Representing Reality: The Five Modes

Transparent Representation of Reality

• This is the dominant Hollywood style
• The representation of reality does not draw attention to itself
• The camera, sound and editing allow the audience easy access to the story which unfolds in a logical order
• The world is recognisable, though people and events may be “larger than life” (more beautiful, more talented, more spectacular)
• Audiences must suspend disbelief and believe in the reality of the world if they are to enjoy the text

Social Realist Representation of Reality

• This style presents events drawn from “everyday” life – e.g. not “larger than life”
• Camera, sound and editing draw attention to the “authenticity” of the events – i.e. we would experience them like this in the real world
• Often called a naturalist or cinéma vérité documentary style

Fantasist Representation of Reality

• This is where the events depicted could not realistically be expected to take place in “real” life
• Camera work, sound and editing may be “expressionistic”
• Despite the fantasy, these representations will still have something to say about the real world

Anti-Realist Representation of Reality

• In this representation, attention is drawn to the process of making a film or constructing a story
• The actors may talk to camera, the camera may be in shot, events are out of sequence etc.
• These representations can also comment on the real world, even though they deny the possibility of a realist representation

Postmodern Representation of Reality

• Post-modern texts comment on other media texts rather than directly on the real world
• A central feature of “postmodernity” is that audiences make sense of the text, and derive pleasure from it, through their knowledge of other texts, rather than their knowledge of the real world
• Postmodernism is present in almost all contemporary media; we live in a post-modern world
• It is possible for a text’s representation of reality to be fantasist and post-modern, for example. Post-modern representation does not need to exist on its own.