Summary Stuart Hall, 'The Spectacle of the Other', in: Stuart Hall (ed.),
Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices (London 1997),
223-290. Elena van Hattum
Introduction Questions: How do we represent people and places that are clearly different from us?
Why is 'difference' such an attractive theme and such a disputed field of representation? What is the
secret of the fascination with 'otherness', and why is popular representation so often attracted to this?
What are the typical forms and ways of representing 'difference' in today's popular culture, and where
do these popular figures and stereotypes come from? ->Hall focuses specifically on stereotyping
and the representation of difference. Racial and ethnic differences are considered, but Hall says
that what is said about this applies in the same way to other forms of difference (such as gender,
sexuality, class, disability). His focus is on the variety of images in popular culture and mass media:
Have repertoires of representation of 'difference' and 'otherness' changed or do the older ones remain
intact in modern society? -> Deepened in theories about practice in representation called
'stereotyping'. Looks at a number of strategies to change representation, to fight against 'negative'
images and to transform the practices in representation regarding race to more positive ones. Asks
the question: Can there be an effective 'politics of representation'? - > Turns around visual
representation. Objective: To increase understanding of what representation is and how it works.
Definition representation = a complex practice that, especially with regard to 'difference',
evokes feelings and attitudes and mobilizes fears in the viewer, in a deeper way that we
cannot explain in a simple way.
1.1 Heroes or villains? How do you 'read' a photo? - > Photo has a function in the level of the myth
(literally), as on a thematic / secondary meaning, sensitive level (what is behind it; sub-theme of race
and difference.) → Meaning of the photo is ambiguous; The same photo can have multiple, different
(sometimes even opposite) meanings. But there is not 1 'true' meaning. Meaning 'floats'. Trying to
establish 1 meaning is the work of a representative practice; tries to privilege 1. → Which meaning is
preferred (from the person who issues it)? -> This photo is paradoxical. Meaning is not only in the
image, but also in the text around it; 2 discourses (written language, photography) are needed to give
meaning. -The photo shows both an event (indication) and carries a message or meaning (secondary
meaning); meta-message / myth; about race and difference. Difference is highlighted. Difference
means something; “It 'speaks.” - Each image is also r ead in the context of the broader question of
cultural belonging and difference (for example, more difficult for black people to be seen as' Dutch').
-Racial (sexual) stereotypes ->Is it a joke, or does it have a deeper meaning? What do sexuality and
gender have to do with images of black people? ( Fanon: white people are obsessed with the sexuality
of black people; eg large 'lunch box'.) What is the connection between these fantasies of sexuality
with race, and ethnicity in the representation of difference and differentness? → People who are
considerably different from the majority ('they') in some way are often exposed to the binary
(consisting of 2) representation: they are represented as opposed, polarized, binary opposites
(good / bad, barbarian / civilized, ugly / handsome, repulsive-by-differentness /
repulsive-by-strangeness). They are expected to be both things at the same time. -Meaning of
images is multiplied when they are read in context, against or with other images. Images have
no meaning of their own. They pile up meanings or play them against others; about different texts /
media. -> Each image has its own specific meaning; but on the general level of how difference and
differentness is represented in a certain culture or at a time, we see similar representative practices
and figures being repeated with variations, from one text or place or representation to another. →
intertextuality. Entire repertoire with regard to representation of difference = 'regime of
representation' / 'representational paradigm.'
→ Why is difference so attractive as an object of representation?
, What does the marking of racial difference tell us about representation as a practice? Which
representational practices make racial / ethnic differences meaningful? What are the 'discursive
formations', repertoires / regimes of representation that the media uses when they represent
difference? Why is 1 dimension of difference (race) crossed with others (gender, sexuality, class
etc.)? What is the connection between representation of difference and the question of power?
