bell hooks argued that media representations are political, often reinforcing systems of oppression based on race, gender, and class. Her work explores how intersecting identities shape how people are represented and treated—especially how Black women are often marginalised or stereotyped in dominant media narratives.
1. Start with How the Text Represents Race, Gender, and Class
Ask: Who is shown with power or authority? Who is invisible, stereotyped, or reduced?
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Are women shown in terms of appearance, emotion, or victimhood?
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Are people of colour represented in ways that feel authentic or limiting?
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Does the story suggest inequality is natural, deserved, or ignored?
hooks link: hooks believed representation is never neutral. Media often reinforces patriarchy, white supremacy, and capitalism—systems that work together to keep certain groups in power. Ask whether the text challenges or supports these hierarchies.
2. Analyse the Image: Look at Body, Gaze, and Framing
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Who is looking at whom—and how?
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Is the subject shown as confident, passive, sexualised, or threatening?
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What are they wearing? Are they shown as professionals, carers, criminals?
hooks link: hooks spoke about the “oppositional gaze”—the ability of marginalised groups, especially Black women, to resist dominant images by reading them critically. If the image reinforces stereotypes, think about whose viewpoint it supports and whose story it leaves out.
3. Deconstruct the Headline and Language
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Are women, especially women of colour, named or reduced to roles?
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Is language emotive, dismissive, or subtly biased?
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Does the headline focus on scandal, beauty, strength, or fear?
hooks link: Language helps construct identity. hooks highlighted how media uses controlling images to frame Black women as angry, hypersexual, or subservient. Analyse how word choices either challenge or repeat these patterns.
4. Interrogate Captions, Subheadings, and Pull Quotes
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Who gets quoted or summarised? What tone is used?
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Do these elements invite empathy or distance?
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Do they humanise or objectify?
hooks link: These features often anchor the preferred meaning of a story, reinforcing the values of dominant groups. Look for where power lies in the storytelling—who is allowed to speak and who is spoken about.
5. Identify Intersectionality at Work
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How do gender, race, and class overlap in the representation?
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Are poor women of colour portrayed differently than wealthy white women?
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Are certain identities consistently associated with trouble, vulnerability, or blame?
hooks link: hooks was a pioneer of intersectional thinking before it had a name. She argued that media flattens identity unless it reflects how oppression is experienced differently at the intersections of race, gender, and class.
6. Audience Positioning: Who Is the Text For?
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Who is being invited to identify or feel sympathy?
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Are marginalised identities shown for the benefit of others (e.g. as symbols or warnings)?
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Is the audience encouraged to feel challenged, comfortable, or complicit?
hooks link: hooks called for media that empowers, not just entertains. She argued that radical representation means making visible the lives of those ignored by dominant media, and asking audiences to reflect on their own privilege or complicity.
Essay Sentence Starters
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“bell hooks’ theory helps reveal how this text reinforces systems of patriarchy, white supremacy, and capitalism by…”
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“The representation of [individual/group] is shaped by intersecting identities, echoing hooks’ idea of oppression being structured across race, gender, and class.”
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“The image constructs a controlling stereotype that reflects hooks’ concern with the dehumanisation of Black women in mainstream media.”
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“hooks would argue that the language here supports a dominant ideology by…”
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“By excluding voices from marginalised groups, the text denies what hooks calls the radical potential of representation.”
CONTEXTUAL LINKS
hooks’ theory is especially useful when discussing stories involving gender, race, protest, power, celebrity, violence, and economic inequality. Use historical, political, social, and cultural context to deepen your analysis.
SOCIAL CONTEXT
Look for: Gender roles, racial representation, poverty, violence.
hooks link: Media often reflects and reinforces unequal social structures. hooks encourages us to ask who is being oppressed—and how that is being justified or ignored.
CULTURAL CONTEXT
Look for: Norms around beauty, family, power, and success.
hooks link: Cultural stories shape what we believe is “normal.” hooks believed dominant culture teaches us who matters and who doesn’t—especially along lines of race and gender.
POLITICAL CONTEXT
Look for: References to feminism, social justice, systemic inequality.
hooks link: Media is political—even when it seems neutral. hooks wanted us to interrogate how power is maintained through language and imagery, and to question whose interests are being served.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Look for: Legacy of colonialism, feminism, racial justice movements.
hooks link: hooks emphasised how historical patterns of exclusion shape today’s media. A stereotyped image or dismissive headline may be part of a long-standing narrative rooted in oppression.
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