Film RepresentationBy: Hafsa Aamir (AS-F)

The main purpose of representation is to present a certain version or aspect of reality. The way certain factors such as age, class, gender, ethnicity and sexuality are portrayed in the media in an entirely different manner. This representation is really impactful on the audience therefore it is necessary to treat the representations in your films very carefully. Representation will be a description, depiction or portrayal of something that exists in real life, and might have a great deal of importance in some people’s lives as well.

Representation in media can have a very negative or positive influence on the audience. People’s view on certain things can change straight away through certain portrayals of things. For example, If Blacks are shown as doing white collar jobs and living a very peaceful life rather than being robbers etc and spending their entire lives in downtown of a city, people will start to think that’ they are good and normal people, instead of judging them of being “thieves” and “gangsters”.

Universal Studios is known for producing and distributing films mainly of Drama, romantic comedy and action genre. And the characters in their movies are represented in various ways. I will show character representation through examples of various movies by Universal.

Wild child

This image shows that the teenage girl on the right is represented as materialistic and very focused on looks. She is wearing a short dress that shows a lot of skin, big sunglasses, big hoop earrings, and a handbag. She is thin with good skin and

hair. She’s also wearing what looks like high heels, along with big flashy bangles. Because she’s also wearing a scarf with a dress that short, it suggests that she’s wearing the scarf more to make her look better than to stay warm, since she seems quite happy to show a lot of skin. This shows that this girl has a big focus on her looks rather than other things like staying warm. This makes the representation of this girl also look very materialistic. This image represents an unrealistic view of teenage girls because not all girls are materialistic and this focused on looks. A possible stereotype this image reflects is the stereotype that teenage girls are loud, sassy, spoiled girls who care a lot about their looks rather than more important matters than, say, an education.

Bourne Identity

The Bourne identity is another good example that shows the representation of stereotypical gender roles within a film. In the movie poster placed above, Bourne is the central character the male protagonist; this is highlighted by the cross hair that is placed on his face. The woman who is displayed is shown kissing him she is conveyed as his love interest.

In this chase scene Bourne is in control whilst all the chaos is going on, he constantly reassures Marie that he knows what he is doing. Though he is being pursued by police he remains calm regardless; whilst the female character’s emotions contrast with his. However she remains confident in Jason Bourne which highlights the dependency that women employ into men.

Accepted (2006)

This a comedy movie, which revolves around a whole lot of teens who decide to open up their own college after getting rejected form every institution they ever applied to. In this movie, teenagers are shown are rebels because they go against the law and they go against the odds to make their wish come true. The tagline of the movie "I told you I could do it" shows that they stay firm on what they believe in and they strive to accomplish things no matter what.

Snow White and the huntsman

This movie is about feminism. This movie is all about purity of blood and ancestry. It’s about the rightful princess taking her place on the throne as queen because she is of “pure blood” and supposedly “pure at heart”, this is evident through her pure beauty (white skin, red lips, black hair). In this movie, the power of women is shown that the kingdom believes in her. Lines such as; “She is the one. She is destined.” Portray, that women are supposed to be pure and good at heart. This line; “She will heal the land” show the power of love and care in women. The color; WHITE in this movie represents PURITY and GOOD.