LO3 Theories of Representation

LO3 Theories of Representation

Key Theory 5: Vladimir Propp (1928)

All narratives feature stock characters and that audiences understood stories because of such features. Villain/antagonist, hero/protagonist, helper/supporter, Princess (the prize for the hero - not necessarily a person) one that is rescued/saved/helped.

Protagonist: Django
Antagonist: Calvin Candie
Supporter: Dr Schultz
"Princess" (prize for the protagonist): Broomhilda (his wife)

Fluid character roles - characters that change roles throughout the film

Representation - how the media shows us things about society.

Django unchained is about a former slave who joins forces with a bounty hunter in an attempt to rescue his wife.

Key Theory 1:Tim O'Sullivan et al. (1998)

For representation to work, there has to be a shared recognition of people and places. All representations therefore have ideologies behind them.

In my film (Django Unchained) the slaves who don't play a main character are represented as being simple and uneducated. 

Key Theory 2: Richard Dyer (1983)

Audiences should question the representations they see in media texts. What does the representation imply? Is it typical of the word deviant?

Key Theory 3: Laura Mulvey (1975)

Male gaze. Women are objectified in media texts and passive objects. audiences are positioned to view the women from the point of view of a heterosexual male. In Django unchained there is only one main female character and she plays the role of someone who needs to be rescued. 

Key Theory 4: Stuart Hall (1995)

Western/white cultures continue to misrepresent ethnic minorities as in the media due to underlying racist tendencies. Edward Said also said that ethnic minorities are portrayed as Pitied, humorous, exotic or dangerous. In Django unchained almost all of the black slaves are portrayed as being simple and submissive. The main protagonist (Django) is black and is portrayed as a binary opposite to the other black characters in the film as he is arrogant and fearless instead of being timid and simple. 

Ways of Seeing - John Berger (1972)

In this study, Berger analyses the manner in which men and women are culturally represented, and the subsequent results these representations have on their conduct and self as well and mutual perception. In "Ways of Seeing" Berger claims that the representations of men and women in visual culture entice different "gazes", different ways in which they are looked at, with men having the legitimisation of examining women.

Orientalism - Edward Said

Orientalism is a way of seeing that imagines, emphasises, exaggerates and distorts differences of Arab peoples and cultures as compared to that of Europe and the U.S. It often involves seeing Arab culture as exotic, backward, uncivilised, and at times dangerous. Said defined it as the acceptance in the West of “the basic distinction between East and West as the starting point for elaborate theories, epics, novels, social descriptions, and political accounts concerning the Orient, its people, customs, ‘mind,’ destiny and so on.”