Representation and Media PDF

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Himani Patel (215590029) ANTHO 3040 The Anthropology of Digital Media & Visual Rep. Film: Representation and the Media

Media studies = cultural studies according to Hall 

“Representation”  Standard view: accurate or distorted reflection  Hall’s view (new): creative/active in relation to how white people think of the world  Hall shows that an image can have many different meanings  “Interrogation of the image” - Examining the image instead of accepting it - Questioning it  “Notion of representation” - Old view: representation as a reflection/ distortion of reality - To present - To depict - To image  Representation: there was a meaning already, but has been changed through the media  Standing in for us ex: political people (PM)  Representation: is the way in which MEANING is given to the things depicted  Gap of representation: “true meaning” v. media rep.  New view: representation as constitutive  No true fixed meaning for events  Representation is part of the event  ‘reality’ does not exist outside the process of representation

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Culture as Primary  How the meaning enters the event itself  “Notion of Culture” is a primary source not secondary  Culture: is the way we make sense of, give meaning, to the world  Maps of meaning, frameworks of intelligibility  Meaning arises due to the shared ideas and concepts of society

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Conceptual Maps  Classifying the world  Classification allows us to map out the world; ex. chair and table  The capacity to classify is a basic genetic feature of human beings  The particular system of classification used in a society is learnt  Culture is a system of representation  Internalizes

Himani Patel (215590029) 

Language and Communication  Completes the circle of representation; body lang, convo,  Language externalizes the meanings that we are making of the world

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Reality and Discourse  Statement 1: “nothing meaningful exists outside of discourse” - True - You need discourse for meaning  Statement 2: “nothing exists outside of discourse” - Wrong - No material existence, no material object  Without language meaning could not be exchanged in the world - No representation

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The practices of Signification  Signifying practice - “Practices involved in the production of meaning” - The effects and the products  Media main source of discourse

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Meaning and Absence  Relationship between what you assumed to see and what you saw  Expectations of what we thought the discourse might be

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Identity, Identification and the Viewer  “Identity claim”  Identification  Ads only work when we IDENTIFY with what is represented in the images  Visual rep. works alongside identification  Advertising tries to construct a “position of identification” for the viewer in relation to what is depicted in the image  If you can’t identification it’s hard to find meaning  Viewer is implicated through in the production of meaning

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Meaning is interpretation  Images have no fixed meaning  Images have potentially a wide range of meaning  Making meaning is always a process of interpreting what is represented  Interpretation is dependent on historical and cultural context

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Ideology and Power Fixes Meaning  Power and ideology attempts to fix the meaning of images and language

Himani Patel (215590029)  The fixing of meaning cannot be guaranteed, it can be unfixed – it can “loosen and fray”  The relative openness of meaning makes change possible  Meaning can only be changed because it cannot be finally fixed  Black men= criminal, violent  Ideology and Power tries to naturalize the meaning – so no changes can be made, everything has a fixed meaning

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Contesting Stereotypes 1. Positive images  Stereotyping fixes the meanings that are given to groups  The limited images of certain people effect how the society perceives those people in the “real world” Images produce knowledge Politics of Image - Contesting stereotypes means increasing the diversity of I mages in the media - Diversity opens up new possibilities of identity  Positive Representations - Reverse stereotypes - Cannot fix bad representation 2. Taking apart images  Closure in representation - Naturalizes the meaning of images - Hides the meaning of the representation  Opening up the practices of representation poses questions: - Where do images come from? - Who produces images? - How is meaning closed down in representation? - Who is silenced in the production of images?  Interrogating stereotypes makes them UNIHABITABLE – it destroys their naturalness and normality

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What is at stake in representation?  New knowledge  New meanings  New identities

Himani Patel (215590029) Following the film, you need to write a minimum of 200-300 words about one concept/theory/theme you found interesting and how you think it can be applied to digital visual culture. This assignment will not be marked, but is part of the introduction to the course. Similar to all “Discussion Forums” for this course, you need to post your initial response in the forum and in the Turnitin site provided. You also need to respond to two of your group mates. It may take up to 15 minutes before you can see their posts so be aware of this time lag. A concept I found interesting was how ideology and stereotype influence society to think a certain way and it is almost impossible to reverse that. This reminds me of the currents events that have been happening in the United States of America, where black men are targeted based on the stereotypes and ideologies of society, which tends to naturalize the meaning that a black man is a threat, just as stated by Hall. He also mentions that stereotyping is a way to fix a certain meaning in society. For example, the limited images that the media shows the society, society distinguishes people in that context in the real world. To change these stereotypes, it can be far more difficult, as images give us knowledge about the world, and questioning the stereotypes increase the diversity in the media. This diversity can allow the possibilities of new ideologies emerging. Reversing stereotypes such as creating positive images after putting up a negative representation is almost impossible to fix. This is evident in the current affairs happening around the world where over the years, the identity society put on is hard to fix completely. However, movements such as ‘Black Lives Matter’ help society be aware that these stereotypes aren’t right, and that the change has to be made....