periods as context
Van Zoonen’s Theory Principle 3
women are objectified by the media. They are seen as objects with no personality. Women are seen as commodities, and it is usually their bodies which do this
Van Zoonen’s Theory Principle 4
the objectification is because we live in a patriarchal culture. Because we’re dominated by men, they’re the ones who often make the media, therefore women become objectified
Van Zoonen’s Theory Principle 5
men and women are viewed differently
Van Zoonen’s Theory Principle 6
men and women’s bodies are shown differently. Men’s bodies are seen as a spectacle and something to be admired. If they are shirtless, we should admire them. Women are seen as something we should lust over; we shouldn’t admire her body, but want it
Verisimilitude
means reality, often lacking in postmodern texts
Window to the Future Self
an aspirational representation that constructs audience ideals, commonly used on magazine front covers as a selling tool. These depictions often advocate an impossibly perfect version of femininity
Whore Stereotypes
the opposite of Madonna stereotypes, a highly sexualised version of womanhood
