Primeval - Textual Analysis

In this extract, gender is represented with the presentations of femininity and masculinity. Femininity is shown through both female characters and less 'manly' males, who are stereotyped as weaker, scared and acting as 'damsels in distress', whilst masculinity is shown through the male characters and a less feminine female (Abby), who are stereotyped as strong, independent and heroes.

The camera is utilised during the clip to show the representation. During the Sabre Tooth Tiger attack, a high angled shot of Nick Cutter is used, with his character positioned in the bottom half of the frame. This shot is used to create a countertype to masculinity, with the angle and framing showing his weakness in the situation, which is unlike the stereotype of the male characters, showing the power of the tiger. Another aspect of the camerawork, later on, helped emphasise the gender divided, with panning shots being used on male characters whilst theyre talking, like the white-collar worker and Connor, however, not with the female character of Abby. This camera bias shows the stereotype of women being the second class sex, as it mimics the bias of society. Later on, a shot is used with Stephen in the foreground in the center of the frame, with the more feminine characters of Abby and Connor on either side of him, positioned in the background in the left or right third of the frame. The positioning of the characters in this shot emphasises the stereotype of the more masculine characters being the heroes and have the authority, whilst more femine characters are weaker.

Sound is also utilised for the representation, mostly in the scene between Jenny and Farmer West. Initially Jenny talks calmly despite being threatened, which shows a countertype for the feminine character, with her being level-headed and strong rather than the stereotyped weakness and fearing. When Jenny does get attacked, all the diagetic sounds are slowed down and amplified, which is done to exaggurate the danger she is in. This is done to show the stereotype of women's 'damsels in distress' role, by showing the danger she is in. After this, intense background music is played, which is used to both further exaggurate the danger again, to show the female 'damsel' role, as well as show how a man attacking a woman is wrong, by making West out to be villainous, as attacking woman is very bad for the stereotyped male.

Editing is briefly used for the representation, with it slowing down during the attack on Jenny. This is done to emphasise the distress and danger she is in, showing her in a stereotypical female role of 'damsel in distress'. 

Mise-en-Scene also helps present the representation. Jenny's costume also has elements stereotypical for female characters, with her white coat showing stereotypical purity and innocence, and her heavy red make-up, showing her seductivity and care for her image. The stronger female, more masculine, character Abby's costume shows a countertype to femininty, by being more akin to the male stereotype. Abby's costume is made up of a leather jacket and trousers, two clothing items stereotyped to males, showing how she's stronger than the typical female, adopting stereotypically male traits, as well as costume items. She also has shorter hair and less make-up, which is more masculine, further emphasising her countertype. Connor's costume is also a countertype, showing him to be weaker than the other males by showing him to be more feminine. The costume is mostly made up of pink and red, two colours typically associated with femininity, further showing his weakness in relation to other males. He also wears a hat and scarf, two items of clothing that are more feminine. Other than the costume, the way that Connor can't handle a gun, choosing to weild a spade instead, also shows his femininity as he cannot handle himself.

Waterloo Road - Textual Analysis

In this extract, age is represented with the presentations of the elderly teachers and the youthful students. The older characters are stereotyped as important, authoritative and respectable, with the sole exception as the Maths Teacher, who is shown to be going through some form of mid-life crisis, with very little understanding of the kids. Contrastingly, the children are shown to be emotional, noisy, dangerous, cool, rebellious and powerless, whilst also in the majority at the school.



In the beginning of the clip, the senior teacher is positioned in the centre of the frame, showing his importance and authority, mirroring the older stereotype presented. Following this, a tracking shot of Miss Chowdrey's entrance infers her stereotyped importance and authority, showing that, despite how she is belittled by the senior teacher, she is still older than the students ands thus has power an authority. In the next segment, the opening shot is a panning shot that moves from the teacher's sign on the door to the student waiting outside of it, thus showing the hierarchy of the school and how the teachers have a lot more power than the students under them. After this, the action moves to the character of Amy. During this segment, whenever she gets angry, the score starts. The cue of the score highlights her emotional and dangerous behaviour, which is stereotyped to teenagers. The style of the score, which is a techno funk-like genre, shows a stereotyped genre of music that teenagers listen to. It then uses a cut-away scene to the English class room, where, several reaction shots are used after any character speaks, showing the emotional behaviours of the teens. It then cuts back to the character of Amy, where the previous musical cue is being played constantly over the action. This segment uses close-up shots of both Amy and Stuart, edited together in a shot-reverse shot method, to show the tension of the situation due to their stereotyped emotional and dangerous behaviour. The action then moves over to the Maths Teacher, who's costume is that of an outdated stereotype of teenagers, showing a mid-life crisis-like behaviour, whilst also showing his lack of understanding for the youth. This behaviour is further exaggerated by the rap music played during the segment, used almost ironically to show his complete misunderstanding.


