Gender in TV Drama

Stereotypes of Men-

One of the many stereotypes of men is that they should be strong and powerful, both mentally and physically. The men are normally the people who 'save the day' and are mainly shown to be the most powerful out of the two genders. They may be the one to look after the women and to protect them. 

• An example The Doctor who is the main character out of Doctor Who. In each episode, the doctor is faces with a problem and is able to get through it and save a lot of people. His character is strong and very powerful.
• A counter type of this is Ian Beale who is a character out of Eastenders. Ian is known for being a pushover and can easily be controlled by other characters. He is used to being bullied into things by characters that are stronger than him and have a lot more power than him.

Another stereotype of men is 'the joker'. This may be a popular character and they are the person who provides the humour. This is either through people laughing at them or with them. This gives the impression that all men should be funny and entertaining most or all of the time. It also means that people may think that men are not allowed to be down or serious.

• An example of this is Dennis who is a character out of Hollyoaks. He is happy and funny the majority of the time. He is always the one who tries to make everyone around him happy and doesn't like to see people sad. 
• A counter type is Patrick out of Hollyoaks. Patrick does not seem to have any sense of humour and never appears to be funny or at least laugh. He is very serious and does not like jokes or anyone to say anything about him even if it may not be serious.

A stereotype of men in TV dramas is that they should be independent and not rely on anybody for anything. They should be able to make their own choices and be fully independent. This gives the impression that all men should be like this and they shouldn't listen to anyone else when making decisions.

• An example is The Doctor from Doctor Who. The Doctor is very independent and makes his own decision on the choices that he has to make. He does not rely on anyone and travels alone a lot of the time. 
• A counter type is Alfie Moon from Eastenders. Alfie tries his best to be able to provide for his family and try to do the best for them. However, nothing really works out for him and he finds himself having to try and get loans and try and begging people for jobs. He is not a character that is known for saving the day but the one who needs saving.

A lot of men in TV dramas are attractive and are physically fit. This gives the image that all men should look like this and may put a lot of pressure on men to do this. This also may mean that women now look at the men on TV and think that the men that they see everyday should look this way and expect them too.

• A example of this stereotype is Dodger out of Hollyoaks. A lot of people are attracted to Danny Mac, the actor, however, the show makes sure that they dress Dodger in a way that will show of his muscles and will therefore make him more attractive to the audience.
• A counter type of this stereotype is Phil Mitchell. Phil Mitchell needs to be unattractive so that he can be seen as scary and intimidating. If he was attractive, he may not be able to play this role as well as people tend to think that attractive people are nicer than unattractive people.

Stereotypes of Women-

One of the stereotypes of women in TV drama is the 'dumb blonde'. This is the character that some actresses get which means they have to act a lot less clever than they actually are. The 'dumb blonde' does not have much common sense and normally can not do tasks that a lot of people can do. This gives the impression that a lot of women are like this and that all blondes are stupid.

• An example of this stereotype in Hollyoaks is Theresa McQueen. This character is the stereotypical dumb blonde. She is presented with no common sense and acts as though she is stupid. She also has the image of the typical dumb blonde who is of course blonde, very pretty and who wears a lot of makeup.
• A counter type is Piper Chapman who is the main character out of Orange Is The New Black. At first, you get the impression that Piper may fit into this category but as we watch as we see more of her character we realise that she is in fact the complete opposite. She is very intelligent and can solve problems that most people may not be able to solve.

Another stereotype of women is the housewife. These are the women who stay at home all day and look after the children whist the husband it out at work. The housewife makes sure that all of the housework is done and makes food for the whole family. This gives the impression that this is how family life should be and that the women should not work and not earn her own money.

• An example of this Maxine who is a character from Hollyoaks. Maxine is forced to stay at home all day and do the housework whilst her husband goes to his job all day. Patrick, her husband, does not allow Maxine to get a job or go outside therefore forcing her to stay in and be a housewife.
• A counter type is Grace Black from Hollyoaks. This is because Grace owns her own business and works to earn her own money. She is not reliant on anyone else and does never intend to be. She has a husband who works for her so is the complete opposite of the stereotypical housewife.

A lot of women in TV dramas also tend to be attractive and appealing towards the opposite sex. They are pretty and are also physically fit. This puts pressure on women because they believe that they should look like this. Similarly, it makes men think that women should look like the women on TV.

• An example of this is Rose out of Downton Abbey. Rose is very pretty and men in the programme as well as out are attracted to her. 
• A counter type of this stereotype is Heather who is a character out of Eastenders. She is purposely made not be attractive towards men. This is through the way that she looks and dresses.

Another example of women in TV drama is that they are quite mentally weak and are unable to make their own decisions and choices. They normally rely on men to make the choices for them as they do not want to make them for themselves. They also tend to be quite emotional and weak willed. 

• An example of this is Maxine out of Hollyoaks. Maxine has been made to be mentally weak by her husband, Patrick, and has to make sure he is OK with her choices before she does anything. She is able to be controlled by Patrick and does not want to do anything that will not be alright with him. She always seeks his approval and he always tells her what to do.
• A counter type is Red who is a character out of Orange Is The New Black. Red is a prisoner but works as a chef inside of the prison. She likes this job as it gives her power over the other inmates. She runs the kitchen therefore being able to control the inmates that work inside the kitchen alongside Red. Red also has power as she is able to choose the meals and therefore control what the whole of the prison will eat.

