hall representation

• media often uses stereotypes
• encoding 


  The act of communicating ideas and messages through a system of signs. Media producers make specific media language choices to encode their messages.
• decoding


  the process through which an audience interprets a message
• hall's theory states that there is not a true representation of people or events in a text, but there are lots of ways these can be represented.

  So, producers try to ‘fix’ a meaning (or way of understanding) people or events in their texts.
• e.g newspapers try to fix a meaning onto audiences, demonise certain groups
• Representation is not about whether the media reflects or distorts reality but is about the many meanings a representation can generate.
• 2 system of representation

  1. conceptual maps
  2. language
• conceptual map

  • the mental representations we carry around in our minds.
  • e.g picturing friends and family, imagining fictional worlds and mythical creature
  • These ideas are all representations of what we might consider to be the real world.
  • we can distinguish once concept from another because we are fully aware of their similarities and differences
  • By creating systems of concepts, or conceptual maps, we can give meaning to our world.
• language

  • argued through sharing the same languages, we are able to share the same conceptual maps
  • makes it easier for use to exchange our conceptual maps by translating them into signs e.g gestures, written and spoken language, images
  • we are easily able to decode these signs as we have same understandings of their meanings
• • argued dominant cultural values and beliefs are often naturalised and taken for granted
  • audiences mostly accept media messages - creates false consciousness
• countertype

  • a positive stereotype and emphasises positive features about a person or group
• misrepresentation

  • false or misleading ideologies about a person or group
• selective representation


  representation of certain groups more than others