2. Women Stereotypes
• Expressive Role- being a housewife
• There to look pretty
• Sexual objects for me- Male Gaze
• Vulnerable
• Fragile
• Dependant on Men
3. Men Stereotypes
• Instrumental Role- Provider of Family/Household
• Dominant
• Powerful
• Strong
• Independent
• Inferior to Women
4. The 4 Areas of Textual Analysis
• Camera shots
• Editing
• Sound
• Mise-en Scene
5. Camera Shots
• Camera Shots can be used to show gender
roles to reinforce typical stereotypes and
countertypes. They can do this through,
e.g. emphasising the mans height
compared to a women's, this will make
the man seem more inferior to women, a
typical stereotype. This could also show
that the women easy easily influenced by
the man and the man has a certain power
over women.
• They could also show the role difference
men and women typically have by
emphasising a women have a expressive
role by using an establishing shot to show
they are in the kitchen (when they are).
6. Editing
• Editing can be used to show the frailness and unstable and indecisive
ways of women by using jump cut, creating the sudden unsteadiness
women can create.
• Jump cuts can also be used to show men are inferior and better than
women as they show they can show they work very quickly and
efficiently.
7. Sound
• Sound can represent gender in TV drama by emphasising tone of
voice for example, making a man voice seem strong and confidence
opposed to a women's sounding soft and fragile making the man
again seem dominant and inferior. It can also be used to represent
women to be sexual objects by using diegetic sound to make women
sound promiscuous.
• Also using a soundtrack they can separate gender into the typical
stereotypes by allocating set instrumentals or songs to a part where
certain characters are shown; men could have a strong confident
sound were as sometime women have love songs or instrumentals
that suggest the idea of women being fragile and delicate like the
music.
8. Mise-en scene
• Mise-en scene in TV dramas can show
typical stereotypes as it can show women
as being a sexual object through what
they wear; revealing costumes. It can
also be shown through background
colours of when characters are shown,
sometimes when women are shown they
are seen with what is thought to be ‘girly’
colours i.e. pink in contrast to when
males are shown, having backgrounds
that are darker and thought to be more
boisterous. This could be purposely done
because of gender and colour
stereotypes but also it could help
reinforce the hierarchy men have as
darker colours are thought to be more
strong hence reinforcing a mans
stereotypical personality.
In Scandal Olivia is normally
surrounded by dark colours
emphasising her role within
the TV drama as a strong,
independent character,
counteracting the stereotype.
9. How Gender Links to The other 6 Areas of
Representation
• Age
• Ethnicity
• Sexuality
• Class and Status
• Physical Ability/Disability
• Regional Identity
10. Ethnicity
• Gender stereotypes are very
strong within ethnicity. In
certain ethnic groups there are
specific stereotypes for men
and women that in some
terms define them. Most Arab
Islamic women have the
stereotype of wearing a hijab
as it is part of their religion
however now it has become a
stereotype that defines them
and what most people
associate them with.
In the Homeland series
women wore the hijab as they
are expected to.
11. Sexuality
• In terms of sexuality and gender in drama, for men and women it
differs with homosexuality of men and women holding several
different stereotypes hence being viewed and represented differently.
E.g for men there is stereotypes that they will all die of HIV/Aids. All
gay men are feminine whereas most gay women are butch unless
they are “lipstick lesbians”- shown by dressing very girly however still
homosexual opposed to the typical stereotype of them dressing like
boys would.
• In terms of being bisexual, typically in TV drama men who are
bisexual may be seen as weird or strange whereas women that are
bisexual sometimes are seen to be “hot” and men are more attracted
to them.
12. Age
• Genders are shown in all ages. This is from babies up to old age.
However, how they are shown may be different. The way that the
characters may be portrayed may differ in their age group because of
their gender. For example, for the representation of teenagers, male
characters may be funnier, braver, get drunk more, etc. where as
female characters may be represented in a way to show that they
hang out with friends, talk about boys, obsess about make-up, and so
on.
13. Class and Status
• Men are more often likely to have a higher class and status than
women, this is due to the typical gender roles set traditionally, they
are also known to be more independent, better and more powerful
out Females and Males. Due to these features men are believed to
acquire, they are seen to be more successful hence have a higher
class and status, either achieved or ascribed. In TV, families are often
portrayed in a patriarchal way, following the set gender roles- Men
provide for the family and females look after the children and house.
14. Physical Ability or Disability
• Due to men holding stereotypical features of being, strong and
powerful they are seen as more able out of Men and Females.
Whereas women are often the ones to be shown with a disability as
they are known to be vulnerable and fragile.
15. Regional Identity
• Men are normally shown to have a stronger, distinctive accent and
women are more likely to speak in received pronunciation. This
because women are more likely to be judged on the way that they
talk, whereas men are not as likely to be and they will speak how it
comes to them naturally.
