Representation Issues – to get you started… Issue
Stereotypes/conservative representation
Challenging/progressive representation
regional identity
The North/South divide. “It’s grim up North” – northern areas of the UK as poor, tough, masculine worlds or as areas of industrial decline. Pigeon keeping. Hard drinking. “Soft southern poofs” – southern men as somehow less manly than northerners.
Sequences which ignore these stereotypes.
Other regional stereotypes – West country “oo aarr” rural, thick, slow. Birmingham – daft, comic characters, a bit silly. Liverpool – scousers – untrustworthy burglars and scallys. London – cockney “wide boys” – wheeler dealing, on the make. Newcastle – Geordies – hard men. Essex girls – sexually promiscuous and thick. Scottish – mean.
physical ability/ disability
Objects of pity rather than subjects/protagonists in the narrative. Always nice people. Presented as victims and in need of help. In the narrative because the story is about their disability.
class/ status
Working class – uneducated, vulgar, unhealthy (chips and crisps), chavvy, bigoted (racist, sexist, homophobic), regional accents or humble, subservient, unassertive Middle class – hard to give clear stereotypes as there are many variations and middle class is seen as the “norm” in many media texts, but: authoritative, Received Pronunciation accent (BBC English), smart business clothes Upper class – toffs, living in stately homes and having servants, out of touch with the lives of ordinary people (probably this is the truth rather than a stereotype!) Gay men – effeminate, soft, physically weak, a danger to straight men (always after sex), OR leather wearing moustached muscle men with insatiable appetite for casual sex Lesbians – butch, humourless, big, ugly, or “lipstick lesbians” – attractive in a stereotypically feminine way. Black people – exotic and “other”, often confined to realms of physical activity (sport, dance), or comedy. May connote urban fashion etc. Often represented as criminals. Asian people – shopkeepers, Muslims (=potential terrorist!), large family sizes (all living in one house) Black males as sexually dominant. Black fathers as not accepting responsibilities (deserting their families). Immigrants/Asylum seekers – often represented as scroungers and involved in illegal activity (see handout on the truth about asylum seekers)
Sexuality
ethnicity
Age or gender
Youth are unreliable, rebellious, immature. Old people are doddery, forgetful, vulnerable. Males are powerful work away from home, females are passive and domestic.
If a character just happens to be disabled but this is not an issue, then this would be a progressive representation of disability. For example one of the children’s BBC presenters has only one hand, but this is not an issue – she is just a presenter. In a sequence with characters of different class or status, look for elements which suggest the powerrelationship is different to what we would expect – for example that a working class character is actually dominant over a middle class one (but not just by being a physical threat)
Anything which questions, undermines or challenges these very narrow stereotypes
Any representations where black people are present but where “race” or ethnicity is not an issue. Any reps which challenge these stereotypes – eg a black father working hard for his family. Mixed race relationships.
Anything where the ‘vulnerable’ ages and gender are shown as in control, assertive, etc.