Gender - Stereotypes. (Prezi)

Class and Status Stereotype

In the media, Stereotypes (Labelling, which involves a process of categorising an individual or group) are targeted at Class and Status. Class is a social stratum where members share certain economic, social or cultural characteristics. These classes are: The working class, Middle class and Upper class. Status on the other hand is different. Status is the position or rank of someone compared to others in a group or organisation. The difference between these is Class is made into three separate groups of people in society and Status is the role some one has in the selected group.

The stereotypes shown about Class vary between the three groups. In the media, the working class are shown as:

• Men are lazy, foolish selfish and childish. - Argued by Richard Butsh
• The women are physically out of control - fat, loud, overly sexual and dressed in a 'loud' and inappropriate clothing. This is manly shown in television sitcoms, which is shown by Pepi Leistyna in his documentary 'Class Dismissed: How TV frames the working class.' 
• Racist.
• Shown as failures.
• Complete more physical/unpleasant jobs than anyone else.
• Alcoholics
• Extreme fans of football. 

The working class are also referred to 'Blue collar', or 'Low - wage workers with out college education, who also struggle in society economically.' 

The middle class are shown as: 

• Financially stable family
• Nuclear family
• Children go to university
• Able to go on vacation once in awhile
• Do not entirely depend on government for money
• Have some extra money on the side
• Works white collar jobs e.g. Doctors or Office workers
• Often follow in their parents foot steps to maintain some sort of professional job.

The middle class are also referred to as the 'White collar workers'.

The upper class are shown as: 

• Work in high paid jobs.
• Wealthy and powerful
• Posh
• Well mannered 
• Private schools and expensive universities for their children
• Own big businesses to live off the investments
• Tend to be quite arrogant 
• Have achieved the 'American dream'.
• Well dressed
• Have their own personal clubs.

In the media, the Status is is shown in two different groups. These are also stereotyped. These are:

High status:

• Show a lot of pride.
• Show a lot of anger.
• 
  

Class and status.

Eastenders clip. - Homework 10th October.

My initial thoughts:
During the Eastenders clip, there is a representation of age. This is through Patrick shown as the older man of the table, the teenage girl known as Chelsea and the adult Denise. During this clip, Patrick is shown to not be in a stereotypical view of old people as being 'frail, always grumpy, rather be alone.' instead he is shown to be a story teller about his past of being a first immigrant and how it was to be nearly the only black person in the country, this conversations leads onto the 'teddy boys'. Another opinion that can be taken from Patricks actions is the fact that he is very 'upbeat' and a 'partying' person. This is revealed when he speaks of the 'blues clubs'. This is where there would be 'partying and music and dancing, down in a basement somewhere in the town'. With his cheerfulness shown when he speaks of this, this clip represents the age in another view in the media unlike other stereotypical ways. Later during the clip, he is also shown to complete an 'hand action' when he's over joyed. This represents that his teenage attitude still continues but just in a more mature way. Moving on from this, the younger teenager is shown in a different light. This teenage girl called Chelsea unlike Patrick IS shown in a stereotypical way, as she is represented to show that young people are more concerned about their weight than anything else. This is revealed when the topic of 'fat tuesday' is presented. When it comes around to her opinion of this eventful day, she responds with the comment 'Or fattening tuesday'. This comment alone reveals that the young teenager has a negative thought upon such a 'cheery' and 'specific event' in which the family would get involved with because she does not want to gain weight. All teenagers are seen through out the media to want to keep a thin figure and stay skinny. This leads onto the view of Adults as the mother replied. The mother Denise in this clip is shown in a stereotypical view of always being 'concerned.' The point when she is shown to be a 'concerning adult' is when she responds to her daughters comment with the response 'For once, give ya' self a break will ya'.' this shows that unlike teenagers, she is not bothered with having to be a 'specific weight' to be 'perfect' and that she is more concerned with keeping her daughter healthy. Another main point which her age is represented through is when the mother does not know anything in personality or thinking ways as her daughter does. This is shown when she responds to Chelsea asking her question about Patricks roots with 'Ah, Chelsea's taking an interest in something. How much have you had to drink Chels?'. This reveals that with the age differences, the adults expect each other to only be the ones interested in family hierarchy, instead of the younger teenagers including their own sons and daughters asking questions and actually showing interest.

