Representations in media engage audiences in order to communicate ideas, information, knowledge or emotions.
Some media goals are simple: sell products and services, such as a movie ticket, a burger or insurance. Other goals are more complex, such as constructing meaning and suggesting points of view around complex issues like global warming, race or gender.
The media industry is built on the assumption that representations that appeal to media consumers will attract bigger audiences.
Representations in media products influence both beliefs and behaviours, which in turn results in greater income for content creators and those who employ them.
Representations have become more sophisticated
The idea of representation is not new. The first cave paintings were representations as are the latest images in an Instagram feed.
A heart has long been a representation of love, but today we’re less likely to send a Valentine’s Day card than click on a ❤ emoji or share a #love TikTok.
This is, in part, due to the way we think of love these days and partly due to the ease of expressing this emotion online.
Once a largely private and romantic experience, today social media allows us to construct a representation of love to share with a range of audiences.
We might ❤ a football team, a cup of coffee or an image of a friend’s cat. We understand both the emotion and the ways it can be represented as we read media messages in context.
Over time, representations have become increasingly sophisticated, building on each other and what has come before, morphing and developing as audiences evolve and technologies allow greater user participation.
Everyone makes media
Today we all create media content, representing ideas for personal audiences such our friends and family. As a result the nature of audience engagement has also changed as we move between media forms and platforms. Sometimes we are part of a mass audience, at other times we are an audience of individuals.
Regardless of the size and type of audience, representations still suggest ideas and sell products as they inform and entertain.
Media success can be measured by both corporations and individuals as they measure the number of views, likes, retweets or comments.
But the line between audience and creator has shifted. With the shift to interactivity, we are all still audiences, but at different times we are also users, members, subscribers, consumers, viewers, listeners, buyers, players, gamers, contributors, commentators, lurkers, influencers and creators.
The proliferation of this terminology reveals much about the changing relationship between the media, its audiences and creators —and about changes in society.
Audiences are primed to prioritise engagement over analysis
Media creators produce works that are designed to influence us in a particular way. This is termed their “preferred reading”.
As audiences, we respond to media representations based on both our understanding of them and the context in which we consume them. Media experts call this process “making a reading”.
We almost never think about the differences between a media creator’s preferred reading and our own. Our readings are mostly instantaneous and subconscious. We accept or reject media representations in the moment based on our understanding of them, which is in turn based on our culture, experience and the emotions they generate.
The media is good at its job and so are its audiences. As experienced and expert instantaneous decoders we laugh, cry, yell, hide our faces or click as we read and respond to media messages.
We’re usually not so interested in thinking about how and why representations are constructed, and we almost never interrogate our reactions and emotions.
But with a bit of practice, it’s possible to engage and analyse simultaneously. Believe it or not this makes the media even more entertaining.
Who is making and promoting this media product? How is it constructed and distributed? Why has it been constructed in this way, and what is its impact?
When thinking about the media’s impact on audiences, begin with yourself and then think of others.
Analysing our own readings can help us think more clearly about how others may react. This method helps us become more analytical and less judgy.
Big picture and fine detail
Get in the habit of asking both the big questions about the role of representations in the media and the small ones about how individual representations have been constructed.
Big picture questions might include:
- Who is the market for this content?
- Why was this media product created?
- Who stands to gain from the production and consumption of this media product?
- What is the preferred reading of representations in this product?
- What do these media representations say about the society in which they were created or distributed?
- How would this content be received and read in different societies?
Fine-detail questions will vary and be specific to individual representations but might include:
- How did the creator structure the message?
- Why is that font so dominant?
- Why is the character costumed in that way?
- What does the use of colour reveal?
- What is the impact of that camera angle and movement?
- What does the use of sound such as dialogue, music and effects contribute?
- How does a particular editing technique make me feel?
New business models and ethical challenges
Audiences have embraced social media — it fits our busy lives, creating connections that are not possible through mainstream media. But like anything new, social media has also created issues and dilemmas that couldn’t have been foreseen.
Every click is harvested, analysed and sold to creators and advertisers who use your tastes, preferences and media-usage patterns to direct your attention to content that is formulated to appeal to you.
It’s no longer possible for parents and teachers to monitor the media use of the young people in their care as was once the case, and while the world is now in our pockets, social media content and industry practices are not always safe or ethical.
The greatest challenge is to balance the positives and negatives by keeping the lines of communication open and educating all stakeholders — parents, teachers, young people and legislators — about its possibilities and problems while celebrating all that social media has to offer.
One thing is certain: it is our future.
Jo Flack is a teacher of over 40 years, specialising in the relationship between media and society. She is an author, a curriculum developer and an assessor, passionate about the possibilities new media offers individuals, communities and the world while being realistic and analytical about the challenges it creates.
Visit ABC Education for more media literacy resources, including classroom activities that explore representations in social media.