Gender in TV drama

Female stereotypes
One of the most used female stereotypes is that the female should marry and have children.
Females are also stereotyped to put their family's welfare before her own and be loving,
compassionate, caring, nurturing, and sympathetic. This reduces the woman to a lesser
person than the male due to the fact that she has to concentrate on other people more than
herself, this is representing her low importance in relation to others.
This stereotype is present in the Sky 1 show Stella where the protagonist Stella
Morris, looks after her whole family more or less (most of her children live at home),
she cares for them and prioritizes them over herself thus fitting in with the above
stereotype. The part she doesnt fit in with the idea above is that she isnt married.
An example of a counter type to this was Kirsty from Coronation Street, she was
known to put herself before others, for example her key storyline in the soap was
about domestic violence and she was the violent party. In the end however she was
put back in her place when she got sent to jail, so the counter type didnt last until
she left the show.
A common stereotype for females is that blonde women are not cleaver and in fact are
quite un intelligent, these women are usually attractive but cant carry out everyday tasks
very easily. This portrays these women as useless and a sex object for males, this links in
with the male gaze theory.
A prime example of this is Eva from Coronation Street, she is always talking about
looks, and does a simple unskilled job (bar maid, and machinist at underworld), this
example fits the stereotype further as she is going out with Jason a stereotypical
builder who basically views her as a sex object.
Another example of this is Penny from The Big Bang Theory she is viewed by the
other characters as a desirable object and not clever, she cant cope with basic tasks,
hopes to become an actress and does odd modelling jobs along with being a waitress
at a local restaurant.
The counter type to these examples is Janet from Stella she is a lawyer, and she co
owns a business with her husband Michael, she works hard for her money and isnt
overridden by anyone. This opposes the stereotype completely as she does a skilled
job and ears a high wage.
Further stereotyping females to be unable to function without men is the stereotypes that
they cant make their own decisions, and that A:they have to consider others before
themselves and B:they need men to help and approve the decision.
This stereotype was present in coronation Street when Tina decided that she
wanted to move away with Peter, she was shown to be punished (death) for not
considering the wider community (specifically males). She was also told that she
should have let peter decide and approve.
A counter type is also present on Coronation Street as Carla makes important
decisions on a daily basis without considering that may people or asking for male
approval, in fact whenever males try to overrule her she gets angry and sends them
away.
In TV dramas women are generally stereotyped as needing to be attractive to men in the
programme, they usually are constantly doing their hair, nails, etc This also puts pressure
on women in reality to become like this.
This is true in modern family as Gloria is conscious of her appearance and always
tries to better it in order to appeal to the males on the show, this fits the stereotype
perfectly.
The counter type is on Stella where Stella isnt conscious of her appearance and in
fact is portrayed as being unappealing to most males, she does however get a
boyfriend every series.
Male Stereotypes
Males are often portrayed as needing to be macho, strong both mentally and physically.
They are also generally required to have some form of power over someone or something.
This causes a lot of men to think that they arent manly enough and can cause serious
mental issues.
This is true in Coronation Street as Tony fits all of these, he is strong, and has
power over his son Jason as well as Liz
The countertype is Raj from The Big Bang Theory he is portrayed as the complete
opposite to this stereotype, he is easily influenced, most people have power over
him and he is not strong mentally nor physically.
Men are often stereotyped as being completely independent and could cope perfectly well
on their own, they are portrayed to only require women for sexual enjoyment. This also
cause men to think that they need to be like this, if they arent like this they fear they may
appear gay.
The example for this is Jason from Coronation Street he is shown to only need his
girlfriend Eva for sexual purposes, he runs his own builders business and doesnt rely
on anyone.
The countertype is Michael from Coronation Street as he appears to rely on his
girlfriend Gail to help him make decisions, this makes him the exact opposite to the
stereotype.
Another of the common stereotypes is that me should be good looking and appeal to the
women, this is similar to the last women stereotype I wrote about, it also makes men that
dont look as good as they perceive they should feel inadequate, as women see the image
on TV and think that that is what they need their boyfriend/husband to look like.
Luke from Coronation Street is an example of this as he appeals to women on the
street and also the audience, he also fits all the other stereotypes which helps the
situation.
Steve McDonald who is also from Coronation Street is the opposite to this
stereotype as he is not good looking thus making him unattractive to the audience
and most characters on the street.
How gender is presented in TV drama through the 4 areas of textual analysis.
1. Camera shots, angle, movement, composition: These can be used to establish power
(angles), this then determines who as power over who, in line with gender
stereotypes it is mostly male over female.
2. Editing: This can be used to create an atmosphere, this can determine how the
characters feel for example the women may feel intimidated by the male character.
3. Sound: This can also be used to create atmosphere, for example in a tense
environment such as sexual assault all you may hear is the sounds of the characters
and silence, in a normal scene however you may hear background noise (other
voices).
4. Mise-en-Scne: This may be used to represent the power or lack thereof for a certain
gender, for example a woman may be in a dark basement and the male in the posh
living quarters in a drama involving a mansion/castle.
How gender links to the other 6 areas of representation (positively and negatively)
Age: There are Genders at all ages, all the way from a new-born baby to OAPs. What
differs though, is the way in which the genders are represented for different age
groups, for example middle aged men and women may be represented as the man
goes out and works to earn money whilst the woman stays at home and cleans,
cooks, takes care of the kids and other similar tasks. Whereas when those people are
teenagers the male is generally prepared to take more risks, plays the idiot more,
isnt very mature and is more likely to smoke and do drugs, by contrast the female
may be more sensible and be concerned more about their appearance. Gender
doesnt really have that much of an overall impact on age it just causes the
representation to differ.
Ethnicity: Genders are represented in all different types of Ethnicity, any media
outlet tries not to limit themselves to any one specific ethnicity as in modern society
this could be considered exclusion or racism. As with age the gender of the character
doesnt really have too much effect on ethnicity, so doesnt really have a negative or
positive impact.
Sexuality: Gender doesnt have an effect on sexuality in modern society as people
are portrayed as able to be attracted to either sex, for example men can be attracted
to either men, women or in some cases both, this is the same for women as well. As
with ethnicity TV shows make sure to include people of all different types of
sexuality as not only does it add another dimension to some storylines it also makes
sure nobody is offended/feels left out. This is nor a negative or positive impact it is
neutral.
Class and Status: In this case gender does have a negative impact as on TV or in the
media as a whole men are represented as the more powerful gender, it is portrayed
that women need men to support them, men are usually represented as being more
successful and thus having a higher class and status, it is often the cast that TV shows
are based around a single mother trying to support her family but being
unsuccessful, an example of this is Stella. This tries to represent that a man is
needed and in some shows the woman finds a man and all of the problems generally
vanish, also the case is that it represents the fact that women have a lower social
class and status level than men as men are very rarely shown to be in the same
situation as these women.
Physical Ability/Disability: As with social class and status men are shown to be in
this case more physically able than women, this means that gender has a negative
impact as it generally means that there is more likelihood that a female is going to be
disabled in TV dramas. This is the case in Coronation Street where Izzy is disabled
and no other characters are. However most women are disabled to a lesser extent in
the show for example in recent episode Kals mother needed help from Garry to
measure something, this represents that women are the less able of the two genders
and thus has an negative impact on this particular area of representation.
Regional Identity: In this particular area gender has a minor influence and it is down
mainly to women being portrayed as more concerned as what society thinks of them
as in TV dramas they are more likely to speak in standard English than men in an
effort to hide their natural accent and adopt a generic one, whereas men generally
just keep whatever they grew up with.