By Aaron.F

REPRESENTATION IN TV DRAMA

•The Take. In the take the gender representations are less clear.

Originally it is clear that the male sociopath Freddie is the dominating figure in his household with his wife. However his cousin Jimmy and his wife have a much more balanced relationship with neither being the dominating figure suggesting that gender is not important when it

comes to representation only the type of character.

The Sopranos. In the sopranos (a crime drama) most of the

main characters are men, and the only female characters are

defined through possessive nouns e.g. Tony’s mother,

Tony’s psychiatrist. This could suggest that men are the more common gender in organised crime or could be suggesting

that females are the subordinate sex and males the

dominant.

UK – US -

GENDER

Skins – one representation of ethnicity in skins is of Muslim culture. Anwar’s

father (A Muslim) eventually accepts one of his sons friends Maxxie who is a

homosexual . This challenges the general stereotype of Muslim parents being narrow

minded towards lifestyles not universally socially

accepted in their religion.

Criminal minds – the cast of criminal minds is relatively well

balanced according to the demographic of the USA (White

72.4% & African American 12.6%). The characters follow the generic stereotypes in the fact that the white characters generally hold the higher up

jobs and are more calm whereas the African American

character is more hot tempered and street wise.

UK US

Ethnicity

Eastenders – Eastenders features both old and young characters

which act as almost polar opposites due to the fact that it is a soap it is

designed to contain themes relating to their audience so the young characters are shown as

outgoing, loud and energetic and are involved in storylines such as

alcohol/drug abuse and teen pregnancies and the older

characters characters are shown as lethargic but with more life

experience and have been involved in storylines such as euthanasia

and issues involving family.

Breaking Bad - Breaking Bad is another show in which both sides

of age are represented in the main characters (Walter White & Jesse Pinkman). Jesse is a drug dealer and Walter a chemistry teacher

following the stereotype that young people are amoral and more likely

to resort to crime as a way of making money. However as the

series progresses Walter becomes more morally questionable and

Jesse is shown in a more favourable light, it shows a positive(ish)

representation of equality of age.

UK US

Age

Upper Class -Downton Abbey. The upper class in

Downton Abbey are generally portrayed as mild mannered, well respected

but are also shown as snobbish and there since

birth privileges make them heavily reliant on there

servants.

Lower Class – Shameless. The lower class are

represented in Shameless as uneducated an workshy.

However they are also shown to value family

regardless of faults e.g. Alcoholism, drug abuse etc.

UK

CLASS

Skins – in the cast of skins there are 8 LGBT characters.

This is a positive representation of sexuality in skins as the amount of LGBT

characters is larger than usual in TV dramas as homosexuality

is rarely seen on television, having multiple homosexual characters stops the LGBT

character being known as that.

Orphan Black - One of the clones in orphan black (Cosima) is a

lesbian and of all the clones she is one of the most intelligent (being a PhD microbiology student) and as

the other clones range from assassins to thief's, one of the most morally upright. This is a positive

representation of homosexuality as it refrains from any suggestion of

inequality that may of been present in prior years.

UK US

SEXUALITY

The street – The Afghanistan veteran who returns with a facial disfigurement follows Paul Hunt’s theory of the media’s portrayal of disabled people as initially he “is unable to participate in daily life, His/her own worst enemy and an object of curiosity or violence.”

which can be seen in his inability to initially cope and attempted

suicide and the fact he was wounded at war.

Ironside – Ironsides plot revolves around a paraplegic

police man who “is hardly limited by his disability.” This

goes against Paul Hunt’s theory of the media’s portrayal

of disabled people as he is fully capable of participating

in daily life which can be seen as he continues to hold down

his job.

UK US

DISABILITY/ABILITY

North – Shameless (set in a council estate in

Manchester). A large majority seem to be

uneducated, workshy or criminals. The main

character Frank is an alcoholic father of six a

negative view of the north.

South – White Chapel (set in London). The characters in white

chapel are all employed by the police force and all appear to

have a higher level of education than those in shameless.

However, unlike the northerners the southern characters are

much more individual gained focused rather than family or

community orientated e.g. Fitzgerald.

UK

REGIONAL IDENTITY