Gender in TV Drama

Gender in TV Drama

Gender is represented in many ways throughout media, but with the most variety is shown through Television

Stereotypes

There are a variety of gender stereotypes between males and females; this is used to give a certain element to add in TV dramas. For example, one of the most commonly used gender stereotypes is the male being more dominate than the woman, in TV this is shown as the male being either an athletic man or a wealthy business man and the female is used for their looks and their appeal to the male. In most TV dramas it shows the woman being the weaker gender compared to the male and due to this the female character ends up either falling in love with the male character. It is rare occasion that the women would be the powerful figure in TV Drama’s. This links with Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze, as the females in most TV Dramas are used for an erotic object for the male character or even the male audience to look at.

Camera angles are used to show Gender, for example the High Angle shot is mainly used in scene which a female is in to show her lack of power and vulnerability as a female. Another example of using camera angles to show gender is the Low angle shot; this angled shot is mainly used when a male character is in a scene to show his power to the audience who are watching the drama. 

Age is represented within disability. For example, in TV dramas when a child is disabled, they are normally physically disabled and because of this, they are then bullied because of this disability and this makes the audience sympathies towards this disabled child. Social class and status is represented within disability as the working class or middle class workers in TV dramas are more commonly injured, comparing to higher class workers. For example, in Downton Abbey there is only one character who is physically disabled who is Bates, but this Disability was because of the war, not because of his work or being born disabled such as a common working class character.