Representation and The Male Gaze

What is representation?
It can be an image, a sequence or whole programme. The media do not present reality, they "re-present" it.

Representations invite audeinces to understand them and agree with them in certain preferred ways. Different interpretations are possible to an extent - depending on the audience.

Representations are ideologies, meanings and values that are important in that presentation. This gives great power and responsibilities to media institutions as the representations can to some extent influence social groups in many ways.

Stereotypes
These are used to enable an audience to instantly identify and understand the meaning of a text. They an an extreme form of representation.
In texts, stereotypes are characters who are 'types' rather than complex people. They are usually negative representations and come with many assumptions.
It is often evident when there is a power imbalance between members of society.

Ideology
This is a set of beliefs and ideas that are presented in a media text. Dominant ideologies are those which are accepted and understood by the majority of people as part of our cultures and expectations.

Hegemony
This is defined as the way in which those in power maintain their control. Dominant ideologies are considered hegemonic.
It is argued that ideology is a force in its own right.

Representations in media are intentionally composed, lit, written, framed, cropped, captioned, branded, targeted and censored by their producers and they are entirely artificial versions of reality we percieve around us.

Every media form is a representation of someones existance, codified into a series of signs and symbols which can be read by an audience.

However, without the media our perception of reality would be very limited and we need this artificial reality to mediate our view of the world.

Representation is a fluid, two way process - producers position a text somewhere in relation to reality and the audience assess a text on it's relationship to reality.

By giving audiences information, media texts extend the experience of reality.

Media representations and the extent to which we accept them are a political issue, as the influence of media exerts has a major impact on how we view the world. By viewing media representations our prejudices can be reinforced or shattered.

The study of representation is about decoding the different layers of truth/fiction. To appreciate representation we should ask the following questions:

• Who produced it?
• What/who is represented in the text?
• How is that thing represented?
• Why was this particular representation chosen and what might've been alternatives?
• What frame of reference does the audience use when understanding the representation?

The factors of representation most commonly addressed are:

• Gender
• Race
• Age
• Disability.

Media representations of society can be seen as traditionalist or post traditionalist. Traditionalist are ones in which individual choice was limited by its dominant customs and traditions. Post traditionalist are ones where the ideas set by previous generations are less important than those of the individual. Post traditional societies are no longer limited to time and place.

Many debates about representation are couched in terms of realism. These debates explore the degree to which media is realistic or to what extent it is a version of reality presented.

In terms of print platforms, newspapers are key when considering social and political concern to do with representations. This is due to having an input on the nation and what people may see as a political or social issue. As newspapers have to report on real life, therefore their representations will likely be linked with social and political concerns of that age.
Magazines focus on an ideal world and celebrities.

Economically, media texts use representations to focus on current issues by reflecting characters within or experiencing some form of reality relating to the issue.

Semioticcs
Language does not reflect reality - meaning constructed through language. We make meaning through the creation and interpretation of signs. Signs can be words, objects, images, smells or flavours.

Representation - key ideas.

• Signifer + signified = sign - saussure 
• Giving meaning to what is depicted - Hall
• Male Gaze - Mulvey
• Masquerade - Doane
• Stereotypes - Dyer
• Simulaorum - Baudrillard

Male Gaze

The concept of gaze is  one that deals with how an audience views the people presented.

For feminists it can be thought of in 3 ways:

1. How men look at women
2. How women look at themselves
3. How women look at other women.

Laura Mulvey an expert in media theory, coined the term "Male Gaze". She believed that audiences have to view characters from the perspective of a hetrosexual male.

Features of the Male Gaze
 The camera lingers on the curves of the female body, and events which occur to women are largely presented in the context of a man's reaction to these events.
It relegates women to the status of objects. The female viewer must experience the narrative secondarily, by identification with the male.

Use of Male Gaze
Some theorists also have noted the sexualizing of the female body even in situations where sexiness has nothing to do with the actual product.

Key theorists belief
Jonathan Schroeder - " to gaze implies more than to look at - it signifies a psychological relationship of power in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze."

 

99 Problems presents men in a fashion that they are tough and active. There are lots of difficult dance moves in this video and some scenes of basketball that support the idea that young men are supposed to maintain their physical ability to a high degree and are supposed to have a 'bitch', which is a girl. The young people in the music video have lots of muscles and this supports the idea that they depict men to be the stronger gender. There is also a scene where a dog fight occurs between two parties of men, this brings out the message that men are supposed to be aggressive and strong. The men in the prison have tattoos all over them and this further reinforces the idea that they are aggressive since people usually relate tattoos to gangs. There are several scenes of young women wearing little clothes and this presents women as objects of desire for men and triggers men's sexual interest when watching those scene. This music video also encourages women to voluntarily become the desire and center of attention of men. This is because the artists says 'I've got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one' and he feels 'sad' for you if you have girl problems suggests that it should not be difficult for men to 'have' women presumably because women are 'made for men' as suggested by the women's behavior of women in the video.