Activity 1

Write down the titles of three popular fiction texts (e.g. books, films, TV, computer games) you have engaged with recently.

Who is represented? 

Critical literacy:​​​​​​

This is a whole-class or group inquiry to identify patterns in representations of different people in popular texts.

1. Students brainstorm some popular texts they have engaged with recently
2. Individuals or pairs of students are each allocated two texts to be experts on. They complete the table below.

Different groups are tasked with collating information about all the texts. Each group is allocated an aspect of character (age, ethnicity, gender, sexuality) or character role (protagonist, antagonist, side-kick, flat character) to collate information about.

• • Present your information as a graph or other visual representation
  • Share the patterns you have identified
  • Share your reaction to this pattern e.g. is it surprising or unsurprising? Is the pattern a problem or not a problem?
  • Share reasons why the pattern might exist i.e. why do the creators of those texts represent groups of people in particular ways?

How are older people portrayed in our worlds?

Ideas for exploring representations of older people in texts

“Artistic representations of older people both shape and have the potential to counter our ideas about age and ageing. Old age may be conceived of as ‘Other’ in youth-obsessed Western culture, ‘a foreign country with an unknown language’ in May Sarton’s suggestive phrase (1973, p. 17), but it is an/other country in which most people will, barring accidents, eventually come to live. ” (Wallace, 2011)

Individuals:

• • Think of an older person that you know well e.g. a grandparent or family friend.
  • List 3 activities that person likes to do
  • List 3 words to describe their personality

Small groups:

• • Collate a list of activities and personality features by removing duplicates. Prepare to share to the whole class.
  • Prepare a response to this provocation: “The older people we know are very similar to one another”.

Whole class:

• • Collate a whole class list made up of all the activities older people enjoy and all the personality features.

Introduce the concept of Stereotype

Groups brainstorm stereotypes about older people and give examples from texts they know.

• • Collate a class list of stereotypes.
  • Classify each stereotype as being a positive or negative stereotype.

Prepare a response to this provocation: “There seem to be more positive stereotypes about old people than there are negative stereotypes”

Find examples of older people who are very different from the stereotype from:

• • Real life
  • A text you know

Share and discuss. Use the examples to prepare a response to this provocation: “Ultimately, even positive stereotypes about old people might be negative”.

Synthesising information from Texts Akonga already know  

This activity is based around the same popular texts used in the previous activity. This time the focus is limited to representations of older adults.  

Activity 2

Over the next few weeks we are going to be engaging with texts that include representations of older people. We are going to be investigating how older people are represented and identifying patterns in their representation. We are going to learn to identify examples of stereotypes and counter-stereotypes in the texts. 

In particular we are going to investigate the extent to which older people are represented as having power or being powerless and the features of representation that denote power or powerlessness. 

How is power shown in society? 

Janks: “In any unequal relation of power there are topdogs and underdogs. How people get to be on top of society has to do with what that society values.”(p.5) 

Any representation of the world is a version of the world – meaning that other versions are possible. Janks uses the word re-presentation with a hyphen “to emphasise that the world presents itself to us, and we present it again in the act of re-presentation”.

The versions that texts offer us are positioned. Consciously or unconsciously, the versions of people and things that authors offer us are based on things such as their beliefs, values, attitudes, where they positioned relatively to that person and thing – both physically and figuratively.

Power and society
​​​​​​​

Think of a context where one group of people is more powerful than another group. Remember that power is situational – someone may be powerful in some situations and not powerful in others. A Year 7 student for example might have limited power at school (e.g., compared to their teacher) but have high power at home (e.g., over younger siblings).

• • How is power in society shown through clothing?
  • How is power in society shown through possessions? What possessions are common indicators of power?
  • How is power shown through physical actions?

How are power relationships revealed by relationships/interactions with others? E.g., how do people with less power speak to people with more power? How do people with more power speak to those with less power?

• • Costume/clothing
  • Occupation
  • Relationships with others
  • Interests

Multi-literacy representations of power
​​​​​​​

There are many different ways that multi modal texts can show power and powerlessness.

Visual representations of power:

• • One common visual method (in film and static image) is through the use of camera angles.

In pairs. 1. Take a photo of your partner from a high angle e.g. by standing (safely) on a chair so the camera is looking down on them. 2. Take another photo from a low angle e.g. by the photographer crouching down while the subject (the person being filmed) stands (safely) on a chair so the camera is looking up at them.

• • Compare the two photographs. Consider: which one made your subject look more powerful? Why? Which one made your subject look less powerful? Why?
  • Consider how the soundtrack can make the people represented on screen seem more or less powerful. Consider sounds you can hear, sound effects, music, volume, pitch (high or low).

Exploring representation in individual texts
​​​​​​

For each text, record details about how members of this group are represented. You might use the table below or another format.  You will the information you record to find similarities and differences in the way this group of people are represented.

Activity 3

You will present your inquiry into representations of a particular group of people over at least three texts. Your focus might be on the class focus (e.g. older adults) or it might be representations of another group, as negotiated with your kaiako. 

OR

You might do a close reading of the representation of your focus group in a single text.

Patterns of representation across texts​​​​​​​​​

Use the information you recorded in the table to find out how the group of people you have investigated are generally represented.  Consider:

• • What are some common patterns in the way …… people are represented?
  • Do the representations in the texts generally reinforce or challenge stereotypes? 
  • Are these stereotypes or patterns of representation generally positive or negative?
  • How so?

How authors construct representations​​​​​​​​​

What are some important ways authors use to represent characters in particular ways? 

Use this table to guide your thinking.

Positive and negative representations

I felt the most positive representation of ……. (group) was ……… (person and text). This representation of challenged stereotypes by ……………………..………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

I felt the most damaging representation of ……. (group) was ……… (person and text) because ……………………………………………………………………………. . ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Implications and action

Implications

• • What are some real world implications of these representations/stereotypes? e.g. How do/might they help or hurt members of that group in real life?

Taking action

• • What can we do as individuals, classes, schools, and communities to reduce the harm of negative representations?
  • What are the pros and cons of different efforts to reduce the harm of negative representations? E.g. Censorship

Activity 4: Creative Writing

• In this unit you have identified some patterns in the way a particular group of people are represented in texts and media. In this writing task your job is to write a counter-text that subverts the stereotypes. 

Counter-storytelling​​​​​​​​​

Counter-storytelling is defined as “a method of telling a story that aims to cast doubt on the validity of accepted premises or myths, especially ones held by the majority” (Delgado & Stefancic, 2013, p. 144)

‘Giving voice to the marginalized, counter-stories validate their life circumstances and serve as powerful ways to challenge and subvert the versions of reality held by the privileged.’ (Hughes-Hassell & Cox, 2010)

Visibility vs Representation: Tripp (2020) states: “Just because a person from a marginalized group is visible, does not mean that they are being well-represented in their industry. Visibility can, however, help improve representation in a given field—an idea explored by Ramdarshan Bold, who portrays a lack of representation as a self-perpetuating cycle.” (p. 140)

Some extra Background resources​​​​​​​​​

Teaching approaches that promote critical literacy from Behrmann (2006)

• • Reading supplementary texts
  • Reading multiple texts on the same topic
  • Reading from a resistant perspective
  • Producing counter texts
  • Conducting student-choice research projects
  • Taking social action

Other topics & representation Resources

• • Indigeneity matters: Portrayal of women offenders in New Zealand newspapers – Antje Deckert,  (The Spinoff article summarising the original research)
  • Women of colour and the Oscars 
  • Disability representation and the 2019 Oscars & this article about the Oscars more generally
  • Stereotypes in James Bond

Some Texts