Visual Essay

Representation can be defined as how something is presented to an audience. Representations may change to adapt to modern beliefs and ideologies. If common enough, they may become expectations from a certain group of people, also known as stereotypes. 

Laura Mulvey argues that it is evident in media texts today that woman are shown to be sexual objects, including in magazines, film, music videos etc. It is suggested in the male gaze theory that women are denied human identity, as the focus is on their bodies whilst their personality is omitted. This theory has three aspects: how men look at women, how women look at themselves, and how women look at other women. Each pivots around how the media represents women, as the imagery used is supposedly what men desire. Mulvey argues that women imitate this imagery in order to adapt to the needs of men and become more desirable. Women conform to what they see. Women view themselves as inferior to the women in media products, as they compare themselves to these women and highlight their own flaws and aspects of their appearance that could be considered "unattractive". The media tries to create "the perfect woman", who's beauty is so artificial and unrealistic that it is impossible for the audience to match her. In doing this, it allows women to shape their own identities and create an ideal body and image which they can aim to have. However this theory does not take into account the viewpoint of men who are not heterosexual, and is therefore not an objective theory. Another criticism of Mulvey's theory of the male gaze is that some woman feel liberated and dominant by being viewed as sexual objects, and do so by their own choice, not because of the expectations of society.

Richard Dyer's star theory states that "a star is a constructed image, represented across a range of media and mediums". The theory explains how widely popular celebrities, also known as 'stars', are just a character of themselves, and are not real people. It is said that "stars are commodities that are produced by institutions", and are therefore just a way in which institutions can make money from the artist. There are four components of his theory, stars as constructs, audience and industry institution, ideology and culture, and character and personality. Dyer states that publicity materials and reviews determine the way that audiences experience a media text, and that a viewers perception of a film is greatly influenced by the perception of it's stars. Dyer stresses that stars are not real people, and are merely characters constructed by an institution to make profit, and therefore when stars are idolised and copied, we strive to be like people that do not exist, and it is impossible to reach they're perfection. Stars are shown in media texts to have real life experiences which reflect normality, such as 'no makeup selfies'. 

Tessa Perkins states that a stereotype is the specific label of a group of people who share the same mannerisms and characteristics. They are assumptions made based on how someone looks and acts, and is a form of prejudice. They are mainly negative, but they are not always, such as "Asian people are really smart". Stereotypes must have some sort of truth behind them, or else they would not exist, however some individuals may 'break the mould' of a stereotype. Stereotypes have become trusted in today's society, and sometimes institutions play on this by creating media texts that go against them. Such as an advert made by Aviva car insurance, where a man who looks like a stereotypical biker/thug is calm, good-natured, and safe driving on the roads. Stereotypes may develop and change over time, but the dominant characteristics remain, such as 'goths wear black'. Stereotypes can be help about one's own group, and therefore people may conform to stereotypes in order to be part of a desirable group, such as wearing the same brand clothes as others in the group. According to Perkins, stereotypes are a vital essence of everyday society. It allows people to further understand and recognize members of different cultures.

Narrative is a way of organizing media texts, such as a specific sequence of shots used in a film. It is usually in chronological order, unless the story itself requires 'flashbacks'. Narrative is structured according to an institutions desire to have the greatest impact on the audience.

Boardwell and Thompson theorized two distinctions between story and plot. According to them, the story is what the audience is shown, whilst the plot is how it is shown. The plot effects the presentation of the story, and therefore impacts the understanding of the audience. The plot could include aspects such as inferred events, which aren't directly shown in the story, but are implied through the use of plot. In reverse, the story could include non-diegetic material, which in turn effects the plot. Explicitly shown events are a part of both story and plot. 

Sven Carlson stated that there are three areas of narrative structure. These areas are performance, narrative (story), and conceptual/abstract. The performance aspect is very common in music videos, whilst being very rare in other media products. This is because the main focus of a music video is to convey an artists musical product, and therefore artists may feel necessary to represent the creation of their product in imagery. A narrative story is included in most media products, and can be paired with performance. Abstract material makes no logical sense, and may just consist of random images and audio material, having no clear story.

