Nada Mudawi-- Representation Theories-- Media Studies Unit 26 -- Task 3

Analyzing the representation theories of Mulvey, Dyer, Gaunlett, Perkins and Barker in film.

Representation is an expression used generally to describe how something or someone is portrayed in a certain way to somebody, media representations however, differ slightly although there are some similarities, it expresses the ways in which the media portrays particular groups, that being groups such as; homosexual groups, teenage groups, groups of males/females etc. Also, the representation of ideas or topics from a particular religion or culture.
The media is often criticized by many people, complaining that the media often emphasizes or rather enforces ideas, these are sometimes seen as stereotypes. People believe the media can be unjustly for repeatedly using theses ideas, which often result in change of opinion or even behavior from someone watching. It is sometimes argued that it is not the media's use of stereotypes that is the problematic but the audiences assumptions that the representation can be applied to a particular group,
Many media theorists have evaluated the representation of social groups, suggesting that sometimes these could be controversial.

Laura Mulvey- 'Male Gaze' Suggested that media represents females (women in particular) as sexual objects or simply as passive objects for men's desire, and 'gaze'. The audience are almost forced to view women from a point of view of a male , or sometimes as heterosexual. It has become a leading representation that women should be made to look alluring and attractive for males satisfaction. 

'That girl'-1968                              

This is a good example of how Mulvey's theory can sometimes not be true. This series of 'That Girl' subverts Mulvey's theory as it portrays women in a completely different light. The female character we see here is not like Mulvey said an object for 'male gaze' or just a sexual object, she is actually represented as an educated , self dignified and talented young girl according to her. We see the young women telling her opposite sex that she is a self respectful person, making him as a male figure not see her as an object. Audience's watching this would be prone to feel the same way because although sometimes what the media feeds us about women can take control of what we personally feel , it is examples like this which reinforce the idea of changing that mind set. Female audience members would feel proud that they as a collective are given a place , other audience members such as men for instance might feel a mixture of emotions, some who deeply disagree with the idea of women standing by anything would show their disagreement by socially interacting with other men , saying their opinion of it.

However one example that definitely conforms to Mulvey's theory, is where we see modern day media represent females as sexual objects. The example I am going to use for this is the production company Walt Disney, this is because I have noticed some common ideas amongst most of Disney's films. Many reasons why people are driven to think of women in a generalized stereotypical way is because of the media, which feeds them with specific ideas about what a women should be.




Disney is a strong media source which does so, they as a production body express their views about women through their female characters in their films. For instance , a film such as 'Beauty and the
 Beast' is a good enforcer of Mulvey's theory the idea is based around women being in a abusive relationship and accepting it. In todays society, figures show that almost 50% of women in an abusive relationship are sexually objectified and therefore are unable to say anything because of the fear of 'male dominance'. This shows us how Disney's portrayal of women being in an abusive relationship makes them sexual objects to men-because they're week and are inferior to them. I would defiantly agree with Mulvey's theory but on the other hand would agree with the stereotype.  The clip above is a brief overview of some of Disney's films, showing for each the stereotype of women.  
 
-'The Ugly Truth'

The next example underlines modern society's view of women. We see in this clip, another young female being represented in a completely different way than the example above (That Girl). With the example above the women changes the cliché and represents herself, being a voice for other women as an independent women who is educated. This example from the film 'The Ugly Truth' shows us the female character doing the opposite, here there is also a male figure with her and he tells her what society knows.. or at least thinks of women. That she should be a 'sexually teasing tornado'' . Of course she accepts this , and again this media text portrays the female stereotype and conforms to Mulvey's theory. This impacts the audience would react to this with many attitudes depending on who is watching. A female teenage audience member  may think that this is in fact what she should be doing and the character becomes an idol to her, teaching her new ideas she may not have known about what is to come for her- being a teenager who will soon become a woman. Another audience member such as a women in her 20s, may find this quite amusing as she understands it better than the teenage audience member would. However, an elderly women who may see this would be offended at the representation of women, because she will be dignified

Perkins- Suggested that stereotypes are not always negative for instance ''Chinese people are smart'  this is widely seen as an insult or justification towards Chinese people, however truth is that it is a good thing if not exceptional, because being smart is not a negative thing. This is perhaps a stereotype usually intended as a reaction from those with under average skill or knowledge, towards Chinese people. Also, another assumption that Perkins suggested was a stereotype that is not always false, and that they often contain an element of truth, for example the stereotype of Asian families - ''every Asian in world owns a corner shop'' .(example)  and that stereotypes are not

 -'The Spy Next Door'

The clip to the right that I have trimmed from the film 'The Spy Next Door' shows how the media represents Jackie Chan, as a Chinese man. The understanding or stereotype of him is going to be that he is a really intelligent person. Here Jackie Chan gets a call to 'check out a file' because they can't crack a website and need him to do it for them. Of course this is confirmatory to the theory Perkins suggested as it shows people watching this film that this is what Chinese people are good at just because they are highly smart. The audience may react to this in many ways, some for example, Chinese people would be offended by this, as they may disagree with this common assumption of them. They gain no particular pleasure, but you would assume that would be pressurized to lower their intelligence on purpose in order to be seen as normal as everyone else. This is a way of showing positive stereotyping that is also negative.

