Re-presentation — AQA GCSE Media Studies
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Re-presentation explained
Representation is the way media texts present the world.
Read the full explanation
It is not a window on reality, but a re-presentation. Theoretical perspectives suggest that media producers use processes of selection (choosing what to include or omit), construction (using media language like camera angles, editing, and mise-en-scène to build the text), and mediation (the way the message is altered or interpreted by the producer before reaching the audience). For example, a news report about a protest selects specific footage, constructs the narrative through editing and voiceover, and mediates the event to reflect the news organisation's values, shaping the audience's understanding of the event.
Your focus
- Define the concepts of selection, construction, and mediation in media representation.
- Analyse how media producers use selection and construction to create specific representations.
- Evaluate the impact of mediation on the audience's understanding of a media text.
Re-presentation exam tips
Marking Points
- Identify selection as the process of choosing specific elements to include or exclude in a media text.
- Define construction as the use of media language elements to build a representation.
- Explain mediation as the process by which a media text is filtered or altered by producers before reaching the audience.
- Recognise that representations are not objective reality but constructed versions of it.
Examiner Tips
- 💡When analysing a text, explicitly state what has been selected and what might have been omitted to shape the representation.
- 💡Use the terms 'selection', 'construction', and 'mediation' accurately to demonstrate theoretical understanding.
- 💡Link the process of mediation to the target audience and the institutional context of the media producer.
Common Mistakes
- Believing media texts show unedited reality. Correction: Understand that all media texts are constructed and mediated versions of reality.
- Confusing selection with construction. Correction: Selection is choosing what goes in; construction is how those chosen elements are put together using media language.
- Ignoring the role of the producer in mediation. Correction: Always consider how the producer's values and institutional context shape the final mediated message.