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CHAPTER II THEOREITICAL FRAMEWORK
In Chapter II the writer will discuss the character and used representation theory by Stuart Hall to see how masculinity in this film represented by character
in film.
A. Representation Theory
Christ Barker tells that representation is a major study in cultural studies; representation itself is defined as how the world is socially constructed and
presented to us and by us in certain meanings.
1
Michael Ryan argues that the representation can also refer to the construction of all forms of media especially
mass media on all aspects of reality or reality, like people, objects, and events.
2
Giles and Tim Middleton also argues in his book Studying Culture: A practical Introduction
,
3
there are three definitions of the word to Repr esent’:
1. To stand in for. This is exemplified in the case of a State flag, which if
flown in a sporting event, the flag indicates the existence of the State concerned in the event.
2. To speak or act on behalf of. A case in point was the pope to be people
who speak and act on behalf of Catholics. 3.
To re-present. In this sense, for example writing or biography that can bring back the events of the past.
1
Chris Barker, Cultural Studies Theory and Practice New Delhi: Sage, 2004 , p. 8.
2
Michael Ryan, Cultural Studies A Practical Introduction, United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing, 2010, , p. 154.
3
Judy Giles and Tim Middleton, Studying Culture: A Practical Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1999, p. 56-57.
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In practice, all three meanings of these representations may overlap. Therefore, to gain further understanding about what the meaning of
representation and how to operate in a cultural society, representation theory by Hall will be very helpful. According to Hall in his book, Representation:
Cultural representation and signifying practices . Representation connects
meaning and language to culture .... Representation is an essential part of the process by which meaning is produced and exchanged between members of
culture.
4
Through the representation, a meaning is produced and determined among community members. So it means that in brief representation is one
way to produce meaning. Representations work through the system of representation.
Representation system consists of two essential components, namely the concept in mind and language. Both of these components are related to each
other. The concept is something that we have in our minds it makes us know the meaning. However, the meaning will not be communicated without
language. For a simple example, we know the concept of glass and know its meaning. We are not going to communicate meaning of glass ie, objects that
people use to drink if we can not communicate in the language that can be understood by others.
Therefore, the most important of representation system is that every member at the same society and background of knowledge can get the same
4
Stuart Hall, Representation Cultural Representation and Signifying Practice. London: Sage Publication, 2003, P. 17.
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understanding of meaning. In other word the community can produce and exchange meaning well. It strengthens by Stuart Hall,
Member of the same culture must share concepts, images, and ideas which enable them to think and feel about the world in roughly
similar ways. They must share, broadly speaking. The Same cultural code in this sense, thinking and feeling are themselves „system of
representation.
5
Based on Stuart Hall, thinking and feeling is a system of representation. It means thinking and feeling also serves to mean something.
Therefore, in order to mean something a community has to have the same understanding of the concepts, image and idea cultural code.
In some communities, they have their own way to understand something. A group of community who have a different understanding of
certain cultural codes can not understand or get the meaning which produced by different communities. So it shows that to mean something every culture
and community who has different background will have different idea. Meaning is a construction. Humans construct meaning clearly so that a
meaning looks natural and unchangeable. Meaning is constructed through systems of representation and fixed through code. This code makes people
who are in a similar cultural group to understand and use the same name, which has pass process by social convention process. For example, when
somebody thinks of rumah so he uses the word RUMAH to communicate what we want to express to others. This is because the word
„rumah’ is the code that has been agreed by society to mean a concept of home which is in
5
Ibid.
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our mind a shelter or gathering with family. Code, thereby, build a correlation between the conceptual systems that exist in our minds with
language system that we use. This kind of representation theory means constructionist approach. It
argues that the meaning is constructed through language. According to Hall in his book Things do not mean: We construct meaning. Using representational
systems-concepts and Signs. ”
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Therefore, the concept in mind and the sign language is the important part used in the construction or production of
meaning. So it can be concluded that the representation is a process to produce
the meaning of the concept that is our mind through language. The production process is made by the presence of meaning representation system. However,
the meaning depends on the background of knowledge and understanding of a social group of a sign. A group must have the same experience to interpret
something with almost the same way. From the theories of representation above, the writer will use the
constructional approach. It is an approach that does not represent the real world but construct the new world with the part necessity from the
representation maker. The representation is a meaning; it explains who made the representation. Representation of masculinity sees as the subject and object
where is the subject is movie and the object is Williams’s masculinity.
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Ibid p. 25.
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B. Character and Characterization in Film
Kategori