Research into representation

 Representation is the way media texts deal with and present gender, age, ethnicity, national and regional identity, social issues and events to an audience. 

Media texts have the power to shape an audience's knowledge and understanding of these topics. 

Representation is important it can help break down stereotypes that can be detrimental to some individuals and limiting to society. When a group of people is only ever represented in negative ways, it negatively affects the way others see them, as well as the way they see themselves.

Stuart Hall representation theory

Cultural representation is a concept cultivated by Stuart Hall. The theory states that there is no true representation of people or events in a text, however there are many ways these can be represented. Therefore producers try to 'fix' a meaning or way of understanding people or events in their text. 

In order to analyse media texts to determine how they've represented ideas and issues, it's important to be familiar with some of the key terms.

Identity- Identity is to do with peoples social, economic and cultural relations we live within. The basic definition of representation in the media is simply how media, such as television, film and books, portray certain types of people or communities both positively and negatively 

An example of where identity is used in media representation is in adverts where they showcase beer making it out to look like drinking beer is a key aspect of a party in order to make it fun and by doing this they create the connotation that its their product that makes the party fun which helps them to promote it. 

An example of identity used in films is Of Mice and Men, where one of the main characters who is black and the only black person in the film, is not treated the same way then the other characters. This is representation shown in a negative way.