How does historical context affect the representations in Humans?
Knee jerk reaction: The historical context significant affects the representations used in humans
Plan
- Historical context: How the media product is affected by the time in which it was made
- 2015 UK
- "Black people being slaves, women should be housewives"
- Stuart hall - Representations constructed through media language
- Immersive and relatable for contemporary audiences
- The advancement of technology
- Representation of women, in particular anita
- Re-presentation and ideology
- Dominant ideology
- Gilroy, postcolonialism
- Stereotypes
- Hypperreality
- Alternative present
- Allegory
- Judith Butler Gender performativity
Introduction
Definition - Representation refers to how a group in society is 'presented again' by the producer to target a specific audience.
Context - Humans is a 2015 sci-fi TV show first broadcast on Channel 4. All science fiction functions as an allegory, Humans reflects many issues that are currently happening in our society
Argument - In this essay I shall argue that the historical context significantly affects the representations used in humans. In particular, the most important representations that occur in HUmans are those of women and minority ethnic groups.
Paragraph
Point - Throughout the episode, Anita is presented as both a stereotypical and hyperreal construction of a woman, which reflects many issues and problems that women encounter in our society.
Evidence
Sophie's dialogue - "I hope she's pretty, if she's not can we get another one?" - reinforces Anita's need to be hegemonically attractive, and is a clear example of sexual objectification. Commodification
MES of seller's wink as he hands over the '18+ mode' documents, allowing Joe to have sex with Anita, clear allegories of prostitution and even sexual slavery
Setting of the shop is both stereotypical and easily indefinable shop, with symbolic connotations of slavery and of ownership
MES of glowing green eyes, connotations of the sci fi genre
Costume - repeated MES of synth's uniforms emphasises that they have been constructed with a single purpose, and have no sense of identity
Argument: the representation of Anita here clearly reflects the ways in which women are represented in our society today. Van Zoonen's theory of feminist representation here proves useful, as we see a clear binary opposition between the ways that men and women are represented in this scene.Anita asks Joe in a cold and mechanical voice if he wants to be bonded as her 'primary user'. This reinforces and emphases that Joe is positioned in a position of hegemonic patriarchal dominance over Anita, and further emphasises the issues that affect women in our society today