How Gender Is Represented Through The 4 Areas of Textual Analysis-

(Game of Thrones)

Camera Shots

Close Up:

The first shot that we see is a close up of the first character. Here we are given a clear opportunity to get a true look at what the character looks like. However, he has his head bowed a little and his hair is covering his face. This means that we are unable to see his face clearly and we are unable to see what he looks like. This is adding mystery to the character as he is hiding behind his hair. We automatically get the feeling that this man is not as powerful as the other men that we see in the rest of the clip. This turns out to be because he is being questioned for a murder. By him initially hiding behind his hair, this may be a way of telling the audience that he has something to hide.

Low angle:We are then presented with a low angle shot of two different characters. Showing them in a low angle shot is automatically showing that these men have the power. This is because we are below them and have to look up to see them. They are therefore looking down on everybody else which is giving them more authority and respect. As we can see, both of these characters with the power are men. This may show that only men had the power when this drama was set. We get this feeling because we do not see women that are asking the questions and controlling the situation.
Establishing Shot:
There is an establishing shot that shows the whole of the scene with clearly shows all of the characters that are shown in this scene. Here we see mostly men, the men are the judges, the person who is being prosecuted is a man and it looks like the audience consists of primarly men. This shows that this time era is male dominated and these where the people that where seen as the most important. We can only see a few women that may be seen as important, however, these women are hardly seen and are hided behind objects meaning that even though they are shown to be higher than the public, they are still not that important. Also, here we can clearly see that the man who is being questioned is little has to stand on a step ladder to be able to see over where he has to stand.
Mid Shot:
This is the first shot where we properly see a women, and we see two. By presenting them this late into the clip, it may be representing the thought of women not being as important to men. However, as she is sat on a chair and the camera is a little low, we get the feeling that she may be an important female, more important than the crowd of people that are sat further down in the room. This shot has been used to show her facial expressions to what the man who is being prosecuted is saying, which looks like disgust and confusion.


Editing
Conversation:
When there is a conversation between Tyrion and the man that is in charge, there is cross cutting. This is where the camera is going from one shot to another, in this case the two men. This is clearly showing them talking to each other but in  a way that allows us to see their facial expressions whilst they are talking. Even though both of these men are not equal because one of them are being prosecuted, the camera angles are kept the same between the two to show that they are both dominant and will not back down.



Sound
Crowd:
When the shot changes to the establishing shot to show the crowd, there is also a lot of noise where the crowd are all angry with what the man who is being prosecuted is saying. This is the first piece of loud noise that we hear because before it was silent with just the one man talking. Here, we hear a mix of both men and women which is shocking because we can mostly only see men. This may be trying to show that women are louder than men and can make a lot of noise if it is for something that they strongly disagree with.
Quiet:
The crowd of people stop talking as soon as the man, who looks like he may be the one that is in charge of this case, starts talking. This is showing the true power that this man has over everybody if he can make everyone start talking as soon as he starts. This may also show that everybody wants to hear what he has to say and therefore respects him and they would not have stopped talking otherwise.
Music:
There is haunting music played after Tyrion says ' I demand a trial by combat'. Whilst this music is playing, it showing the faces of all of the characters that are not in the crown. They all looks worried and concerned. Over this music you can also hear the crowd making noise. The music is used to show that no good is going to come out of his decision. This is showing the true power behind this man because he is deciding what he wants for himself showing that even men that would have been seen as low, are still more powerful than the rest of the people that are in the room. The music comes to a sudden stop as soon as the scene has ended.



Mise-en-Scene
Lighting:
The lighting of the set are candles, and these are the only things that are keeping the room lit up. This automatically shows the time scale and how old this setting is meant to be. The scene is therefore dark as they are inside and candles are not that powerful.
Costumes:
All of the clothing in the clip is old fashioned and traditional because of the time era this clip is from. However, you are able to clearly make out the difference in clothing between the men and the women. The men are all wearing traditional smart clothing that consist of trousers and then a top or a coat. However, all of the women that are shown are wearing traditional dresses. This shows that all men and women would dress in a certain way and were probably expected to wear dresses if you were a woman and trousers if you were a man.

How Gender Links To The Other 6 Areas Of Representation-

Age

Genders are shown in all ages. This is from babies up to old age. However, how they are shown may be different. The way that the characters may be portrayed may differ in their age group because of their gender. For example, for the representation of teenagers, male characters may be funnier, braver, get drunk more, etc. where as female characters may be represented in a way to show that they hang out with friends, talk about boys, obsess about make-up, and so on.

Ethnicity

Both genders are shown as being all different kinds of ethnicity. This is so the show is able to be diverse and not to exclude anyone. If the show presented only one ethnicity then the show would not be a true representation of the modern world and would therefore not be realistic.

Sexuality

Gender is now not an issue in sexuality. It is now shown that both sexes are able to be attracted to either gender. Gender obviously plays a role in sexuality but is not an issue. Women can be attracted to both men and women the same way in which men can be attracted to men and women also. TV Dramas are sure to include all sexuality's in the programmes to ensure that all types of people are included and nobody is excluded.

Class and Status

Men are likely to be shown as to have a higher class and status. This is because they are stereotypically known to be the gender that is better and more powerful of the two. They are seen to be more successful and would therefore have a higher class and status.

In poor families on TV, there is normally a single mother with her children. She struggles to provide for her children and has to work long days. It is rarely shown that a single dad is poor and struggles to provide for his children. This shows that women are shown to have a lower class and status than men. 

Physical Ability/Disability

Men are normally shown to be the more able of the two genders. This means that the women are most likely to be the characters to be shown as having a disability. There is sometimes a mix and men will have disabilities, however, stereotypically, the men are the gender that are more physically able. This may even been through simple tasks that men can do and not women.

Regional Identity

Men are normally shown to have a stronger, distinctive accent and women are more likely to speak in received pronunciation. This because women are more likely to be judged on the way that they talk, whereas men are not as likely to be and they will speak how it comes to them naturally.