Tim O'Sullivan argues that all media texts convey to the audience some sort of story. Through careful mediation, media texts offer a way of telling stories. These stories are not usually about the creators personally, but the story of our society as a set of cultures. What is included in the text is just as important as what has been been excluded, as there is a reason behind why the institution has decided to uninvolve it, such as ethnicity, disability and sexuality. The society which created the media text is reflected both technologically and ideologically within the text itself, as the views and beliefs or the society will be conveys through the process of mediation. O'Sullivan theorized that all products begin as a raw event, such as an idea created by an institution, and through careful mediation this raw event becomes a media text fit for consumption by an audience.

Todorov stated that narrative has a specific structure. Generically, this structure has five steps. Narrative begins with equilibrium, where all is where it should be and everyone is content. However something happens to disrupt this, some sort of problem which effects the equilibrium of the characters. This leads to the characters carrying out a 'quest' in order to restore balance. When this quest is completed, order is reinstated, which leads to restored equilibrium. This is a linearity of cause and effect, and shows that one event can impact the remaining story. Equilibrium in narrative is described to be when all is balanced, and happiness is at it's peak within the characters, as there are no more events needed in order for them to feel content.

Pam Cook's theory of narrative development is similar to Todorov's, as it includes lost and reinstated equilibrium, however the events separating the beginning and end are much different. She stated that linearity of cause and effect is within an overall trajectory of enigma resolution.  The theory is structured so that a protagonist comes into contact with an antagonist, which causes the disruption of equilibrium. A 'quest' is then carried out to regain equilibrium, similar to Todorov's theory, however this quest is more centered around the direct disruption between the protagonist and antagonist rather than all events that cause unbalanced equilibrium. 

Stuart Hall's reception theory states that when a producer encodes a media text, it can't always be correctly decoded by the audience. Individual differences in personality and experiences will effect spectators opinions on various topics. There are three viewpoints that individuals can have on a media text, and those are dominant/preferred, oppositional and negotiated. The dominant is achieved when the audience view a media text in the way which the institution intended. This is the ideal consumption, and the reason in which the text was created. The audience agree with the message and ideology behind the text. The oppositional viewpoint is achieved when the audience does not decode a text how the producer intended. They view it differently and therefore create their own way of ideology behind the text.  

Blumler and Katz state that the media only produces the text, and it is up to the audience to consume it, according to their uses and gratifications theory. The theory argues that the audience has social and psychological needs that are solved by different media texts. These needs include: surveillance, personal identity, personal relationships, and diversion. Surveillance is the need to be aware of what is happening in the world, such as reading a newspaper. This gratifies a desire for knowledge and security. Personal identity is the need to conform to societies standards and stereotypes, which are usually given through celebrity role models. Personal relationships can be viewed in two ways, how the media influences the consumer to build relationships with real people, or how the consumer sees the television as a companion. Some people use the television as an ice breaker when talking to a stranger, or as a stimulus when watching with others, therefore building relationships with each other. Fictional television shows may sometimes appeal to the audience through the use or narrative and character development. The consumer may become attached to a character and want to know what happens to them, even if the show itself is losing it's appeal. The diversion need describes when the audience wants to be distracted from other responsibilities and problems that they are facing.

The Hypodermic Needle theory suggests that messages produced by the media are "injected" into the audience to create a desired response. In the 1930's, there was a radio broadcast of a radio drama named "War of the Worlds". This example demonstrates how a passive audience were given information, and acted upon it, creating a mass panic. The theory assumes that the audience have no other source of information and are easily pushed into believing information and acting upon it. The theory is now very outdated, as consumers in the present day are aware that they can reject the messages given by media texts if they believe that they are insignificant. There are now more sources of information, and technology has allowed us to have access to various forms of media texts and opinions.