representation

has been defined as:

shared characteristics of stereotypes

* Involve a categorising and an evaluation of the group being stereotyped

* The evaluation is more often a negative one

* The stereotyped group often has little means of having say in it's representation

* Stereotypes change over time

a quote from Stuart Hall 1986 has defined representation "the power to represent the world in certain ways. And because there are so many different and conflicting ways in which meaning about the world can be constructed, it matters profoundly what and who gets left out, and how things, people, events and relationships are represented."

Another way Stuart Hall has showed representation in this video clip form youtube:

Richard Dyer (1993) argues that representation is a political tool: "Social groups are treated in cultural representation is part and parcel of how they are treated in life, that poverty, harassment, self-hate and discrimination (in housing, jobs, educational oppurtunity and so on) and shored up and instituted by representation"

Dyer also higlights the complications in theories which focus on the negative representations of class, race and sexuality:

* Are negative representations responsible for the prejudicial treatment of a particular group?

* Does representation directly affect behaviour?

* Can negative representations be challenged by positive ones, and change people's attitudes and behaviour?

* Who defines what a positive or negative representation is?

A good example of representation is Leni reifenstahl's triumph of the will