reprsentation theorists

Question 1

Theories of Representation
Stuart Hall

Answer 1

Representation is the production of meaning through language (a system of signs).
Stereotyping reduces people and things to a few simple characteristics or traits.
Stereotyping tends to occur where there is disparity of power, with subordinated/excluded groups being different or “other”

Question 2

Theories of Identity
David Gauntlet

Answer 2

Media provides us with ‘tools’ and resources that we use to shape our identities.
In the past, these media toolboxes were simple; as the mediated world has become more complicated, we now have a wide range of media
models — a pick-and-mix of different ideas that we can choose from

Question 3

Feminist Theory
Liesbet van Zoonen

Answer 3

Gender, as a product of discourse, changes depending on cultural and historical context.
The objectification of women’s bodies is core to Western patriarchal culture.
The codes used in mainstream media to construct the male body are different from the mediated/objectified female body.

Question 4

Feminist Theory
Bell Hooks

Answer 4

Feminism is a political commitment rather than a lifestyle choice.
The intersection of race and class (as well as sex) determine the extent to which individuals are exploited or oppressed.

Question 5

Theories of Gender Performativity
Judith Butler

Answer 5

Identity is performatively constructed by the very “acts” or “expressions” that are thought to be its results.
There is no inherent gender identity behind the expressions of gender.
Performativity is not a singular act, but a repetition or ritual.

Question 6

Theories around ethnicity and Postcolonial Theory
Paul Gilroy

Answer 6

Colonial discourses continue to inform contemporary attitudes to race and ethnicity.
“Civilisationism” constructs racial hierarchies and sets up binary oppositions based on notions of “other”ness.