The 7 Areas of Representing

The 7 Areas Of Representation

Physical Disability / Ability

Disability tends to still be represented in terms of stereotypical characters.  For example:

• Physically Disabled / Disfigured – often shown as outsiders, unable to do normal things
• Mentally disabled – Often shown as strange, odd, childlike, outsiders
• Able Bodies / Minded – often shown as “normal” and “ideal”.

Characters with disabilities are often portrayed in TV Dramas as being outsiders, strange, unable to do everyday activities, immature, weaker than “able bodied, able minded” characters, less attractive etc.  Traditionally in films, villains were often given a disability or deformity to make them seem scarier or more evil.  Although our association of disability with “evil” has since declined, society often still links disability to weakness and makes disabled characters objects to pity.

If you get “disability” as an issue in the exam, you should be thinking about the following things when watching the clip:

• Can I identify who is able / disabled in the clip?
• Are people with disabilities shown as different interests, personalities, attitudes, behaviours from people who don’t have disabilities?  If so, how?
• Is their disability represented as being important in their life?
• Are people without disabilities represented stereotypically as being normal / better / more powerful?  If so, how?
• Are people with disabilities represented stereotypically as being abnormal /weak/ pathetic?  If so, how?
• How do other characters in the clip treat the characters with disability?
• What is the message the clip is trying to portray about sexuality?
• Don’t ignore the able bodied characters as they need to be analysed too!

Ethnicity

The representation of people from different ethnicities has changed massively over the years.  This is probably because the population in Britain has become much more diverse recently and current society is much more used to mixing with people from all different cultures and backgrounds.  
Here are some examples of very negative generic stereotypes that used to be seen (and in some case still are) in film and tv:

• White people – often shown as good, pure, heroes, strong, or sometimes racist
• Black people – often shown as exotic, strange, tribal, criminal, poor
• Asian people (Chinese, Korean etc) – often shown mainly as intelligent, submissive (quiet and shy), nerdy, interested in technology
• Indian people – often shown as being poor, living in large families, very traditional, working in corner shops
• Middle Eastern people (arabs etc) – often shown as being terrorists, violent, aggressive, rich
• Immigrants – often shown as being a drain on society, criminals, illegal, bad for Britain, taking British jobs

People often note that in TV drama, people from particular ethnicities have storylines that all centre around their culture.  For example, Indian characters often battle with the clash between British culture and their traditional culture eg: arranged marriages etc.  They rarely have storylines that don’t have something to do with their ethnicity.  People also have commented that often people from minority ethnic groups (eg non white) are often portrayed in a very negative way.

If you get “ethnicity” as an issue in the exam, you should be thinking about the following things when watching the clip:

• Can I identify what ethnicities people are?
• Are people from different ethnic backgrounds shown as different interests, personalities, attitudes, behaviours?  If so, how?
• Is their ethnicity represented as being important in their life?
• Are people from particular ethnicities portrayed as being better, more powerful, than others?
• Are people from particular ethnicities portrayed as being abnormal /weaker/ more pathetic than others?  
• How do other characters in the clip treat the characters from different ethnic backgrounds?
• What is the message the clip is trying to portray about ethnicity?
• Don’t ignore the white characters as they need to be analysed too!

Sexuality

Sexuality tends to still be represented in terms of stereotypical characters.  For example:

• Gay Men – camp, feminine, funny, outrageous OR very attractive, and sleep around
• Lesbian Women – Butch, manly, blunt, man haters

Despite changing equality laws and a wider acceptance of different sexualities within much of society, TV has always remained quite conservative as they are scared of offending their viewers.  Heterosexual (straight) characters are represented as the “norm” and homosexual (gay) characters are often represented as being different, strange, or separate from mainstream society.  Some critics say that when TV does feature gay characters, they are never just characters that “happen to be gay.”  Their sexuality always plays a key part in their storylines and they don’t seem to have any issues outside of their sexuality.  

If you get “sexuality” as an issue in the exam, you should be thinking about the following things when watching the clip:

• Can I identify what the sexualities of the characters are?
• Are people of different sexualities shown as having different interests, personalities, attitudes, behaviours?  If so, how?
• Is their sexuality represented as being important in their life?
• Are particular sexualities represented as being normal / powerful / better?  If so, how?
• Are particular sexualities represented as being abnormal?  If so, how?
• What is the message the clip is trying to portray about sexuality?
• Don’t forget that “straight” is a sexuality too.  Don’t ignore the straight characters as they need to be analysed too!

Class and Status

The representation of people from different classes has changed massively over the years.  Up until the 1950’s, the upper classes were the class mainly shown on tv and in film.  This is because they were some of the only people able to afford to go to the cinema and own a television.  As more and more people from working class background watch TV, more and more TV programmes feature working class characters.  

Having said that, there are still some stereotypes associated with different classes:

• Upper Classes (eg Made in Chelsea) – often shown as rich, clever, snobby, very posh
• Middle Classes (eg My Family)– often shown as “normal”, good family values, well behaved
• Working Classes (eg Coronation Street) – often shown as poorer, less happy, less intelligent, but with strong community links
• Lower / Under Classes (eg Shameless) – often shown as being criminals, no family values, no community links, bad parents etc

People have often noticed that in many TV shows, people of different classes, don’t mix.  And when they are shown together, they are often shown as clashing and being very different.  

If you get “class” as an issue in the exam, you should be thinking about the following things when watching the clip:

• Can I identify what class characters are?
• Are people from different classes shown as having different interests, personalities, attitudes, behaviours?  If so, how?
• Is their class represented as being important in their life?
• Are people from particular classes portrayed as being better, more powerful, than others?
• Are people from particular classes portrayed as being abnormal /weaker/ more pathetic than others?  
• How do other characters in the clip treat the characters from different classes?
• What is the message the clip is trying to portray about class?

