representation

1) Why is representation an important concept in Media Studies?

Representations are always, in some way, filtered through someone’s point of view, and carry particular work helps us to identify the way media products create ideological meaning.meanings or values. In other words, they are ideological. Thus an understanding of how representations

2) How does the example of Kate Middleton show the way different meanings can be created in the media?

for two images from the same event that create different ideas about the Duchess.

3) Summarise the section 'The how, who and why of media representation' in 50 words.

When analysing representations, it is always essential to question who is creating them, and why. All media products have a specific function which will impact on the representations they construct.All representations, then, are the cumulative effect of a collection of media language choices. Certain choices are made; others are rejected. The representation itself is the combination of these selections and rejections. The elements that are rejected do not carry the meaning the producer wants to communicate.

4) How does Stuart Hall's theory of preferred and oppositional readings fit with representation?

Hall argued that audiences do not necessarily accept the ideology of texts passively, but instead draw on their own cultural and social experiences to create their own interpretations.

5) How has new technology changed the way representations are created in the media?

With the rise of new media, audience members can now construct and share their own media products, and in websites, video-sharing platforms and social media there are more opportunities for people to represent themselves than ever before.

6) What example is provided of how national identity is represented in Britain - and how some audiences use social media to challenge this?

others. National identity is invariably raised during national sports competitions. During the 2014 World Cup, The Sun sent a free newspaper to 22 million households in England which represented its own concepts of ‘Englishness’ by symbolic references – queuing, the Sunday roast, Churchill and The Queen