Camera shots:
During the first shot, an arc shot was used. This represented age in the circumstance that even though there was no age restriction as everyone at the table was from mixed age groups, the camera was able to move while keeping the focus on Patrick through out the few minutes of his 'story telling'. This camera shot was able to reveal that through out the story telling, the older person had a higher 'authority' and enjoyed being the 'centre of attention' while telling a story like the stereotypical old person would do, in the media. This shot was then lead into an action shot to reveal that there was not separation of age groups as they were all 'mingled' in together.

Another shot used which represented age was the medium close up shot. This was used when the comment 'Or fattening tuesday' was said. By using the medium close up shot for when this was spoken, the audience was able to get a closer view on her own appearance to link in with why her comment about the fat tuesday was mentioned. This shot gave the audience the appearance of a stereotypical teenager as well with the make up she wore, the jewellery that was being worn e.g. her earrings and the fact that she had a slender face and neck, resembling that she was indeed already skinny. This shot can  was then be able to be moved in a quick shot reverse shot between her, her sister and mum. This is when the differences in the age representation is shown. 

With the shot reverse shot between the three females about this one comment. An action shot was briefly used to reveal her mother's reaction which can show the differences between how their minds work differently with the age categories. With this action shot, Denise the mother was shown to keep a more stern and upright figure as her face seemed to frown with her response, this camera shot was able to show the image of concern of an adult when they reacted towards the daughters comment, it also revealed that the 'adult women' seemed to be more concerned than the 'adult man' in this concern. 

Another action shot was briefly used after to once again represent the age differences. This action shot was able to display the shock on the faces of the adults but also the youngest girl, when Chelsea the teenager decided to ask Patrick about his life. By using the action shot, the audience was able to interpret that the family was not used to a 'teenage girl' being interested in something family wise unlike the other 'teenagers' shown in media clips of not wanting any relation with the family. This shot was used for the purpose of capturing the important confusion and emotions of the mother and younger sister as they both seem to show shock as their minds from different age categories do not understand Chelsea's.  

The last shot which really stood out against most of them, would be the medium shot of Patrick as he completed his 'hand action'. By using this shot, the audience were able to view that Patrick was not a stereotypical 'fragile' old man, but that he was a lively man that didn't let his age in body get in the way of his liveliness.  The topic in discussion before he done this lively hand action was about girls, this also shows that he was happy to admit how cheeky he was with girls then but how he still is. This shows that not all old people are the same in stereotypical ways. This camera shot was able to capture how
Patrick defines 'liveliness' and 'happiness' that old people are not shown in, throughout the media.

Editing:

During this Eastenders clip, the editing was used to snippet each clip down shorter. This was also used to base Patrick in most of the clips, to either reveal his reactions or comments among the conversations that the whole family are having. Age is represented through editing because they reveal him as being the centre of attention. This shows a stereotypical view on old people through out the media because they are always the more emotional people who like the attention. This editing also goes against that stereotypical view because instead of creating the close up shots on his face when he is being serious, they are always linked into his emotions when he is extremely happy and shows a 'younger persons' actions.

Sound:

During the whole of this clip, a synchronous sound is played. This is the classical music played faintly in the background. By using a synchronous sound of classical music, Patricks house represents the age with the selected musical choice. The classical music shows the stereotypical view of that old people enjoy the quieter more calm sound of instruments playing than something quick and upbeat. The voices of the characters are all asynchronous sounds. During this clip the older person Patrick, has a stereotypical old croaky voice for an 'old man' which can be related to a lot of smoking or drinking. The youngest girl had a very shy and innocent voice unlike the teenage girl who has a very 'snobby' and 'sarcastic' voice as she moans about the 'fattening tuesday'. The adults voices are also shown to sound 'concerned' and 'deeper' compared to the two younger girls.

