Introduction to Representation and Super. Human.

📽 Introduction to Representation 📽

Representation - the ways in which a media product constructs the world and aspects within it, including social groups, individuals, issues and events. The way in which something is shown again by the producer.

Stereotype - a commonly held belief about a group of people.

Representations are NEVER real! They reflect the ideologies of the producers.

Ideologies - beliefs and values of the producer

EVERYTHING in a media product has been constructed and chosen for a reason. You need to consider why the person has been represented in such a way.

Stuart Hall - Representation

• argued stereotypes are:
• an ordering process
• a short cut
• a reference point
• an expression of dominant societal values

How to answer a representation question:

1. Who or what is being represented?
2. How is the representation constructed through media language?
3. What ideology is presented about the represented group?
4. What is the societal impact of this message on the group being represented?

Super. Human.

• mise-en-scene
• blood used throughout the trailer, in particular the extreme close-up of a bloody tooth hanging in a socket. This off tooth has symbolic connotations of differentiation and clearly depicts how Paralympians are viewed and stereotyped by wider society.
• number of unflattering and even grotesque elements of MES, for example an extreme close-up of the camera going down the throat of a performer. This positions the audience literally internally, being able to see the blood, sweat and tears of the athletes, connoting they are truly human
• camera angles
• long shot underwater of the athlete swimming while dragging an enormous, heavy medal is lit through low key lighting, which connotes the uncertainty ahead for the athlete. This positions the audience in a relatable and exciting mode of address.
• significant contrast between low-key lighting sequences and high key performance sequences functions as a symbolic code, suggesting both the high and the low points the athletes face.
• presentation of strength
• most notably constructed through a montage of extreme close-up of the performers faces, which connotes the humanity and personality of the individuals as well as how they matter as much as anyone else
• focus on the athletes as individuals, as opposing to including MES of prosthetic limbs (for example)
• stock footage of armies marching, which presents a reference to discipline which Paralympians face 
• binary opposition
• formed between the exciting MES of the performance shots and the dull, depressing MES of the cafe where the performer can't get over the step of the cafe on her wheelchair. Contrast reinforces the difficulty that disabled people face in everyday life
• lexis
• "you might as well quit" constructs a theme of defiance against common advice, again reinforcing the ideological perspective these athletes are human