Media Studies · Media Studies: Interpreting, Evaluating and Producing Complex MediaRepresentation, Identity and Power: Whose Story, Told by Whom?
1.5About 75 minutes
Learning goals- I can identify the perspectives and biases in how media represent people and groups, including stereotypes, tropes, tokenism and absence.
- I can use a content audit to support claims about representation with evidence.
- I can comment on the questions representations raise about values, identity and power, including the importance of self-representation.
Words to know
representation
How people, places, groups and ideas are re-presented in media; always selected and shaped.
trope
A recurring storytelling pattern; some carry stereotypes.
tokenism
Including one member of a group to appear diverse, without depth or a real role.
symbolic annihilation
A group's near-total absence from media, which can suggest it doesn't matter.
content audit
A count of patterns across many media texts, using clear categories.
self-representation
Members of a group telling their own stories in their own ways.
A note before we start
This lesson discusses stereotypes and how groups have been misrepresented in media. Talk about groups respectfully, use the names communities use for themselves, and remember that every group includes many different people with different views. There is no joke box in this lesson.
Remember from Grade 10
In Grade 10 you identified perspectives and biases in media texts, spotted stereotypes, and asked questions about beliefs, values, identity and power. You learned that the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN), launched in 1999, is a national broadcaster run by Indigenous people, and you met the work of Abenaki filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin.
Grade 11 goes further: you will analyze how representations are constructed, measure them with a content audit, and connect them to who has the power to tell stories.
Hook: the background character
An invented crime drama, "Black Spruce", is set in a small northern Canadian town. In its first season, the only Indigenous character, Daniel, appears in four scenes. In two he is questioned by police as a suspect; in one he is silent in the background of a bar; in one he gives the detective a cryptic warning about "the old ways" and walks off into the forest. He has no family, no job and no home shown on screen. The writers and director are all from outside the region, and none are Indigenous.
Nothing Daniel does is shown as wrong. But what does the series say through how he is shown, and who got to decide?
Representation is construction
Representation means how people, places, groups and ideas are re-presented in media. A representation is always selected and shaped; it is never the thing itself. Patterns of representation matter because, as you learned in Grade 10, media construct versions of reality, especially about people we don't meet in daily life.
Key terms:
- Stereotype: a fixed, oversimplified idea about a group, repeated until it seems true.
- Trope: a recurring storytelling pattern. Some tropes are harmless; others carry stereotypes (for example, the mystical Indigenous guide who exists only to help a non-Indigenous hero, with no life of their own).
- Under-representation: a group appears far less often than in real life.
- Misrepresentation: a group appears, but in distorted or narrow ways.
- Symbolic annihilation: media researchers' term for a group's near-total absence, which can suggest the group doesn't matter.
- Tokenism: including one member of a group to appear diverse, without giving them depth or a real role.
- Self-representation: members of a group telling their own stories in their own ways.
Questions about values, identity and power
To analyze a representation, ask:
- Who is shown, and how often? Who is missing?
- How are they shown? Roles, dialogue, settings, camera framing, music.
- Whose point of view does the story follow? Who speaks, and who is spoken about?
- What values does the representation suggest are normal or good?
- Who made it, and whose experience shaped it?
- Who benefits from this representation, and who could be harmed?
Power appears at every stage of production: owners and funders decide what gets made; writers and directors decide how people are shown; editors decide what stays.
Evidence, not impressions: the content audit
A content audit (also called a content analysis) counts patterns across many texts. For example, you could watch 40 ads and record who has speaking roles by age, gender, or setting. Counting turns I feel like... into In my sample, .... Researchers use larger samples and clear definitions, and they report their limits.
A famous quick check is the Bechdel test, which comes from a 1985 comic strip by the cartoonist Alison Bechdel. A film passes if it has at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man. It is a rough tool: a film can pass and still represent women poorly, or fail and still be thoughtful. It is useful because it asks about patterns across many films, not one.
Self-representation and Indigenous media in Canada
When communities control their own stories, representations change. Examples:
- APTN (you met it in Grade 10) carries programming by and about First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples.
- Igloolik Isuma Productions, an Inuit production company in Nunavut, made Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (2001), directed by Zacharias Kunuk and performed in Inuktitut. It won the Caméra d'Or for best first feature film at the Cannes Film Festival in 2001.
- The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015) included a section called Media and Reconciliation in its Calls to Action (Calls 84 to 86), calling for public broadcasting that reflects Indigenous peoples' languages, cultures and perspectives, and for journalism education about Indigenous history.
Self-representation doesn't mean every text by a community member speaks for everyone in it. First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities are diverse and living today, with many different voices.
Worked exampleLet's analyze the representation of Daniel in "Black Spruce"
Analyze how the invented series "Black Spruce" represents its Indigenous character, and comment on the questions it raises about values, identity and power.
- Who and how often: one Indigenous character, four scenes in a season. In a northern town where many residents are Indigenous, this suggests under-representation and possible tokenism.
- How shown: two scenes as a suspect, one silent, one as a mysterious figure who speaks of "the old ways". No family, work or home. These repeat a stereotype (Indigenous man as suspect) and a trope (the mystical figure), which together form a misrepresentation.
- Whose point of view: the story follows the non-Indigenous detective; Daniel is spoken about more than he speaks. The camera often frames him in the background or walking away.
- Values suggested: the series treats the town's non-Indigenous characters as the people who matter and presents Indigenous culture as mysterious rather than as a living present-day culture.
