Applying theorists to LFTV drama

Theories of representation - Hall

Can be applied to any media product, including LFTV drama

Draws attention to the role of power in representations - both the general distribution of power in society and the power of the television industry- but the power of the audience to decode representations in different ways.

Tends not to explain LFTV dramas as a whole but can apply to specific parts.

EG - Stranger Things:

- Social Groups of mostly Caucasian, patriarchal and heteronormative society.
- Create the representation of a normal traditional suburban town.
- A preferred reading is created by the producers by using stereotypes to try and fix their meanings. E.G in the single mother as being harassed and leaving a vulnerable child but the audience may view this another way.

D83

Germans didn't really agree with the preferred meaning of the series as they were just getting over the cold war.

Theories of identity - Gauntlet

Media reps off adverse range and contradictory messages about identity. The audience use the media to explore and express their identitys.

In your exam refer to it as "some of Gauntlets ideas on media representation and identity that he discussed in his books "media, Gender and identity (2002).

Applying Gauntlet to ST

- Rep of 1980s society suggests that identities were more fixed (patriarchy and gender roles)
- Contradicts with the rep of masculinity in Hopper and Will
- Fan culture has allowed self-expression

To d83

Suggests that changing audience behaviour allows for audiences to construct their won identities from a range of media products.

He argues that this change has enabled producers to take greater risks as audiences have been adventurous in their tastes.

Gilroy

Was born to Guyanese and English parents in east London and is a professor of English and American literature at Kings College London.

He talked about how black people living in the USA and Europe have a sense of shared experience and detachment.

An example of this is Hip Hop, starting in the black communities of New York in the 70's. It was a radical music form and had many cultural codes including dress, dancing, and other "dangerous and subversive" aspects.

Gilroy believes the legacy of colonialism still impacts upon media representations of etnic minorities.

Ethnic minorities are often showed as powerless, weak, dehumanised, marginalised, and "other". White people likelier to be portrayed as higher status

He argues that attitude towards ethnic minorities as not changed enough due to unhealthy nostalgia for empire. Britain has failed to mourn the loss of its empire.