2. REPRESENTATION
To represent something is to describe, or depict it, to call it up in
the mind by description or portrayal.
Representation in media terms is concerned with the way that
people, events and ideas are presented to us.
When media focuses on representation it focuses on
• Gender
• Age
• Ethnicity
• Sexuality
• Class and Status
• Physical ability/disability
• Regional identity
3. REPRESENTATION: GENDER
Gender is the range of physical, mental, and
behavioral characteristics pertaining to, and
differentiating between, masculinity and femininity.
Feminine: would be represented in pink, not a lot
of clothes are worn, they categorize it by making
the feminine people very emotional and beautiful,
they are often found talking about sex, and they
are always reliant on men.
Masculinity: would be represented in blue, evidently
showing of muscles, tends to be in charge, they are
shown as the hero and the breadwinner in the family
(brings the income).
4. REPRESENTATION: AGE
Age is your years of how old you are or what group you
are between a range of groups.
Children: active consumers (toy adverts), innocent or
devious, cute, brave, playful and modern.
Teenagers: social problem,
followers of anti authority, badly
behaved (drug takers, binge
drinkers), heavily associated in
social groups.
Elderly: grumpy, a burden, engaging in activities they
wished to do when they were younger, dependent,
mentally challenged.
5. REPRESENTATION: ETHNICITY
Ethnicity: belonging to a social group that has a
common national or cultural tradition.
Minorities: (Black people) criminals, a threat,
need charity, invisible, unimportant, dependent.
British: Privileged, upper class, posh, out
going, rich, drinkers, developed.
Irish: travellers, rude, violent, drinkers, boisterous,
patriotic, heavily cultured, wedding associated.
6. REPRESENTATION: SEXUALITY
Sexuality: a persons sexual orientation.
Homosexuality: Camp, responsible for AIDS,
Macho (exaggerative as a closet), deviant,
men into feminine things, women into manly
things (butch).
Heterosexuality: Into their own genders thing, a
man and woman relationship with a family and
marriage, common kissing, shows of affection and
sex scenes with the opposite gender.
7. REPRESENTATION: PHYSICAL
ABILITY/DISABILITY
Mass media representations of disability have generally
been oppressive and negative. People with disabilities are
rarely presented as people with their own identities.
They are typically shown as:
• Pitiable
• Pathetic
• Sweet
• Innocent
8. REPRESENTATION: CLASS AND
STATUS
• Upper Class- Those who benefit from
these processes, i.e. the monarchy,
the upper class and the very wealthy,
generally receive a positive press as
celebrities who are somehow
deserving of their position.
• Middle Class- The middle class are
over-represented on TV dramas and
situation comedies.
• Working Class- when news
organizations focus on the working
class, it is generally to label them as a
problem, e.g. as welfare cheats, drug
addicts or criminals
9. STEREOTYPES
Dictionary definition: A widely held but fixed and
oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person
or thing.
Simple meaning: When people are placed into a certain
group with expected behavior and looks.
10. STEREOTYPES: AGE
Young children- Bubbly, active,
happy, always laughing, eats lots of
sweets.
Teenagers- Rebellious, lazy,
egocentric, irresponsible, material
things, socializing.
Old People- Slow, fragile, slow
drivers, bad hearing, memory loss,
grey/white hair.
11. STEREOTYPES: GENDER
Female- Not good at sports, not
good drivers, are not as smart as
men, females always clean, they
only care for as a job, beautiful
looking.
Male- Provider for the family,
strong, muscular, independent,
competitive, breadwinner.
12. STEREOTYPES: ETHNICITY
Chinese- Smart, always have
great grades, are doctors and
nurses, have a successful life.
Irish- Always drunk,
aggressive, eat a lot of
potatoes.
English- Posh accents, smart,
wonky and gap filled teeth,
always drink tea.
13. STEREOTYPES: SEXUALITY
Gay- Feminine postures, high pitch voices, very attention
seeking.
Lesbian- Very manly, big in size e.g. butch, manly features,
wear mens clothing.
14. STEREOTYPES: CLASS AND STATUS
High class- Posh, very educated, have
a lot of money, come from private
schools, only expect the highest of
peoples ability.
Middle class- Have well paid jobs, live
in basic homes, volunteer in the
community.
Lower class- School drop outs,
dependent on the governments money,
live in rented run down houses.
15. STEREOTYPES: PHYSICAL
ABILITY/DISABILITY
The media continue to enforce disability stereotypes portraying
disabled individuals in a negative un-empowering way.
• A disabled person is often stereotyped as:
• Pitiable or pathetic
• An object of curiosity or violence
• Sinister or evil
• The super cripple
• As atmosphere
• Laughable
• His/her own worst enemy
• As a burden
• As Non-sexual
• Being unable to participate in daily life
17. REGIONAL IDENTITY
The representation of regional identity commonly involves
stereotypes which are caused by class, status and
ethnicity. A character’s regional identity is often represented
through where they live, their appearance, job,
opinions/ideals and more commonly through their accent.
Examples of regional identity
stereotypes are:
• Londoners
• Essex
• Geordies
• Scousers
• Northerners