1.2 Why does 'difference' matter? Why does difference matter - how can we explain the fascination
with difference? Which theoretical arguments can we use for this? -> 4 theories: 1. Language
sciences (Saussure) (language as a model of how culture works): difference matters because it is
essential for meaning: without difference there is no meaning. (we know what black means because it
is not white). Meaning is relational. Difference gives meaning / message. → Hall: Binary opposites
have great value because they capture the diversity of the world, but they are also rough, a
reductionist way of establishing meaning; they simplify and create a two-part structure, so that
everything that falls between them is swallowed up. → Jacques Derrida: there are few neutral binary
opposites; 1 is usually the dominant one; there is always a relationship with power between the
binary opposites (because the world is seen in extremes; white cannot be black.). 2. Language, but
not Saussure: We need a difference because we form meaning through a conversation with 'the
other'. Mikhail Bakhtin: not an objective system like with Saussure, but how meaning comes about
through conversation between 2 or more speakers. Meaning does not belong to 1 of the speakers,
but only comes about through the conversation. -> A battle over meaning is possible. Meaning comes
from the difference between the participants in the conversation. → Negative side: meaning cannot
be fixed, therefore 1 group cannot have complete power over (its) meaning. 3. Anthropological (du
Gay, Hall et al.): Culture depends on giving meaning by placing them in different positions in a
classified system. Marking difference is the basis of the symbolic order that constitutes culture. Mary
Douglas (Emile Durkheim, Claude Levi-Strauss): social groups impose meaning on their world by
organizing / organizing things in a classified system. Binary opposites are important for this, because
if you want to classify things you have to indicate the difference between these things. Difference is
therefore crucial for cultural significance. → Negative side: If things do not fit into a category, or are
placed in the wrong place, this disrupts the cultural order. Symbolic boundaries keep the categories
'pure', which gives the culture its meaning and identity. Breaking unwritten rules ('matter out of place')
disturbs the culture-> so we remove the 'matter out of place'; process of purification. Symbolic
boundaries are central to all cultures. The marking of difference symbolically causes us to define our
culture, and to stigmatize everything that falls outside it as impure and abnormal (and expel). ->
Paradox: The same (that difference threatens the cultural order) makes difference powerful because
it becomes attractive (it is forbidden, taboo). 4. Psychoanalytic: The 'other' is fundamental to shaping
your identity, including sexually. 'The other' is fundamental to the development of man as a subject
(subjective) -> Subjectivity can only arise, and an idea of 'self', through the symbolic and unconscious
relationship of the young child with 'the other' that from outside is (other than) the child himself.
(Freud, Jacques Lacan, Melanie Khan). → Negative side: this perspective assumes that there is no
stable core of 'self' or identity. Subjectivity is formed in relation to what makes us complete (the other),
but what lies outside of us, so what we will always miss. This can never be solved completely.
(Fanon: a lot of racial stereotyping and violence was caused by the unwillingness of the white person
to give recognition to the black person.)
→ 2 general points: 1. For many different disciplines, the question of difference plays
an increasingly important role. 2. Difference is contradictory (ambivalent)
(can be positive and negative; it is necessary to form meaning, but it is also
threatening.)
Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices (London 1997),
223-290. Elena van Hattum
Introduction Questions: How do we represent people and places that are clearly different from us?
Why is 'difference' such an attractive theme and such a disputed field of representation? What is the
secret of the fascination with 'otherness', and why is popular representation so often attracted to this?
What are the typical forms and ways of representing 'difference' in today's popular culture, and where
do these popular figures and stereotypes come from? ->Hall focuses specifically on stereotyping
and the representation of difference. Racial and ethnic differences are considered, but Hall says
that what is said about this applies in the same way to other forms of difference (such as gender,
sexuality, class, disability). His focus is on the variety of images in popular culture and mass media:
Have repertoires of representation of 'difference' and 'otherness' changed or do the older ones remain
intact in modern society? -> Deepened in theories about practice in representation called
'stereotyping'. Looks at a number of strategies to change representation, to fight against 'negative'
images and to transform the practices in representation regarding race to more positive ones. Asks
the question: Can there be an effective 'politics of representation'? - > Turns around visual
representation. Objective: To increase understanding of what representation is and how it works.
Definition representation = a complex practice that, especially with regard to 'difference',
evokes feelings and attitudes and mobilizes fears in the viewer, in a deeper way that we
cannot explain in a simple way.
1.1 Heroes or villains? How do you 'read' a photo? - > Photo has a function in the level of the myth
(literally), as on a thematic / secondary meaning, sensitive level (what is behind it; sub-theme of race
and difference.) → Meaning of the photo is ambiguous; The same photo can have multiple, different
(sometimes even opposite) meanings. But there is not 1 'true' meaning. Meaning 'floats'. Trying to
establish 1 meaning is the work of a representative practice; tries to privilege 1. → Which meaning is
preferred (from the person who issues it)? -> This photo is paradoxical. Meaning is not only in the
image, but also in the text around it; 2 discourses (written language, photography) are needed to give
meaning. -The photo shows both an event (indication) and carries a message or meaning (secondary
meaning); meta-message / myth; about race and difference. Difference is highlighted. Difference
means something; “It 'speaks.” - Each image is also r ead in the context of the broader question of
cultural belonging and difference (for example, more difficult for black people to be seen as' Dutch').
