Representation is where the producer presents someone or something again, to show their ideas, beliefs and ideology.
Van Zoonen - feminist theory - women are sexualised through representation for the pleasure of a heterosexual male audience. The male gaze theory
Hall - representation theory - representations are constructed through media language, and make heavy use of stereotypes. Representations construct reality. The way in which we see the world effectively comes from media
Butler - gender performativity - the ways in which we perform our gender has an effect on the world around us
Lena - young woman
Simon - young man
Key scene one - the Lake Pub
- The low key lighting of the bar creates a friendly and welcoming mode of address for the teenage secondary audience
- The low key lighting is red, which has connotations of love and passion, which is further anchored through Lena’s flirtatious performance
- Lena bargains with Simon: “I’ll only tell you if you buy me a drink”. Her performance is very forward and highly assertive. This is further anchored through Lena keeping constant eye contact with Simon, and she is happily drunk and smiling
- Lena is clearly trying to seduce Simon
- This representation is in many ways highly atypical. Lena is actively flirting with Simon, which subverts stereotypical expectations of gender performance
- A subversion of the stereotype that that men are interested in sex and women are not is presented
- A binary opposition
- Lena is young and stereotypically hegemonically attractive woman. She’s wearing a dress, which is symbolically connotative of femininity. However, this forms a binary opposition with her scruffy denim jacket, which has connotations of masculinity. This binary opposition constructs a complicated representation of gender
- Lena is clearly sexually active, yet she is not presented in a negative way, which may be atypical
- The representation of Lena constructs a range of polysemic interpretations. Audiences may appreciate and identify with her demonstration of sexual freedom, yet others may be critical of her over drinking and her reckless behaviour
- Immediately before this scene, we see a shot of Julie on an empty bus, which constructs a vulnerable and bleak atmosphere. The scene immediately after is set in the Seurat family house, which presents an aspirational mode of address to the middle class French audience. French media, for example films and TV shows are far more likely to feature wealthy characters and aspirational upper middle class settings. These two scenes also forma a diegetic binary opposition to Simon and Lena’s night.
- The Lake Pub is lively, exciting, and inviting, and positions the target audience in an exciting mode of address. This mode of address is constructed. The MES of pool tables function as a proairetic code for social interaction and fun. The low key orange lighting presents a warm and inviting colour palette, that suggests the potential of a welcoming atmosphere. The MES of bottles of alcohol form a proairetic code, for drinking, fun and excitement. Finally, the clientele of the pub are young and hegemonically attractive people, which constructs a symbolic atmosphere of sexual potential.
- Lena makes constant eye contact with Simon, which connotes her desire to seduce him. Her body language indicates her interest in him, by moving in close towards him. She asks Simón to “buy me a drink”, which indicates her interest in him.
- Lena’s assertion is potentially stereotypically masculine. By actively picking up a man at a pub, and demonstrating her sexual interest, the producer of Les Revenants is actively contradicting Liesbet’s Van Zoonen’s feminist theory, and is potentially presenting an atypical, and even feminist ideology. By reinforcing the atypical representation of women being sexually active, Les Revenants challenges hegemonic norms and values that exist around women
- Simon acts in a grumpy, impatient and even desperate manner. He clearly has no sexual interest in Lena, which is encoded through his complete lack of dialogue, and the short terse delivery of his questions. Simon almost seems surprised and even uncomfortable with Lena’s assertiveness. Simon’s uninterested approach here presents an extremely atypical representation of men, and challenges the stereotypical expectation that men are motivated by sex. In short, this scene constructs a highly complex representation of gender norms for a niche audience
- David Guantlett- pick and mix - audiences can pick and mix different elements of a TV show to construct their own identity
Key scene two - Lena and Simon walk home
- While Simon is in many ways stereotypically masculine, including through his terse and grumpy performance, he also subverts these gender expectations by not running off to sleep with the hegemonically attractive and sexually available Lena
- Simon walks much faster than Lena, and completely ignores her, which visibly upsets her. His terse and blunt manner is simultaneously highly typical and atypical
- Lena is convinced that her hegemonically attractive looks and assertive manner can ‘turn’ Simon. However, he is clearly not interested in her, which subverts not only gender stereotypes. Simon is completely uninterested in her gender performance, which subverts the idea of gender performativity, or rather reinforces a complex representation of gender
- Lena shouts ‘de rien connard’, which is vulgar and angry, and presents a subversive and non-stereotypical representation of women