Theories of representation: Hall
- Representation is constructed: media does not mirror reality; it selects, frames and edits it using signs (images, words, sounds).
- Meaning is not fixed: it depends on shared codes, and audiences may read it differently.
- Stereotypes reduce a group to a few simple traits and present them as natural. Hall argues stereotyping is linked to power: it often targets groups with less power and marks them as "other".
Use it: point to a sign in the product, say what it means, and ask whose view it serves.
Identity and gender: Gauntlett, van Zoonen, hooks and Butler
- David Gauntlett: media offers many role models; people "pick and mix" ideas to build their own identity. Today's media shows more varied identities than in the past.
- Liesbet van Zoonen: gender is a social construction whose meaning changes with culture and time; media often presents women's bodies as a spectacle for a male viewer.
- bell hooks: feminism must address how race, class and gender interlock (intersectionality); some media still reinforces a system that is white-dominated, capitalist and patriarchal, but it can also resist it.
- Judith Butler: gender is performative: it is made through repeated acts (dress, speech, gestures), not a fixed inner truth. Media can repeat or disrupt these performances.
Ethnicity and postcolonial theory: Gilroy
- Colonial empires created "civilisational hierarchies" that ranked peoples as superior or inferior; these ideas still shape how ethnic groups are represented (who is hero, who is threat, whose stories are told).
- Gilroy's idea of the Black Atlantic: Black identities are hybrid and travel across countries; culture is not fixed by nation.
- Use it: ask whether a product repeats old hierarchies or shows complex, equal characters.
Media industries: Curran & Seaton, Livingstone & Lunt, Hesmondhalgh
- Curran and Seaton: media is controlled by a small number of large companies driven by profit; this concentration narrows variety, creativity and quality. More varied ownership and public funding can give more diverse media.
- Livingstone and Lunt: regulators face a tension between protecting citizens (for example children, fairness) and serving consumers (choice, competition). Global, digital media makes national regulation harder.
- David Hesmondhalgh: cultural industries are risky, so companies minimise risk with formatting (stars, genres, series), by owning many parts of the chain (vertical and horizontal integration), and by buying smaller firms. The internet is largely run by a few big tech firms.
Audience theories: Bandura, Gerbner, Hall, Jenkins and Shirky
- Albert Bandura (social learning): people can learn and copy behaviour they see modelled, especially if it is rewarded.
- George Gerbner (cultivation): heavy, long-term viewing slowly shapes beliefs, e.g. heavy viewers may think the world is more violent than it is ("mean world syndrome").
- Stuart Hall (reception): producers encode a meaning; audiences decode it in a preferred (accept), negotiated (partly accept) or oppositional (reject) way, shaped by their own background.
- Henry Jenkins (fandom): fans are active "textual poachers": they create fan fiction, edits and communities (participatory culture).
- Clay Shirky ("end of audience"): the internet lets everyone produce and share, so the line between audience and producer blurs.
Try it: take one advert. Write a preferred, a negotiated and an oppositional reading in one line each.
Key formulas and definitions
- Representation: how media re-presents people, places and ideas through selection and signs
- Stereotype: a simplified, often negative, image of a group shown as natural
- Intersectionality: race, class, gender and other identities overlap and interact
- Gender performativity: gender is made through repeated acts
- Concentration of ownership: a few companies owning most media
- Vertical/horizontal integration: owning different stages of production / owning many firms at the same stage
- Cultivation: long-term heavy viewing shapes beliefs
- Preferred, negotiated, oppositional readings: three ways to decode a message
Worked examples
1. Apply Hall's reception theory to a perfume advert showing a glamorous couple.
Preferred reading: the viewer accepts that the perfume makes you attractive and wants it. Negotiated reading: the viewer enjoys the glamour but knows a perfume cannot change their life. Oppositional reading: the viewer rejects the advert as selling an unrealistic, narrow idea of beauty and romance.
2. Use Gerbner and one criticism to discuss crime drama.
Step 1: Crime dramas show many murders each week. Step 2: Gerbner would say heavy viewers may overestimate crime and feel more afraid. Step 3: Criticism: the theory sees audiences as passive and finds it hard to separate TV's effect from other causes such as where people live.
3. How does Hesmondhalgh explain why a film studio makes a fourth sequel?
Making films is risky; most lose money. A sequel uses a known brand, stars and genre (formatting) that already has an audience, reducing risk. A studio that also owns streaming and merchandise (integration) can earn from many places.
Common mistakes
- Naming a theorist without applying the idea to a specific product.
- Treating effects theories as proven facts. Say they are debated and give a criticism.
- Confusing Hall's two ideas: representation (how media constructs meaning) and reception (how audiences decode).
- Thinking Butler says gender is fake. She says it is made through repeated acts, which is why it feels natural.