Representation essay.

"Representation in media texts are often simplistic and reinforce dominant ideologies so audiences make sense of them." Evaluate the ways you have used/challenged simplistic representations in one of the media products you have produced.

In the Good Life music video we used representation through the characters which would most appeal to the target audience. As the genre is pop rock with the original song by a mainstream band the music video had to reflect that and appeal to a unisex teenager to young adult audience. In the video we used simplistic universal representation by having a male and female character with the context of a romantic relationship. To some extent the roles of the characters challenged dominant ideologies by having the female character Katie as the more active. This challenges stereotypical representations in media texts that usually have the male character as the more active. However, to some extent Katie is passive because she does not connect to the audience through eye contact which means the audience view her as an object rather than a subject which uses simplistic female representation and backed up by Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze that says in media texts, especially pop music videos, females are viewed voyeuristically rather than as the “hero” and main protagonist in the story.

The target audience is mainly teenagers and young adults; this is reflected in the simple narrative and representation of the characters who are both young adults. As the narrative does not focus on more serious everyday life issues suggests it might not appeal to an older audience so we used representation to appeal to our target audience. This also reflects the genre of the music which is soft pop which tends use light-hearted topics.

As there is a strong city vs country divide the representation of regional identity is used in the music video. To some extent you could argue that we have used simplistic representations leaning on stereotypical ideologies that would be familiar to the audience. For example the city is represented as being an unfriendly, isolating place to be which is reflected though the editing of black and white in the video. This contrasts with the country which is shot in colour and is represented as a happier, lighter, free place to be. This is also reflected in the characters themselves, Katie is represented as a stereotypical country girl, with a long floaty dress that makes her look very out of place in the city. She is also seen riding a horse which uses the dominant ideology that life in the country is simpler and less stressful. This also links to the representation of social class of the characters. Bank being from the city is seen with a Blackberry which reflects high tech modern city life whereas Katie is rejecting the city in favour of the country. This also uses the stereotypical ideology that country people are not as up to date as city dwellers, and are more likely to have outdoor jobs which is reflected in the horse shots rather than an office job which is reflected by Bank who is only seen indoors.