1. Section A: Question 1 B: Theoretical Evaluation of Production
Representation
Critical Perspectives Exam
Section A: Question 1 B:
Theoretical Evaluation of Production

2. Media Concepts REPRESENTATION * Genre Narrative Audience
Question 1(B) requires candidates to select ONE PRODUCTION & evaluate it in relation to a media concept.
You will focus on your MAIN PRODUCTION ONLY.
The list of concepts to which questions will relate is as follows:
Genre
Narrative
REPRESENTATION *
Audience
Media Language
In the exam, questions will be set using one of these concepts.

3. Representation
Key questions when studying Representation in any media text.:
Identify characters within the product to discuss (event / issue )
What representation concepts are highlighted? (e.g. race, gender, cultural attitudes etc.)
What representations have been generated?
Discuss the specific elements of character representation (i.e. mode of address, facial expression, clothing, behaviour, etc.)
Are there any stereotypes?
Does the product conform to or go against dominant ideologies?

4. Representation
You already know about representation. Break down the word and you see it clearly…
The Media re-presents (i.e. changes or re-interprets) or constructs meanings about the world we live in.
In order to make sense of this, you need to think about some fairly difficult concepts about how society (the world and the way we live in it) actually works.
We will look at a few different theories of the way society functions. We call them 'models' and you should remember that they are theories and that not every society works exactly the way the theories suggest.

5. Representation of Gender Roles
Berger (1972) “Men act and women appear. Men look at
women. Women watch themselves being looked at.”
If we define ‘male’ and ‘female’ all we are doing is a biological classification, but if we think about the terms ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ we have to think about social construction.
These words have specific connotations of natural behaviour for each sex. In other words, society has constructed a set of ‘truths’ about the ‘right’ way for a man or a woman to behave.
Media theorists argue males are represented as dominant, strong, intellectual & authoritative. Females are represented as submissive, passive, focused on physical beauty, sexual, emotional, & defined through their relationships with men.
The way in which gender is represented in the horror genre differs from other media texts. These differences are evident in various subgenres of horror, however each film (& your film) will bring it’s own pros/cons of gender representation.

6. REPRESENTATION QUOTES – Include one/two in your answer
“ To gaze implies more than to look at – it signifies a psychological relationship of power, in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze” – Jonathan Schroeder.
”The gaze is male, for it directs itself (taking pleasure in) where women function as erotic objects” – Laura Mulvey.

7. ‘The Gaze’ Laura Mulvey
Mulvey researched the representation of women in film, finding the cinema largely ‘masculine’ with women controlled by ‘The Male Gaze’.
The theory being that a woman’s body displayed on screen, makes the (male) viewer a voyeur, who experiences erotic pleasure from seeing her. This ‘controls’ the woman, making her an ‘object’ of gaze.
The audience are forced to view scenes via the gaze of a heterosexual male; objectifying women whilst the male is who we identify with.
You need to remember that the cinema is a largely male-dominated industry, so men are in control of the making of the cinematic texts.
Many horror films (particularly slashes) have been criticised as being products of ‘the male gaze’, since most directors are men. In the past, men have not been portrayed in the same erotic, sexual way, in order to be looked at & ‘controlled’ by women.
However, recently the media has begun to represent men as ‘sex objects’ for women to look at. This is known as ‘The Female Gaze’.

8. Hegemonic Model
Antonio Gramsci’s Hegemonic theory: "...Dominant groups in society... maintain their dominance by securing the 'spontaneous consent' of subordinate groups...through the negotiated construction of a political and ideological consensus which incorporates both dominant and dominated groups.”
A hegemony is a system where one group is dominated by another. The dominating group achieves its domination by ‘winning’ popular consent through everyday cultural life.
In media, this model works by achieving dominance through media representations of the world. The media ‘tell us’ what to think, what to believe and how our world ‘should be’.
If we think about Hollywood, the Major studios have become the dominant group in the industry. In music, Art and culture in general, they all have dominant groups who dictate the way in which things are done, they are hegemony.
In media studies today, people look at how the media support power structures such as government, capitalism/corporations, and patriarchy. For example: A news report that shows strong support for a controversial foreign policy decision can be said to hegemonically support the government.
A game show that shows scantily-clad women passively standing still until the host tells her to "open the case" can be seen as hegemonically promoting patriarchy.

9. Ideologies Hegemony works through ideology.
An ideology is a set of ideas which give a partial or selective view of reality.
The media can circulate or reinforce these ideologies, showing us familiar ideas
OR, the media can undermine and challenge ideologies, showing us different or unexpected ideas.
Ideologies can seem to be ‘true’, ‘natural’ or ‘common sense’ but they aren’t!
Try to think of some ‘truths’ that shape Western ideology. (e.g. a woman’s place is in the home). How do these ‘truths’ create inequality in society? Where did the ‘truths’ originate? More importantly, perhaps, WHO made them true?

10. Your Media Text & Representation
Is your media text hegemonic, reinforcing ideologies by representing things in familiar ways?
Is your media text counter-hegemonic, challenging ideologies by representing things in different and unexpected ways?
Does your media text contain stereotypical representations of gender roles? Or does it challenge stereotypes associated with gender?
Does your media text contain representations that support ‘The male gaze’ theory?
Does your media text contain representations that support ‘The female gaze’ theory?