'Representations in media texts are often simplistic and reinforce dominant ideologies so that audiences can make sense of them.' Evaluate the ways you have used/challenged simplistic representations in one of the media products you have produced.

I am going to discuss my advanced portfolio in which I created a music video, to the acoustic rock song 'Better Together', in relation to representations of my male artist and female character.

We challenged the simplistic representation of the acoustic rock artist, in our video by having an artist who is of an Asian ethnic background. This is because most of the artists signed to Brushfire Records, are not of an ethnic background. However this new representation of our artist in that label, reaches out to a wider audience, as more of the ethnic minority may become interested in our artist, Nathan Vega. Representations which become familiar through constant re-use come to feel 'natural' and unmediated. This could be why existing audiences of this particular record label, may see our artist as unnatural becuase he is from an Asian ethnic background and is not a familiar representation.

Another way in which we challenged representation was by portraying our artist in a less dominant way than the stereotypical male. For example we can see this representation through the narrative in which the female character comes to the male artist in the relationship at the end of the video. This shows that our male artist isn't very dominant, and can be seen as less assertive than a stereotypical male. This may appeal to a feminist audience as our artist can be seen as less of a stereotypical male, therefore making him different. However using the plurality model, we can see how a male audience would view the representation of our artist. It could be argued that the male audience may discouraged of our artists character because he is less assertive.
Also the nature of the song, being about love and relationships, can be seen to reinforce that representation of a less dominant male, when seen from a male audience's view. Another way representation can be said to show our artist being less assertive is the way he is seen as not taking himself too seriously. We can see this in the video when we see various shots of the artist having fun and laughing. These are seen in the black and white shots, where we see the artist behind the scenes, of his video, having fun and another shot where he jumps up in front of the camera.

However one way we have used simplistic representations in the advanced portfolio is through the female character. In the music video we see her gaze at the photo of the male artist quite lovingly. This suggests, from a feminist perspective, that the female character depends on him for her happiness in life. A feminist audience may suggest that the girl needs to be more assertive throughout the video, and maybe show she can still be happy without him. This representation would support John Berger's quote, 'Men act and women appear' as the women in the video can be said to just appear with the artist at the end, whereas we can see the male artist performing throughout as if she will just 'appear' at the end.

Another simplistic representation we used in this media product is in the was we chose to portray our artist to the audience. We used acoustic rock conventions in terms of our artists appearance, and we stuck to the record labels representation of these type of artists. For example we focused on his guitar throughout the whole video, and considerably in the digipak and magazine advert. To portray him as a laid back individual we made sure he was dressed very casually to give this impression. The hat was also to indicate this specific genre as similar artists of this genre were seen in this type of costume. In a way we represented our artist in a stereotypical way in relation to our chosen genre. This would appeal to a specific audience or social group, as these conventions are clearly seen, which could show our genre and convey our intended message prominently.

Representations in media texts can often be simple so that audiences can make sense of them. However I feel in our music video we have engaged with the pluralistic model in relation to our audiences, as we have challenged as well as used simplistic representations.