Richard Dyer's Theory Of Typography Of Representation In The Media

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For my dissertation, I have chosen this area of study because I have an interest in the way different races (particularly African-Americans) are portrayed in the media and how that has an effect our society as a whole. In particular, because I am from the Cayman Islands, it is a honeypot of over 150 different nationalities living together and race has been an issue for quite a bit between expats and locals as expats might receive better jobs or pay over Caymanians. Also, my father is a local and my mother is an expat from Scotland, and so growing in different instances in my life I have been the victim of racism, even from locals and so because of my experiences in life, I am fascinated by the issues that come with race and hope to dwell deeper…show more content…
In his theory, Dyer identifies four different stages for us to consider: 1. Re-presentation - This is the media language in a media text that conveys a representation to help the audience convey meaning; “No re-presentation can be absolutely objective or universal. All re-presentations are constructions from particular subject positions. This is true of all modes of human thought and expression; it applies equally to the work of the artist, economist, philosopher, politician, scientist, etc [...] we only know the world through re-presentations. Events do occur and physical reality does exist, but we cannot access them or know them independently from re-presentations”; 2. Being representative of - This is how people use “stereotypes” thereby reinforcing dominant representations of particular social groups (for example stereotyping Muslims as terrorists); 3. Who is responsible for the representation - This is the institutions creating a media text that obviously influences representation of society; 4. What does the audience think is being represented to them - Audiences can construct different meanings of media texts as they offer individuals a way to think about how to actually make meaning from media…show more content…
“Media institutions are dominated by stereotypical white, middle-aged men and media production reflects this bias” (Lacey: 199) With the events of the Harambe incident and the Disney Alligator attack, I want to implement Stuart Hall’s theory of representation. In both events a child’s life was in harm, but the media portrayal for both families were entirely different. With the Harambe incident, the parents were black and we’re persecuted in the media to the point where the father’s criminal record was broadcasted nationwide. Where as with the Disney Alligator attack, the parents were white and were not persecuted in any way by the media, only realising information like what their job occupations were. In both incidents the parents make a mistake, but because one family was white and the other black, their stories were portrayed a lot different from one another just because of their race. With Stuart Hall’s theory, I want to analyse these events to determine which of these stories is either Reflective, Intentional or
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