Age

The representation of people of different ages has changed massively over the years.  Up until the 1950’s, there were really only two age groups shown in films and television (adult and child).  This was because that most children left school at a young age and went straight to work and became adults.  In the 1950’s more young people started staying in education and began leading very different lives from both children and adults and so developed the idea of the “teenager”.

Having said that, there are still some stereotypes associated with different ages:

• Children – often shown as being young, innocent, naive, pure, sweet, helpless, powerless
• Teenagers – Often shown as being aggressive, moody, lazy, criminals, hate school, 
• 20’s-30’s – Often shown as the ideal age for love, parties, fun, making money, being glamourous and attractive.  In films the heroes are often this age group.
• Middle Aged – often shown as being past it, unattractive, not aware of popular culture, uncool, boring lives, dominant over others, no real connection to their kids, grumpy.  In films the villains are often from this age group.
• Elderly – often shown as being unattractive, slow, weak, ill, confused, pathetic, powerless, not important, dependent on others.

If you get “age” as an issue in the exam, you should be thinking about the following things when watching the clip:

• Can I identify what approximate age the characters are?
• Are people from different age groups shown as having different interests, personalities, attitudes, behaviours?  If so, how?
• Is their age represented as being important in their life?
• Are people from particular age groups portrayed as being better, more powerful, than others?
• Are people from particular age groups portrayed as being abnormal /weaker/ more pathetic than others?  
• How do other characters in the clip treat the characters from different age groups?
• What is the message the clip is trying to portray about age?

Regional Identity

Regional Identity refers to the part of the United Kingdom someone is from.  It could refer to a general area such a “north” or “south”, a country such as “English” or “Scottish” or specific towns such as “London” or “Manchester.”

There are several regional stereotypes widely seen on television:

• Scottish – often shown as being money obsessed, won’t pay for anything, drinks a lot of alcohol, loves the outdoors, wears kilts, eats haggis, quite aggressive and violent
• Welsh –Often shown as living in the middle of the countryside, with people making jokes about them “shagging sheep”
• Irish – often shown as living in the countryside, working in rural areas such as farms, being very religious, being good at dancing and singing, very friendly but less intelligent
• English – often shown as being racist, obsessed with beer and football living in London.  Sometimes the stereotype goes in the opposite direction of showing English people as very rich, posh, happy, living in castles and being very “royal.”
• London – There are 2 main stereotypes of Londoners.  One is that they are often shown as being rich, posh, snobby, upper class, Hugh Grant types from central or west london.  The other is that they often shown as being from north, east or south London, poor, common, lower class, criminalistic, violent “Kidulthood” style
• Manchester / Newcastle / Liverpool – Often shown as being “chavs”, wearing fake designer labels, or tracksuits, drinking a lot, being aggressive, uneducated, criminals
• Essex – often shown as being glamourous but cheap, footballer’s wives, lots of partying, being quite stupid
• Yorkshire – Often shown as living in rural countryside, with rolling hills and cobbled streets, being quite old fashioned
• Cornwall / Somerset – Often shown as being “backwards”, living in rural areas, working on farms
• South England – often shown as being the centre of culture, modern, classy, clever, sunny, richer, doing middle class jobs such as managers etc
• North England – often shown as being poorer, bad weather, lower class, aggressive, less culture, less clever, doing working class jobs such as builders etc

If you get “regional identity” as an issue in the exam, you should be thinking about the following things when watching the clip:

• Can I identify where the characters are from within the country?
• Are people from different areas shown as having different interests, personalities, attitudes, behaviours?  If so, how?
• Is their regional identity represented as being important in their life?
• Are people from particular regions portrayed as being better, more powerful, than others?
• Are people from particular regions portrayed as being abnormal /weaker/ more pathetic than others?  
• How do other characters in the clip treat the characters from different regions?
• What is the message the clip is trying to portray about regional identity?

Gender

Gender Identity refers to whether the characters are men or women.  It could also include transgender, transvestite, and androgynous characters.

There are several gender stereotypes widely seen on television:

Male Stereotypes

• Traditional masculine man – often shown as being muscly, strong, brave, heterosexual, working in manual jobs such as building, plumbing etc.  They are often aggressive, tall, and dominant over women, works to provide for family, does no cleaning, cooking or childcare
• New Man – Often shown as being less masculine but still heterosexual, very peaceful, looks after the family, stays at home to look after family, does cleaning and cooking etc, shown as equal to women
• Gay Man – Often shown as being very feminine, weak, working in jobs such as fashion or hairdressing, bitchy, etc

Female Stereotypes

• Traditional feminine woman – often shown as being girly, likes pink, wears dresses, does feminine jobs such as working in fashion, hairdressing or stays at home to look after the children, needs a man to cope, weak, scared of things, needs rescuing, pure and innocent
• Sexy woman – very flirty, dresses in a revealing way, more powerful than traditional women, uses men to get what she wants, no loyalty to other women, bitchy
• Lesbian Woman – Often shown as dressing in a masculine fashion, doing masculine roles, hating men, looking masculine

It is important to remember that not all characters will fit into these categories and you may have characters that are mixtures.  All you need to do is work out what the technical elements say about them.  If you get “gender” as an issue in the exam, you should be thinking about the following things when watching the clip:

• Can I identify what gender the characters are in the clip?
• Are people from different genders shown as having different interests, personalities, attitudes, behaviours?  If so, how?
• Is their gender represented as being important in their life?
• Are people of different genders portrayed as being better, more powerful, than others?
• Are people from different genders portrayed as being abnormal /weaker/ more pathetic than others?  
• How do other characters in the clip treat the characters of different genders?
• What is the message the clip is trying to portray about gender?