Joseph Mamja

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Article Summary

Representation is how media texts deal with and present gender, age, and ethnicity, national

and regional identity, social issues and events to an audience. Media can reshape the audience’s

understanding and opinion on certain topics. There are key terms in media text. These terms are

construction, mediation, selection, anchorage, stereotypes, and ideology. Construction is the way media

text is put together. Mediation is the process everything goes through before reaching the audience.

This can be how the film script is changed or how things are cropped or captioned. Selection refers to

what has been selected to include in media text. Anchorage are words that go along with images to give

those pictures a certain meaning in a specific context. Stereotypes are simplified representations of a

person, group or place. Ideology is the ideas and beliefs, held by media producers, which is often

represented in their media texts. Representations are constructed through different ways. One way is

through camera shots and angles. These can make people appear more powerful than they really are,

whereas a low angle shot may make them seem less powerful. Editing can also change the way media is

represented. Producers can manipulate the emotion the audience is feeling by representing certain

situations or characters through editing. Audio codes can also be used to change representation. The

representation of a person might change for a person who has a strong English accent compared to

someone without an accent. Music is also able to influence representation. Visual codes are also able to

change representation. For example, iconography can have a big impact on femininity. In print-based

media, representation is constructed using layout and design, language and mode of address, camera

shots and angles in any photographs, visual codes, and anchorage.