Representation Theories

To understand representation in the media today we looked at three theories; Stuart Hall's Preferred reading, Laura Mulvey - The Male Gaze and Andrew Goodwin - Voyeurism. They had researched and created these theories about how audiences interpret certain representations. 

Stuart Hall - Preferred Reading Theory

Stuart Hall has looked into Old Views and New Views;

The old views were that information was resubmitted  there was only ONE fixed set of meanings, and that representations are understood after experiencing them. Now that the media is more complicated the views of representations are slightly different as now the audience investigate representations in greater detail, and can be interpreted in many different ways.

"The question of power can never be bracketed out of representation" - Stuart Hall

Stuart Hall had studied the way in which media text's are decoded; He had told us that it is decoded in three different ways;

Dominant Reading: The reader fully shares the text's code and accepts the preferred reading, the code seems "natural" and "transparent".

In the Miley Cyrus video, the dominant reading would be that she has just broken up from a relationship and she is broken, hurt and vulnerable. The destruction is represented by the wrecking ball, hammer and her vulnerability is shown through her nudity, the meaning of naked means "Without the usual covering or protection" - and in the Miley Cyrus video she is telling us that she has lost her protection through this breakup. A fan of Miley Cyrus would decode the text through a dominant reading as they would be loyal towards her, and feel her emotions of pain and vulnerability.

Negotiated Reading: The reader partly shares the text's code and broadly accepts the preferred reading, but resistis and modifies so that it reflects their own position, experiences and interests.

In the Miley Cyrus video the wrecking ball could symbolise her breaking her old image and breaking into this new wild character, and the destruction of the old good girl musician. When she is licking the hammer this could be a symbolic of sexual activities, again showing us that she has changed from this good girl to this wild, carefree "rock chick".

Oppositional Reading: The complete opposite of the dominant representation, the preferred reading is  understood but they do not accept the text's code and they reject this reading.

This is the reading that I personally believe for Miley Cyrus' music video, Wrecking Ball  I believe that is is a publicity stunt to get more publicity, as in media there is "no such thing as bad publicity", she was dressed in very revealing clothing at the VMA's, while dancing sexually with Robin Thicke, and in the Wrecking Ball video nudity had spread vast word of mouth promotion getting hundreds of million views on her new album/song.

Laura Mulvey - The Male Gaze

Laura Mulvey Argued that males are the "central active characters" in media text's, and that women are seen as passive. For example; James Bond is the hero, always with an attractive female, usually wearing revealing clothing. She had also argued that the camera staying on the women's bodies was strong evidence that women are seen as sex objects for the gratification of men.




 




Andrew Goodwin - Voyeurism

 

Voyeurism is present in may different music videos for Males and Females, usually through systems of looking, for instance; screens within screens, cameras and mirrors. We had created a "frankenstein" image to demonstrate voyeurism as Goodwin argued that a female would be objectified through camerawork and editing, by highlighting certain areas of their body, creating a sexualised image for the star. For males this is different as they are made to look more powerful, by surrounding themselves with female dancers to boost their own persona. This theory can become more complex as when we see the male body on display and we may raise questions about how the female viewers are invited to respond, and also in some media texts the female role is sexual but the female is shown as powerful, this raises some intersting points for discussion, but coming away from the sexualised views, movies such as Kill Bill show the female lead (Uma Thurman) to be powerful as she defeats many men in combat.