Representation Theory - Gender and Identity

Jean Baudrillard: Hyper reality & Simulacra

"We live in a world where there's more and more information and less meaning"

The theory suggests that everything is a copy and the original no longer exists, what is represented now is a hyper reality and isn't real. We base our views on the world through the media which creates unrealistic ideas about true life.

Representation - Concerned with the way that people, places, ideas and events are presented to us.

What appears on the screen, in print etc. does not appear by accident, but through a process of decision making from within the media industries. A media text then needs to be viewed in this light.

Laura Mulvey: The Male Gaze

The concept of the Male Gaze is that it's how the audience views the people presented, Laura Mulvey believes that the camera is either male or female. Through a male’s point of view they see women on the screen and sexualise them, the women featured are there to appeal to the male sexuality.

Whereas women would look at other women through the gaze in admiration because they inspire to be like the characters being shown. She suggests that there is no way to represent a women without sexualising and objectifying her.

Judith Butler: Social Construction

"Gender is a social construction - it is learned and reinforced by society"

The theory suggests that we as a society are manipulated and constructed depending on what kind of outlets we choose to view. So someone who decided to watch reality TV will choose their fashion and style choices based on what they've seen the celebrities wear who inspire them. However a person that watches more action based TV such as 'The Walking Dead' may choose to dress differently because they haven't been constructed to want to dress and look like the celebrities from the other TV shows.

Lacan: Psychoanalysis and 'The Mirror'

"The media is a mirror by which we form our own identity"

This suggests that the media we are exposed to is meant to seem like a copy of society and so people think that is how the wold really is. When actually you can't get an exact replica and so the products we are open too are suggesting that what we see is the same as reality, 

An example of this is show 'Goggle-box' as it doesn't fully represent anything and can be seen as the observer’s paradox.  As soon as the cameras are turned on it's no longer a true representation of society. 

David Gauntlett

"Identity is complicated, everyone's got one"

The theory suggests that the social world is no longer confident in tradition, a different approach to life is risky and needs to be worked apron to make over our own patterns of being.