Stuart Hall representation theory

Stuart Hall was a Jamaican born cultural theorist, political activist and sociologist who lived and worked in the UK from 1951. He was one of the founding figures of the school 'British cultural studies' or 'The Birmingham school of cultural studies'.

Stuart Hall also created the reception theory in 1980
For more information:
http://georgialaymedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/stuart-halls-reception-theory.html

The representation theory puts forward these points:

• Representation is the way in which meanings are produced through the signs and codes that are a part of media language.
• Stereotyping allows us to describe people with a few characteristics that are common in their stereotype. E.g. we associate 'goths' with wearing black, heavy makeup and being moody.
• Stereotyping mostly occurs if a group is in the minority or there are inequalities of power.

One example we looked at in class to discuss the theory was from 'The Inbetweeners'. The show portrays four teenage boys as stupid, reckless and naïve. This is a typical stereotype for a teenage boy however they, of course, are not all like this. The shows also intensifies the stereotype conveying them as even more stupid etc then would be expected.

Another example is in the film 'Mean girls' where one character describes all the 'cliques' at the high school. Each group represents a different stereotype and are portrayed as a intensified version of that stereotype. The film creates the idea that all high schools have very clear set groups which isn't very realistic as not many people clearly fall into a stereotype like they do in the clip.