For representation to be meaningful to audiences there needs to be a shared recognition of people, situation, ideas etc. All representations therefore have ideologies behind them.
What sense of the world is it making?
The media creator creates a world where it seems that working class youths are stereotypically violent and go around committing crimes in the new equilibrium they working class youths repel to the stereotype
What does it imply? Is it typical of the world or deviant?
It implies that young children who live in council estates may be violent and commit crimes.
Who it it speaking to? For whom? To whom?
People who fit into the stereotypes shown in the film, it also shows a new representation of the youths which may change peoples perception of that stereotype which could impact the person real life actions.
What does it represent to us and why? How do we respond to the representation?
It represents stereotypes throughout the movie so that the audience can relate to them and then flips these stereotypes around to give the audience a new perspective on their existing stereotypes.
We often judge a media products realism against our own view of culture, whats "real" can therefore become subjective
Walter Lippmann had a theory that films used stereotypes often as a shorthand way of portraying certain groups, but of course this comes with the risk of misrepresentation people in the media.
Tessa Perkins in contrast to Walter Lippmann said that stereotyping is not a simple process, she identified that some of the many ways that stereotypes are assumed to operate aren't true:
- They aren't always negative
- They aren't always about minority groups or those less powerful
- They are not always false, supported by empirical evidence
- They are not always rigid and unchanging
Perkins argues that if stereotypes were always so simple then they would not work culturally and over time.
Does Attack the Block contain stereotypes and how are these constructed:
Gang members ( Moses and gang ):
Stereotypes are constructed through language, clothing, crime, drugs
The Police:
Police are represented as monsters and an all white, 30-50 police force all with recognisable uniforms.
Brewis:
Brewis tries to subvert his stereotype when he comes into contact with the gang members by trying to talk to them
Ron:
Represented as a sweaty thirty year old with no stable job and is not capable of looking after himself.
Ideologies and Representation (MARXISM)
A hegemonic view of society - fundamental inequalities in power between social groups. Groups in power exercises their influence culturally rather than by force.
Concept has origins in Marxist theory - ruling capitalist class are able to protect their economic interests.
Representations are encoded not mass media texts in order to do this - reinforce dominant ideologies in society
Gender and Ideology (FEMINISM)
Masculinity and felinity are socially constructed, ideas about gender are produced and reflected in language O' Sullivan et al (1998).
Feminism is a label that refers to a broad range of views containing on e shared assumption - gender inequalities in society.
"Men act and women appear". "Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at" - John Berger
In attack the block we have the representation of Samantha as a female and the group of girls who live in the block along with the main protagonists. However Samantha and the group of girls are represented differently as the group of girls relate to stereotypes where's Samantha does not satisfy norma stereotypes.
Martin Barker (1989) - stereotypes are condemned for misrepresenting the "real world" e.g. reinforcing that the (false) stereotype that women are available for sex at any time. He also says stereotypes are condemned for being too close to real world ( e.g. showing women in home servicing men, which many still do )
Exam Question
Evaluate whether the representations in Attack the Block are simplistic and reinforce dominant ideologies so that the audience can make sense of them. ( 12 Marks )
P1 - Stereotype of gang members changes forms the start to the finish
P2 - The gang members perspective on Sam changes front he start to the finish
P3 - The girls are represented as a sexual object, use context from a theorist and Samantha does not conform to dominant ideologies
P4 -Talk about Brewis and how the gang members are represented using their language and clothing and then Brewis subverts to this language stereotype when he is with them as he begins to talk like them.
P5 - Holds a strong hegemonic view throughout the movie with their being strong divisions of social class which changes perspectives and how people act.
Does Attack the Block contain stereotypes and how are these constructed:
Gang members ( Moses and gang ):
Stereotypes are constructed through language, clothing, crime, drugs
The Police:
Police are represented as monsters and an all white, 30-50 police force all with recognisable uniforms.
Brewis:
Brewis tries to subvert his stereotype when he comes into contact with the gang members by trying to talk to them
Ron:
Represented as a sweaty thirty year old with no stable job and is not capable of looking after himself.
Ideologies and Representation (MARXISM)
A hegemonic view of society - fundamental inequalities in power between social groups. Groups in power exercises their influence culturally rather than by force.
Concept has origins in Marxist theory - ruling capitalist class are able to protect their economic interests.
Representations are encoded not mass media texts in order to do this - reinforce dominant ideologies in society
Gender and Ideology (FEMINISM)
Masculinity and felinity are socially constructed, ideas about gender are produced and reflected in language O' Sullivan et al (1998).
Feminism is a label that refers to a broad range of views containing on e shared assumption - gender inequalities in society.
"Men act and women appear". "Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at" - John Berger
In attack the block we have the representation of Samantha as a female and the group of girls who live in the block along with the main protagonists. However Samantha and the group of girls are represented differently as the group of girls relate to stereotypes where's Samantha does not satisfy norma stereotypes.
Martin Barker (1989) - stereotypes are condemned for misrepresenting the "real world" e.g. reinforcing that the (false) stereotype that women are available for sex at any time. He also says stereotypes are condemned for being too close to real world ( e.g. showing women in home servicing men, which many still do )
Exam Question
Evaluate whether the representations in Attack the Block are simplistic and reinforce dominant ideologies so that the audience can make sense of them. ( 12 Marks )
P1 - Stereotype of gang members changes forms the start to the finish
P2 - The gang members perspective on Sam changes front he start to the finish
P3 - The girls are represented as a sexual object, use context from a theorist and Samantha does not conform to dominant ideologies
P4 -Talk about Brewis and how the gang members are represented using their language and clothing and then Brewis subverts to this language stereotype when he is with them as he begins to talk like them.
P5 - Holds a strong hegemonic view throughout the movie with their being strong divisions of social class which changes perspectives and how people act.
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