Throughout the whole clip, a background sound of teenagers' muffled chattering is used to create the effect of the children being in the majority and their noisy behaviour. Also, in all scenes in corridors, children are placed in the background of the frame, to further demonsrate this effect, whilst also being out-of-focus compared to the main action being followed, using a form of shallow focus, which is used to demonstrate the powerlessness of the students. The costumes of the students show them all in uniform, however, each student has a slight variation of this, showing an attempt to be cool, whilst also, in turn, being rebellious. In binary opposition, the teachers all dress smarter, either wearing shirts, full suits or smart dresses, showing their respectability and authority. As well as this, the editing used throughout the clip is basic, as to show the naivety of the children in the school.

Theory on Stereotypes

Task 1:


Stereotypes aren't always negative: This is true in relation to the migrants, which are presented as the protagonists of the piece rather than villains like in some stereotypes. However, with the immigration officers, who are white, the stereotype is negative as they bully the less powerful.


They aren't always about minorities or less powerful groups: In the clip, this is true, as the stereotyped powerful white bullies are shown, however, the focus of this extract is on the less powerful migrants.


They can be held about one's own group: This is true, as the extract is aimed towards to majority white audience and is presenting a stereotype of white bullies.


They are not rigid or unchanging: The extract shows a change in society's stereotype with the woman on the front desk, as in the 40s-60s, the person on the front desk would have been a man but now its stereotyped as a woman, which is shown in the extract.


They aren't always false: Of course, there will be some white people that are bullies and there will be some migrants that act as protagonists but these are just stereotypes and are thus not true for everyone in the group.


Task 2:


The theory of Cognitive Dissonance is somewhat disproved by the success of programmes like Hotel Babylon. This is because the theory suggests that we seek out confirmation of our common stereotypes, thus being attracted to programmes that present these stereotypes. However, Hotel Babylon, and programmes like it, are unconventional, aiming to break these stereotype but their success opposes the theory of Cognitive Dissonance.


Task 3:


Alvarado's Racial Stereotype Theory:


Alvarado theorised that racial stereotypes will always be portrayed in one of 4 ways:

• Pitied - Racial Stereotypes may be presented as weak, to make us feel superior, and that they need to be pitied. An example of this representation can be seen in the following clip (showing a pitied African stereotype):

• Humorous - Racial Stereotypes may be used to humour the audience, using the stereotype as comic relief. An example of this representation can be seen below (showing a humorous Scottish stereotype):

• Dangerous - Racial Stereotypes may be used to show the danger presented by particular groups and encourage the audience to fear them. This clip shows an example of this representation (showing a dangerous Asian stereotype):

• Exotic - Racial Stereotypes may be used to show how different certain ethnicities are. Commonly, this is used to either with characters speaking different strange languages and eating uncommon foods. An example of this representation can be seen in this extract:



Disability in TV Drama

Game of Thrones - Tyrion Lannister

Despite the character of Tyrion being disabled, due to having dwarfism, his character is not hindered. The usual stereotype of a disabled character being weak and useless is broken by Tyrion, with his character having one of the best minds in the show as he takes up positions like Hand of the King, due to his power and mind. He also is one of the richest characters in the show, showing more of his power. However, despite that, his treatment from other characters is harsh due to his disability, with him being called insulting names like 'Imp' or 'Halfman' and even being disowned by his own father, Tywin.

Agents of SHIELD - Phil Coulson

The character of Coulson wasn't disabled until the season 2 finale, where he lost his left hand. Since the loss of his hand, the character hasn't been as much of an action hero as he was, perhaps showing that the disability has weakened him and disabled him from his previous life. However, he infrequently does become an action hero, even using his prosthetic hand to kill someone, showing part of his previous life being re-enabled. The other characters don't treat him any differently to before due to his disability, showing a break of the stereotype that disabled people get treated differently.


Star Trek: The Next Generation - Geordi La Forge

The character of La Forge is blind, seeing through the aid of a special visor. Despite the difference in appearance, the character isn't hindered by his disability, still being essential to the Enterprise's mission. Most characters don't treat him any differently due to his disability but occasionally he is mistreated by other characters due to his disability.   

Doc Martin - Textual Analysis

This extract, from Doc Martin, presents representations of Regional Identity. It portrays both the Cornish and the Londoners in a stereotyped manner, with the Cornish being backward, uneducated, rambling fools with menial jobs but relaxed and the Londoners being more sensible, intelligent and well-spoken with better jobs, yet very stressed.