Mise-en-scène:
Through the clip, the mise-en-scène of the background reveals that it is Patrick's house. This is because the house is shown to have the old 1958's wallpaper but also furniture. Age is represented through this because it reveals that old people like Patrick, rather keep their own houses in the fashion they had when they was younger instead of the more modern look that teenagers would go for. The other way age is represented is through the clothes that they wear.
Patrick: (Old Person)
Patrick is shown to be wearing a buttoned up shirt which is open at the top but also a waistcoat. He's kept his clothing too more neutral colours. The media have shown old people to always wear old dated textured clothing which are still formal but worn as every-day clothing. Even in this clip, Patrick is shown to be wearing that style.

Denise and Lucas: (Adults)
Denise and Lucas are been shown to wear less revealing clothes that are mostly black or grey. They are shown to be tidy and wearing less 'in your face' clothing but have a more basic style. In all media clips, including this clip, adults are shown to wear less revealing clothes but also dress smartly. This age representation is shown through how 'mature' their clothes are.

Chelsea: (Teenager)
Chelsea in this clip is shown to be wearing a blue, bright coloured top. She is also shown to wear jewellery which is her earrings but also make-up. Teenagers in the media, like this clip are always shown to be wearing bright colours but also makeup. Their clothes are usually shown to be more revealing and more patterned than what adults would wear. This age representation is shown through how more effort the teenage girl has put in to get a 'perfect' outfit and makeup.

Libby:
Libby is the youngest character on the table. Through the clip, the youngest girl is shown to be wearing a covered up grey jumper, her hair tied up and glasses. The age represented in this clip is that she is very young. This is because she seems to not be very worried about her own clothing or the way she looks like a teenager was, but she does not dress in an extremely smart way like the adults too.

Media Notes.

The media is called a media text. E.g. Poster, Video, Film, Books and T.V. programmes. In the media, there are two different groups of people. The first group is the Producers, these are the people who create the media text. The second group is the Consumers, these are the people who use the media. The Gateway keeper, is in control of what is shown and revealed through the media and what is not.

Communication Theory:
In the media, there are three different ways in which the Audience would read the media placed in front of them. These ways are;

• Hypodermic needle - The audience are known to be passive as they consume what the media gives out and accept this. 

• Uses and gratifications - The audience choose what they would like to consume from the media. This audience are made up of individuals who would consume the text in different ways for different reasons. The following functions used for this are; 

- Diversion: Escape from reality of everyday life and problems. 

- Personal relationship: Relate emotions and problems with the action shown on the t.v. e.g. Soap operas. 

- Personal Identity: Comparing one's own existence with what they see on the media. 

- Surveillance: Finding out about the action going on around the world. - Voyeurism.

• Two step flow - The audience would choose an active Opinion Leader who they would believe as telling the 'truth' to interpret the media for them. 

Reception theory:

In the 1970's, Stuart Hall proposed the theory of Encoding and Decoding alongside the theory of Mode of address.

- Encoding: Placing a message inside of the text transmitted in the media.

- Decoding: Processing the text to work out the message.

- Mode of Address: The way the 'text' speaks to the audience. E.g. News readers are formal and direct while constantly looking at the camera 'to the audience'. This is all to do with the construction using the number of codes and technical codes. 

The Encoders are known to be the Producers. The text the producer chooses, is encoded into the media before being transmitted to the audience. After this text is transmitted to the audience to the audience, the audience are expected to decode the text to then realise what the media is trying to say. If the producer positions the audience and creates a certain amount of agreement of what the message is, this is known to be a preferred reading. -

The method the Producers use is:
-Create the message.
-En-code. 
-Transmits.
-Receiver receives it.
-Receiver decodes it. 

