Representation Analysis

Representation is an idea in media that continues to evolve as time goes on. Representation deals with the portrayal of people of diverse gender, race, ethnicity, body type, social class, and age. For many years, parts of these group have been misrepresented and stereotyped in all forms of media. Even today this misrepresentation grows strong, but steps are being taken to achieve correct representation for all groups of people.

Race & Ethnicity:

Representation of race and ethnicity in the media has reached an all time peak as the discussion of stereotypes and misrepresentation of different minorities has become a large issue. One of the most misrepresented groups in media in the U.S. are African Americans, who for many years were absent from media and if they were included they were either in stereotypical racist roles. One extreme example of this was the practice of using white white people in blackface for films and television and were acted out in a stereotypical manner for humor. Although this was the case for many years, the media has become more open to representing diverse groups as the demand for it has increased in society.

Ex:

This ad by H&M does a good job at representing a wide variety of diverse groups across different races and ethnicities. Not only does it showcase black people, but also Muslim and Asian people. Not only does it show these different groups, but it does so in a respectful way with not one of the groups being shown in a racist or stereotypical way.

Gender:

Representation of gender in media is one of the largest issues concerning representation. Men and women both experience strong stereotypes in media with over sexuality with women and over masculinity of men for example. An issue still prevalent today, is the lack of representation specifically for women, with many forms of media containing more males compared to females. Also, more recently steps have been made to include transgender representation in media as it has become a widely discussed topic. 

Ex:

This ad by Axe is an example of bad representation of women as it oversexualizes women in a disrespectful manner. In the ad, a large amount of women are shown only wearing small bikinis all running towards a single man. This shows a strongly exaggerated stereotype of women chasing men that comes off as insulting and reinforces a bad image for women.

Misrepresentation does not only apply to gender and race, it affects a wide variety of groups and minorities. All forms of misrepresentation issue the same effect, in which the groups affected are shown in a bad light and viewers and convinced into believing the misrepresentation and stereotypes. Good representation gives the opportunity to right these wrongs and eliminate incorrect stereotypes in order to achieve a level of equality and understanding across all diverse groups.