The Big Issue - Theories around representation

Barthes and semiotics

• Denotation
• Connotation
• Anchorage
• What this tells us about who/what is represented

Hall and ideology

• Hall believes that the media reflects dominant ideologies, and the majority of mass media artefacts reinforce generally agreed messages around gender, culture / ethnicity, consumerism, the family, social class and so on. Some artefacts are polysemic (more than two meanings), but most have a limited number of readings, favouring a preferred audience reading.
• Some audiences take a negotiated position.
• A small minority might make an oppositional reading.

Prince William Front Cover

• Dominant: "Prince Charming", Archetype, Privilege - royal
• Oppositional: Republican - Anti-monarchy, What does the prince know about homelessness

Bake Off Front Cover

• Intertextuality - to Trump
• Dominant: Britishness - a "mythical" version, safe, homely
• Oppositional: all white, not diverse

Gauntlett - a post modern approach

• Identity is complicated
• Building your own identity. No fixed representations
• Post-modern/ mix and match approach
• Might link to intertextuality: explicit reference to other media products, where the meaning is only apparent in reference to this other text (inter-text).

Van zoonen and Hooks: feminist theories

• Van Zoonen: Women’s bodies as objects
• Men’s bodies as spectacle
• Gender performativity: what we do rather than what we are
• Gender is contextual
• Bell Hooks: intersectionality. (Black female) audience to develop an “oppositional gaze.” This refuses to identify with characters

Madonna Front Cover

• Portfolio - objectified, sexual
• Contrasts with Big Issue where "uncovered" does not link to her sexuality and she is visibly older.

Gilroy and post-colonialism

• Diaspora* has constructed a transatlantic culture
• “Other”ness: most non-white representations emphasise otherness (from white, middle-class, male dominant representations), rather than any inherent characteristics
• (* originates from the movement of Jewish people from middle east Europe, later USA. Refers now to movement of immigrants to the west.)