Camera Work:

During the opening scene, close-up shots of the character of Doc Martin are used between the wide shots of the room, to emphasise the stress for him of how backwards Cornish life is. Later on, whilst in the town, tracking shots are used to establish the town, showing how dull and boring it is. During these shots, Doc Martin is mostly in the centre of the frame, showing how he is trapped in this frustrating life, which he does not fit with due to being a city-goer.

Sound:

During the opening scene, a mixture of diegetic sounds are played, including barking, phone ringing, water spraying and tools clanging. This concoction of sounds is used to add to the stress of the situation for the audience, to mimic Martin's stress and frustration at the backwardness of the Cornish life. Whilst exploring the town, non-diegetic music is played, which is very slow and simple, mimicking the Cornish stereotype that they are slow and simple. The music is suddenly interrupted when Martin enters the police station by the loud diegetic sound of a vacuum cleaner, which both portrays a stereotyped sense of obliviousness for the Cornish, whilst also adding to the stress and frustration of Martin at the Cornish lifestyle.

Editing:

In the opening scene, lots of quick cuts are used, making the editing fast-paced, which further portrays Martin's stress and frustration at the Cornish lifestyle. The editing during to the exploration of the town is slow, soft and used sparingly, mimicking the Cornish stereotype.

Mise-en-Scene:

The room in the opening scene as well as the houses and town outside are all painted in dull colours like white, cream, grey or brown, showing the boringness of Cornish life. Martin wears a suit in the extract, showing his classiness, which is a key part of the stereotype of a Londoner, whilst also showing that he does not belong with these people. Contrastingly, the other characters, who are all Cornish, are wearing more casual clothes, showing their stereotyped lack of classiness, or attire associated with menial work, portraying the stereotype that they all do menial labour. The Cornish characters also usually have make-up that makes them look messy or dirty, further adding to this same stereotype.

Humans - Textual Analysis

In this extract, from Humans, it presents a representation of Age. However, the extract only portrays one age group effectively, being the elderly, who are presented in the stereotyped way of weak and scared.

Camera Work:

The clip utilizes the camera work to further portray the elderly stereotype with the character of George. The opening shot is a tracking shot, with a gentle movement to show the tranquility of George in his home, which acts as his safety bubble. Following this, the shot stops and the scene carries out without using another tracking shot, showing the bursting of his safety and the stereotyped fear. Following this, a shot is used with George's head in the center of the frame with the door and door-frame in the other two thirds of the frame. This shot shows George's stereotyped security. 
Later on in the scene, a low shot of the care-worker is used, show her power and patronizing nature. This shot further shows the elderly stereotype, despite the shot not involving the elderly character by showing the patronizing attitude shown towards them and their comparitive weakness.

Sound:

Sound is effectively used during this scene to further present the George's elderly stereotype. In the opening shot, non-diegetic music is played in the background. The music is very slow and in the 40s/50s style. This presents the eldery stereotype of using nostalgia to help relax, with the use of music he would have listened to in his youth. It also further helps to show George's sense of security in his home. 
When the care-worker enters the scene, all background sounds, diegetic or non-diegetic, stop, except the use of the dialogue. This shows George's stereotyped safety bubble being broken and his fear, which is also consistent with the stereotype. The care workers dialogue is also a lot slower and quieter, showing the patronizing attitude shown towards the elderly. 
In the final section of the scene, whilst George is reminiscing with his Synth, non-diegetic sound is used in the form of music, which is quiet slow, whilst also being playful. This oxymoron-like style is used to show his stereotyped slowness, whilst the playfulness of it shows how his elderly state contrasts with his former youthful self.

Editing:

Not much adventurous or extreme editing is used during this extract, which mimics the elderly stereotype of dullness and showing his comfort in his safety bubble. Most of the editing that is used is slow and smooth, which further mimics the elderly stereotype of slowness.

Mise-en-Scene:
  
The Mise-en-Scene of the scene perfectly portrays George's elderly stereotype. The lighting of the scene is mostly yellow, which is a colour associated with old age and decay. The set of George's house is full of props and set design which further help to portray George's stereotype. The set contains carpets and furniture which is stereotypically associated with the elderly, showing him conforming to that stereotype. The set also contains several old photos, certificates and newspaper cuttings, showing George's fixation on nostalgia and his past, a characteristic commonly associated with the elderly. The set also contains mostly dull colours, like greys, browns, creams and yellows, showing the monotonous lifestyle that George, as a stereotyped elderly person, has fallen into.