Representation Investigation
What is representation?
All media texts are re-presentations of reality. This meaning that they are intentionally composed by their producers and that they are artificial versions of the reality we perceive around us. Representation is the way in which a subject/character is portrayed in the media text that can be analysed by looking at age, gender, race, ethnicity, financial status etc..
Laura Muvley's 'Male Gaze' theory - the concept of gaze is one that deals with how an audience views the individuals presented in a media text. She believed that in film audiences have to 'view' characters from a perspective of a heterosexual male, and therefore focuses on how men may look at women in a particular way and the way females are portrayed within the media industry.
Representation can be viewed in the genre of horror films, in particular looking at gender and how they are portrayed. Women are stereotypically viewed as the weak, vulnerable 'victim' character in horror films who are to be rescued by the 'hero' figure from the perceived danger. However this is not always the case in all horror films, as we have seen the female character appear to challenge and overcome the villain.