-'Finding Forrester'

One way of applying Perkins' theory is where she suggests that stereotypes are not always negative, well I take the opposite look and say stereotypes are not always positive.  The example from 'Finding Forrester' suggests perhaps that being smart isn't always good. The young black male character we see in the clip is on top of the class, and plays the role of a black genius. Of course there is something wrong because , there is in fact a stereotype that black people are stupid or ignorant, in this case though the black character we see is the smartest character in the whole film. In this scene , we see the character in University , sitting an English class, the professor is soon interrupted by this character. Then he goes on to try and make test his understanding, but the genius throws at him facts and knowledgeable things, amazing the class and the professor, forcing him to from humiliation , tell this character to leave the classroom. This could be seen to subvert Perkins' theory but there is argument there.

-'Ratatouille' 

Again looking at Perkins , where she suggests that stereotypes are not always negative. One stereotype that has been around for years is the assumption that all the French are good cooks. This stereotype can be seen as a negative thing towards French people , because people say that they eat animals such as frogs- and that this is vile. This example is from the film 'Ratatouille', in the clip we see the french female cook ask with all normality..... a rat, whether he is sure that he is picking the right dish to serve for review. The rat is certain of his decision and cooks the famous ''peasant'' dish Ratatouille which ultimately results them in success. The french cooks weren't bad after all.. or were they? After all they didn't cook the dish, the rat did. Does this mean that this example  may be a conformation as well as a subversion to Perkins' theory?

Richard Dyer, who argued that stereotyping is an exaggeration of representing social groups, according to Dyer all the media does is reinforce what the stereotype is saying about certain social groups.

-'Inside Man'

This clip from the film 'Inside Man' is a good example for proving Dyers theory to be right. The media is a major mislead in terms of many things, one being religion. In the clip we see one of the hostages that were let free, being detained for questioning by the officers. he mentions that one of the officers called him an 'arab' referring to a terrorist. This scene is highly appropriate for Dyers theory because, as in today's news we regularly hear about 'arab terrorits' and i reckon the officer in the clip was representing and reinforcing what the media puts out there. The Sikh is understandably worried for his human rights, he complains about being 'harrasted' where ever he goes , simply because society see him as an Arab with a beard so he must be a terrorist. This idea proposed by Richard Dyer is really interesting because audience members who watching this scene in the film will perhaps have each a different take to it. 

From looking at reviews on this film, I have found that people are mostly suggesting that Spike Lee (Director) has on a whole purposefully put in characters who are often stereotyped, in order to reinforce the idea for diversity and change. 

-'The Dictator'

The next example I am going to be talking about is from the film, 'The Dictator'. In this helicopter scene we see two American citizens with two presumably Syrian males. I found this scene quite humorous because of the manipulation of dialogue, the representation of both the Americans and the foreigners is quite blunt. Although we know that the foreigners are talking about a car ... that is called 911. The couple think otherwise- they promptly think of the incident of 9/11 and assume these two males are terrorists. This is a good example in regards of Dyers theory because of the references to terrorism , the Director has decided to represent those two 'arab' men in this way to show that this is what society interprets them as , when I first saw them I honestly thought this , and with the dialogue it made it even more convincing. The audiences reaction to this representation can vary, Muslims may feel quite defensive to this, and even offended racially. Other audience members such as Americans who are stereotyped as racists will understand the feelings of these two Americans we see in this scene, they would be more emotionally engaged towards them more than the other two 'arabs' I reckon. The day and age we live in is very shaky on issues like these and like Dyer says , the media only reinforce these attitudes back into society. 

  

Theorists such as Gauntlett, claim that collective identity is difficult to show, as we all have individual personalities. He also argues that "identity is complicated. Everybody thinks they've got one. Artists play with the idea of identity in modern society." The film Im going to be discussing is 'Inside man' which is about a tough detective (Denzel Washington matches wit with a cunning bank robber (Clive Owen) , as a tense hostage crisis is unfolding. Into a volatile situation comes a women named Madeleine (Jodie Foster) , a mysterious women power broker who has a hidden agenda and threatens to push a tense situation past the breaking point.

In this film the detective is actually black and the robber is white, now the audience wouldn't really expect that because black people are sometimes seen as being the trouble makers in films. Not just in films but in reality also , I agree with Gauntlett and his theory that collective identity is difficult to show. Even when someones identity is clearly shown by their behavior others may take it the wrong way and this has been going on between mainly between white and black people. In today's society black people are not satisfied at the way they are treated in public.

However, in this film its the complete opposite because the audience get to see a white American being the trouble maker in the film. It not  a good representation in my opinion but it could have been worse if it was to be black person being the bank robber. Being a bank robber doesn't really suit anyone's race judging by their skin color so even though its not a good representation at least its something different, for the audience to see. This film shows that white and black people can be equal in society today because when slavery started in 1619 mainly black people were targeted as being slaves. It's not like that anymore again its the 21st century even though some are treated unfairly today its not to that great extent like it was nearly 300 years ago.