Stereotype reportJack Cooper

Gender (men and women)

Gender in the media is often stereotyped as the male being alpha and stronger than the female. This can be seen quite often in typical Hollywood movies, where you would have a male superhero and a ‘damsel in distress’. Females are also often used in the media to make the product more appealing – the male gaze theory. In TV Drama, this stereotype tends to be more blurred and challenged more often. For example, in Soaps such as EastEnders, we often see the female character standing up for herself if something goes wrong without the need of ‘male help’. We also see female characters happy to assert themselves to men if they feel the situation isn’t right.

Age

A wide variety of age stereotypes are used throughout the media, and all differ depending on the age of the character. In all types of media, it is typical to find older people represented as weak, good-natured, innocent, and naïve. For example, we may come across a ‘granny’ who appears to be much shorter than everyone and is oblivious to any situation that may be happening around them.In the TV Drama Waterloo Road, we find extensive use of teenage stereotypes. Characters are portrayed to be selfish, lazy, arrogant, judgemental, not bothered about school and have a general lack of enthusiasm. There are also stereotypes on ‘groups’ such as Emos and Chavs.

Ethnicity

Ethnic stereotypes are used in media to allow the audience to be more familiar and relatable to the character. It can also be used as a form of humour. For example, in many teen movies set in schools there is often an East Asian student who is really intelligent at maths in particular, nerdish, and sometimes physically weak.In EastEnders, a mixed race character called Fatboy is portrayed as being gangsta, wearing heavy jewellery and having a particular goal to attract women. This stereotype could be used arguably to make the audience feel more familiar with the character.

Disability

Disabled people in the media are often seen to be people who are helpless and require a companion with them at all times to help achieve any task. However, the media in general are quite fond of challenging this stereotype, and as a result we often see disabled characters doing something miraculous or life saving for somebody else, in the light of inspiration. When a disabled character achieves something special, they often become a ‘hero’ in the story world. This can arguably be seen as patronising and an act of positive discrimination to some people.

Sexuality

There is a clear difference between heterosexual and homosexual characters in the media, especially with males.Heterosexual men are often portrayed to be driven to goals under motivation from women. They are also often seen as alpha, tough and a independent ‘leader of the pack’. Women are often seen to be girly, obsessed with things like fashion and the colour pink, and tend to be weak and require male aid.Homosexual men are seen to be extremely hygienic and have a very smart fashion sense. They are also very well groomed, and love to hear the local gossip. Women on the other hand are seen to be butch, with a short haircut and a fairly deep voice.

Regional Identity

The media often likes to take something that would be associated with someone from a regional area, and then exaggerate the stereotype. This often gives a humourous result for comedy sketch shows, but it can also be used in TV Drama to help the audience associate the setting. EastEnders uses a very heavy cockney accent with colloquial language to help the viewer link the setting to East London.Welsh people are often seen to be lovers of sheep.Scottish people are seen to be aggressive, nationalist, and ginger.Northerners are often seen to be a much lower class and generally less intelligent than Southerners.The French are portrayed as cheese-eating surrender monkeys.

Social Class

The social class of a character in the media has a large influence on their personality and appearance:

• An unemployed person is often seen to be using government benefits to their advantage (e.g. having half a dozen kids) and having poor hygiene.• Upper class individuals are seen to be arrogant people who refuse to

blend in with the commoners. They are often too lazy to do anything themselves and have a butler called Jeeves to do all their work.• Middle class people are seen to have a family in a stable marriage.

The family is usually functional and involves a breadwinner and a homemaker.