ALC215: Week 8: Steve McQueen vs Aaron Paul...

The main differences between the representational and the presentational modes of media are really significant in the way that public identity is presented in the modern world. Representational modes of media include film and television, while presentational modes include Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. This, for me represents the two categories represent the distinction between the old and new media, and possibly even the difference between the public and the private to an extent. Marshall's assertion that 'there is an expansion of celebrity culture outward' (2010, p.498) reenforces this in my eyes, as the advent of new forms of social media have completely altered how we view the 'celebrity'.

The king of cool

An example i'm going to point out is Steve McQueen, although for the purposes of this exercise you could look at any number of moviestars, musicians or sportsmen and women.
A quick google search of McQueen's name doesn't return a single image not taken either from a movie or a professional photo-shoot, in fact the closest thing to it is the mugshot above. Admittedly Mcqueen did die in 1980, but the search results his name throw up all follow a very similar theme, he's almost the actual embodiment of James Bond, with guns, women and cars featuring prominently in many images. This is a key point, because McQueen's public image has not been at all altered or influenced by candid paparazzi shots or photos from any other source.

Aaron Paul and a fan...Bitch!

Contrast this with actor Aaron Paul for example (again, you could really use anyone active from say 2010 onwards) and you see a stark contrast with the way he is represented through images. His search results are dominated by Paul in more candid settings, rather than his representations through orchestrated photoshoots and screenshots of his work. The fan selfie featured above is just one readily available example.

In short, the most significant two differences between representational and presentational media (or the new and the old, as I have phrased it) is the consistency of image representational media provides for people such as McQueen, as opposed to the the array of images taken of Paul by fans, on red carpets, and even by himself and distributed through his twitter account. The other related difference is the sheer amount of images available, as advanced in technology have essentially put a camera in anyone and everyone's hands.

References

Marshall, PP 2010, 'The Specular Economy', Society, 47, 6, p. 498, MasterFILE Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 21 September 2013.