-Racial (sexual) stereotypes ->Is it a joke, or does it have a deeper meaning? What do sexuality and
gender have to do with images of black people? ( Fanon: white people are obsessed with the sexuality
of black people; eg large 'lunch box'.) What is the connection between these fantasies of sexuality
with race, and ethnicity in the representation of difference and differentness? → People who are
considerably different from the majority ('they') in some way are often exposed to the binary
(consisting of 2) representation: they are represented as opposed, polarized, binary opposites
(good / bad, barbarian / civilized, ugly / handsome, repulsive-by-differentness /
repulsive-by-strangeness). They are expected to be both things at the same time. -Meaning of
images is multiplied when they are read in context, against or with other images. Images have
no meaning of their own. They pile up meanings or play them against others; about different texts /
media. -> Each image has its own specific meaning; but on the general level of how difference and
differentness is represented in a certain culture or at a time, we see similar representative practices
and figures being repeated with variations, from one text or place or representation to another. →
intertextuality. Entire repertoire with regard to representation of difference = 'regime of
representation' / 'representational paradigm.'
→ Why is difference so attractive as an object of representation?
, What does the marking of racial difference tell us about representation as a practice? Which
representational practices make racial / ethnic differences meaningful? What are the 'discursive
formations', repertoires / regimes of representation that the media uses when they represent
difference? Why is 1 dimension of difference (race) crossed with others (gender, sexuality, class
etc.)? What is the connection between representation of difference and the question of power?
1.2 Why does 'difference' matter? Why does difference matter - how can we explain the fascination
with difference? Which theoretical arguments can we use for this? -> 4 theories: 1. Language
sciences (Saussure) (language as a model of how culture works): difference matters because it is
essential for meaning: without difference there is no meaning. (we know what black means because it
is not white). Meaning is relational. Difference gives meaning / message. → Hall: Binary opposites
have great value because they capture the diversity of the world, but they are also rough, a
reductionist way of establishing meaning; they simplify and create a two-part structure, so that
everything that falls between them is swallowed up. → Jacques Derrida: there are few neutral binary
opposites; 1 is usually the dominant one; there is always a relationship with power between the
binary opposites (because the world is seen in extremes; white cannot be black.). 2. Language, but
not Saussure: We need a difference because we form meaning through a conversation with 'the
other'. Mikhail Bakhtin: not an objective system like with Saussure, but how meaning comes about
through conversation between 2 or more speakers. Meaning does not belong to 1 of the speakers,
but only comes about through the conversation. -> A battle over meaning is possible. Meaning comes
from the difference between the participants in the conversation. → Negative side: meaning cannot
be fixed, therefore 1 group cannot have complete power over (its) meaning. 3. Anthropological (du
Gay, Hall et al.): Culture depends on giving meaning by placing them in different positions in a
classified system. Marking difference is the basis of the symbolic order that constitutes culture. Mary
Douglas (Emile Durkheim, Claude Levi-Strauss): social groups impose meaning on their world by
organizing / organizing things in a classified system. Binary opposites are important for this, because
if you want to classify things you have to indicate the difference between these things. Difference is
therefore crucial for cultural significance. → Negative side: If things do not fit into a category, or are
placed in the wrong place, this disrupts the cultural order. Symbolic boundaries keep the categories
'pure', which gives the culture its meaning and identity. Breaking unwritten rules ('matter out of place')
disturbs the culture-> so we remove the 'matter out of place'; process of purification. Symbolic
boundaries are central to all cultures. The marking of difference symbolically causes us to define our
culture, and to stigmatize everything that falls outside it as impure and abnormal (and expel). ->
Paradox: The same (that difference threatens the cultural order) makes difference powerful because
it becomes attractive (it is forbidden, taboo). 4. Psychoanalytic: The 'other' is fundamental to shaping
your identity, including sexually. 'The other' is fundamental to the development of man as a subject
(subjective) -> Subjectivity can only arise, and an idea of 'self', through the symbolic and unconscious
relationship of the young child with 'the other' that from outside is (other than) the child himself.
(Freud, Jacques Lacan, Melanie Khan). → Negative side: this perspective assumes that there is no
stable core of 'self' or identity. Subjectivity is formed in relation to what makes us complete (the other),
but what lies outside of us, so what we will always miss. This can never be solved completely.
(Fanon: a lot of racial stereotyping and violence was caused by the unwillingness of the white person
to give recognition to the black person.)
→ 2 general points: 1. For many different disciplines, the question of difference plays
an increasingly important role. 2. Difference is contradictory (ambivalent)
(can be positive and negative; it is necessary to form meaning, but it is also
threatening.)