- Power: no Indigenous writers or directors were involved, so the people represented had no control over the representation. The owners and commissioners chose a story told from outside.
- Who could be harmed: Indigenous viewers who see themselves reduced to suspicion and mystery; non-Indigenous viewers who may absorb the stereotype as "reality".
- How it could change: hiring Indigenous writers and consultants from the region, giving Daniel a full life and point of view, and placing his community in the present.
"Black Spruce" under-represents and misrepresents Indigenous people through tokenism, a suspect stereotype and a mystical trope, told from an outsider's perspective. The text raises questions about power (who had control of the story) and identity (which lives are treated as full and present).
Hands-on activityMini content audit
You need: 20 ads or 20 thumbnails from one source (a magazine, a TV channel's ads over an evening, or a streaming platform's home page), paper and a pen.
- Choose one question to count, such as Who has speaking roles, by apparent age group? or Who is shown as the expert? Define your categories clearly before you start. (Record only what is visible or stated; don't guess people's identities.)
- Make a tally table and record each text.
- Turn your counts into a simple bar graph and a percentage for each category.
- Write two sentences: In my sample of 20, ... and A limitation of my audit is ...
- Write one question your audit raises about values, identity or power.
What to look for: clear categories, accurate tallies and percentages (each category's count divided by 20, times 100), a limitation (small sample, one source, judging by appearance), and a thoughtful question rather than a sweeping conclusion.
Your turn
How people, places, groups and ideas are re-presented in media: always selected and shaped, never the thing itself.
2What is the difference between under-representation and misrepresentation?
Under-representation: a group appears less often than in real life. Misrepresentation: a group appears but in distorted or narrow ways.
Including one member of a group to appear diverse, without giving them depth or a real role.
4What does a content audit do?
It counts patterns across many texts so claims about representation are based on evidence.
5State the three conditions of the Bechdel test.
At least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man.
6Name the Inuit production company that made Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner.
Igloolik Isuma Productions.
More practice: warm-up
A fixed, oversimplified idea about a group, repeated until it seems true.
2What is self-representation?
Members of a group telling their own stories in their own ways.
3Which Canadian network, launched in 1999, is run by Indigenous people?
APTN (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network).
4In what language is Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner performed?
5In the invented audit, what fraction of speaking roles went to people 60 and over?
More practice: on your own
1Why does it matter whose point of view a story follows?
The audience is invited to share that character's feelings and judgments. Characters seen only from outside are easier to stereotype and harder to understand as full people.
2A student's audit of 20 cereal-box mascots finds 17 are animals. Write a limitation sentence.
Sample: A limitation is the small sample from one grocery store; a larger sample from several stores and years would show whether the pattern holds.
3Explain why the Bechdel test is described as a rough tool.
It checks a minimum condition across many films; a single film can pass and still represent women poorly, or fail for reasonable story reasons. Its value is in revealing patterns.
4How does ownership connect to representation?
Owners and funders decide what gets made and who makes it, so their priorities and blind spots shape which groups appear and how.
5How could the creators of "Black Spruce" improve Daniel's representation? Give two changes.
Sample: hire Indigenous writers and consultants from the region; give Daniel his own point of view, family and present-day life rather than a suspect or mystical role.
Challenge
1Explain how representation, values and power are connected, using an example of your choice.
Sample: in many older Canadian TV ads, families were shown as one specific type (two parents, one ethnicity, a house in the suburbs). That representation made one family form seem normal (values), and it reflected the power of the advertisers and agencies who chose what a "typical" family looked like. Families who didn't match were left out (symbolic annihilation).
2Why is self-representation important but not a guarantee of a single "true" representation?
Self-representation gives communities control and replaces outsiders' assumptions with lived experience. But every community is diverse; one creator's story is one perspective, not the voice of everyone. Many self-representations together give a fuller picture.
3Design a short content-audit question for news coverage of your town and explain how it could reveal bias.
Sample: In one month of local news stories, who is quoted as an expert, by role (official, business, resident, community organization)? If officials and businesses are quoted far more than residents, the coverage may present issues from the perspective of those with power, a form of bias by selection.
Quiz
1. A show includes one character from a group, with no backstory, only to look diverse. This is:
2. The near-total absence of a group from media is called:
3. What makes a content audit stronger than an impression?
4. Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (2001) was directed by:
5. The TRC's Calls to Action include a section on:
6. Which question best reveals power in a representation?
What this lesson teaches: expectation 1.5: identifying perspectives and biases in media texts and commenting on the questions they raise about values, identity and power. Students analyze stereotypes, tropes, tokenism and absence; run a small content audit; and study self-representation, including Indigenous media in Canada. "Black Spruce" and the audit data are invented. There is deliberately no joke in this lesson.
How to help at home:
- Discuss representations calmly and with curiosity: Who made this? Who's missing? Whose point of view do we follow?
- If your family is part of a group that is often misrepresented, your teen may want to share experiences, or may not; follow their lead.
- In the audit, remind your teen to record only what is visible or stated, not to guess people's identities.
Common difficulties:
- Calling any single portrayal a stereotype. Stereotypes are about repeated patterns; that's why audits help.
- Speaking about Indigenous peoples in the past tense or as one group. First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities are diverse and living today.
Facts used: APTN launched in 1999. Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (2001), directed by Zacharias Kunuk and produced by Igloolik Isuma Productions, is performed in Inuktitut and won the Caméra d'Or at Cannes in 2001. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action (2015) include Media and Reconciliation (Calls 84 to 86). The Bechdel test comes from a 1985 comic strip by Alison Bechdel.