Common stereotypes

-Age

Infants

• Often in the media very young children are stereotyped into category's due to their age, a very young child from the age of 0-3 are mainly seen as very cute and innocent they are very rarely seen as bad characters an obviously often play a non speaking role. Infants are stereotyped as wearing nappies and sucking dummies.

• In some types of media this stereotype is broken, a great example of this would be in the animated crude comedy program “Family guy” where the young child “stewie” is very opinionated and has the ability to talk, he is a slightly sinister character at times but is loved by most the watch the program.

Slightly older children 5-10 are stereotyped a very irritating and annoying, in TV programs such as outnumbered they are displayed as being very immature, they are normally in the “annoying younger brother/sister” role. In outnumbered the two youngest children Karen and Ben are shown as being very mischievous and poorly behaved, they are the annoying younger siblings to the oldest teenage child.

• Another TV Program the feature this stereo type would be Megan from drake and josh, a very evil backstabbing younger sister who's only aim is to humiliate her older brothers, this is playing on the annoying stereotype.

Teens

Teenagers. Teenagers are represented in many different words within the media. Many of these being positive and negative. One way they are often represented is that they have a lack of discipline. They are linked with crimes such as Vandalism, ASBO, Drug Use and underage drinking. These issues are frowned upon in society as they are very common. They are also seen to have little respect for elders whether this be parents or teachers. Clothes they are often known to wear is hoodies and trackies. This gives an aggressive impression of the teenage group but this is only a small minority in my opinion. Occasionally they can be portrayed as intelligent hard working but this is a rare occurrence within the media. The general stereotype is portrayed in many different areas of media but an example I have chosen is Skins where they are portrayed in a very negative manner. There is frequent drug use, underage drinking and sex throughout each episode. The name of the programme ‘Skins’ is a reference to rolling papers for the drug cannabis. Below is an advert for the programme Skins. This shows a number of teenage characters having sex. This is a common stereotype which is portrayed in a very popular TV

programme.

elderly

• Elderly People• Elderly people can get represented in different ways within the media. This may be in a positive or negative way.• One of the ways that elderly can get portrayed in the media in a negative way is by being less able than they

actually are. This is through ways such as having hearing or sight difficulties, for example, they may need hearing aids or they may be partially sighted. This will represent the elderly person in a negative way as it gives the stereotype that all elderly people are unable to hear and see properly. They may also be needed to be taken care of, this may be through things such as having to stay in a nursing home or have their family take care of them. This is negative as this is trying to show that elderly people are unable to take care of themselves when the majority of elderly people are able to live on their own and not have any help. An example of where an elderly person is represented as not being as able is in ‘The Royle Family’. The elderly person is the grandma of the family and she lives in their house on a bed in the living room. This is because she is unable to live by herself so she is cared for by the family. It is also good for her because her husband died so may be lonely on her own. She also has bad eyesight and has to use an over exaggerated magnifying glass to see.

• However, another way in which the elderly can be represented that will be seen as positive is wise and intelligent. This is because they have learnt a lot through their years on the earth and people may seek guidance from them. This may be shown through the younger characters going to the elderly character for help and advice on problems in their life. This is positive as it gives you the view that all elderly people should be turned to for help as they are wise and will know the answers.

• However, some of these stereotypes cross over and they may represent the character as both of these things rather than one or the other.