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Week 1 - Media Communication and Representation
This week we considered ideas and theories about representation and the thing that struck me was that representation of groups such as women can be malleable to current social attitudes. The film Carry on Camping uses the image of a woman’s chest to create a comedic effect which during the 1960s could be interpreted as being funny but to a modern audience this could be derogatory and a sign of patriarchal influence over the media. This could show that the media can be historicising and the relationship between denotation and connotation can evolve from positive to negative depending on changing social norms and values.

Similarly, in Janelle Monรกe’s PYNK, the use of pink in the costumes, setting and the references to all women’s bodies being pink creates a sense of unity between women and this unifying image contributes to the improving relationship between denotations and connotations therefore promoting positive representation of women in the media. However, some may critique this by saying that the dancers who are dressed in revealing clothing could symbolise the objectification and sexualisation of women and the unifying of image of women all having the “pynk, like the inside of your…baby” could serve as a double entendre because women can still be viewed as sexual objects in the media.



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