Presentations of 7 areas-My notes (Age, regional identity, ethnicity, sexuality)

In this lesson we were presenting our prezi presentations. Each pair would talk through the area they had researched whilst the rest of the class made notes.

  An over exaggerated stereotype of
a teenager (Vicky Pollard from Little Britain)

Age
-Age represents how you act and what defines you.
-The stereotypical baby would be portrayed as either crying or being cute and cuddly.
-The stereotypical old person would be portrayed  as sitting around doing nothing. There is also the other view of old people being wise, miserable and crazy.
-There is a similarity between old and very young people-they are both very dependant and need looking after
-Children often play important roles in the media which make the target audience which are usually the same age aspire to be like them
-Teenagers would be portrayed as either being geeky and keen to learn or trouble makers that are under-age drinking and taking drugs

-Young adults, especially women are shown to be perfect looking, glamorous and successful. The media also seem to show these years are your best and most enjoyable.


SexualityA huge majority of the media tend to focus on gay men. When they are shown in programmes they are used to create a different kind of story line. Plots involve 'coming out' coping with their sexuality and religion, discovering sexuality or being a victim of bullying because of it.  The extreme stereotype of a gay male would be thought of to wear tight clothing, liking fashion and being bitchy. Stereotypical hobbies include acting, dancing, singing and shopping. Stereotypically lesbians are seen to be butch and masculine however there are people that show this isn't always the case like Linsay Lohan.


Ethnicity
Stereotpyically black people are shown to be drug taking unemployed thugs. They seem to have a certain way of speaking which is very much slang for example "innit" They are also seen to be in gangs and commit a lot of crime. Generally a negative representation. In the series of Misfits the teenager that was doing community service because of drugs was the black character however, we see in Hollyoaks one of the black characters is a successful police officier which goes against these stereotypes. Indians in the media are shown to be living very strict lives. Religion is a big part of life and strict rules are folllowed.


Class and Status
This can be divided into 3 main categories; upper class, middle class and lower class. Upper class tends to be royalty or very wealthy people. We tend to stereotype the upper class to be very well spoken and have 'the perfect English accent' (usually the newsreader type voice) They are very smartly dressed  in things such as blazers  and items of red. Also they are not usually dressed in what is known as high-street brands. We associate these type of people to live in the country in very large houses, usually mansions. Other things we associate the upper class with are jewels, diamonds, sports such as fox hunting, polo, croquet and people running around after them. Upper class individuals in the media tend to be stuck up, well educated, successful and look down at people, they seem to be the odd one out and stand out in a particular setting (unless its their own) A good representation of the upper class in the media would be the BB1 drama hotel Babylon. The guests staying at the hotel are very wealthy and this can be seen from the way they talk to the way they are dressed. We can also see the hotel is expensive because it is located in London city and the quality of care is very high. Middle class is what the majority of people are. Stereotypically middle class people have a normal job 9-5, 5 days a week. They are married with 2 or 3 kids.  They go on family holidays and do normal kind of things such as going to the cinema, pub and shopping. A good representation of the middle class in the media would be the bbc 1 drama 'My family'. This a a programme about what most people would see as a normal family,  the characters include a husband, a wife and kids. The husband is the person who brings the money into the house and works as a dentist.  The mother is the carer and cooks, cleans and looks after everyone. The children all cause slight issues with the household.  Lower class is people with very little money or people in poverty. A good representation of the lower class would be the channel 4 drama Shameless.