This preferred reading does not come out correctly all the time. Sometimes the audience can interpret the wrong reading of this message. This then leads to the fact that the preferred reading is not preferred anymore. The way these interpretations can go wrong is; 

- Oppositional reading: The audience create a conscious rejection as they do not agree with the producer's message or setting. 

- Negotiated reading: The audience understands the meaning in the text, but partly rejects this as there is no real relation between the message and the individual.

- Aberrant reading: When someone misreads or misunderstands the messages the producers are trying to betray. 

Semiology:
Semiology also known as Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols. This is divided into three branches.

• Semantics - The semantics is the study of the meaning of the language provided in the media. Advertisers use certain words that have no real meaning at all, to convey certain impressions.

• Syntactics  - The syntactics deals with the formal properties of languages and systems of symbols and the relationships of signs to each other.

• Pragmatics - The pragmatics deals with the causal and other relations between words, expressions, or symbols and their users.

The Hustle.

The Hustle Homework

Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of gender using the following: 
. Camera shots - angles, movement and composition
. Editing
. Sound
. Mise en scène




The representation of gender means how are men and women are typically represented or portrayed in the media. In this case, how men and women are typically portrayed in this 5 minute clip.

To begin the clip, a master shot was used. During this master shot that lasted a few seconds, the male worker is shown to be showing power by striding while the a female customer approaches from the staircase. This then lead into a medium close up shot of the female customer. The Mise-en-scène of this shot was based on the women's appearance. The women's appearance was shown to be from a higher class, even though this is not important, the women was shown in a stereotypical view. This stereotypical view was the fact that she had shown a lot of skin with perfect hair and makeup. Women are always shown in this light in media.

After these selected shots, the Dolly movement was used to move away from this 'perfect' women before being led into a Track movement to reveal the old women which is another customer and the higher status man. Before finally turning into a action shot. Unlike the higher class women who is shown in a young women's stereotypical view the old women which is the other customer is shown to be in a lower class stereotypical look for a women. The Mise-en-scène reveals that the older women is from a lower class status due to the less expensive clothes she is shown to be wearing but also through a stereotypical view the media always show older women as. This is by showing them to be messy and untidy with their hair as they are not as perfect as younger women but also being more clothed and less skin being shown. After the contrast between ages in women are shown, there is shown to be a contrast of power between genders. This is revealed through the conversation about the prices of dresses when the camera shot swaps into a high shot looking over the males shoulder down onto the older women. This shot gives the audience the view of what a man in the media will see when looking down on those with less power and strength. This quickly goes into a shot, reverse shot to give the audience a clearer view of the Bread winner man talking to the women from a lower class status. These shot, reverse shots continue while the man is shown to fake sympathy for the older women as men in media stereotypically do not 'show emotion'. 

When the older women is shown to leave, a cut in shot was used upon the younger women's, once again 'perfect hand' pushing the dresses apart. This is led by a camera pan from hand to face. Even though an extreme close up is used for a few seconds on her face, her emotion is shown to show smugness against the lower class women. This also proves another stereotypical view upon younger women being 'stuck up' and 'snobby' to those from a lower class.

During the second scene, a diegetic sound is played of the women moaning 'Oh yes' before being followed by a pan shot from her feet up to her head. The sound in this clip but also the pan shot which reveals her dress represents the stereotypical view of younger women being 'Sex objects'. This shot reveals the view of a women being obsessed with revealing skin while being slender but also satisfying her craving for lust. The sound effect was only used for the craving of her lust and success but also the dress to reveal her slender body. Her crave for shopping is also shown when she makes a simple noise before agreeing to buying the expensive dress.

On the next scene, the men are again also shown in a stereotypical view. This view is that men have a lot of money from being the bread winner of the family but also belong to a men only club. The Mise-en-scène of this scene reveals the men being dressed smartly in suits while playing pool, smoking cigars  while also in a old fashioned yet expensive building with a built in bar. They are also all shown to be drinking mature whiskey in specialised whisky glasses. Through out the whole scene, the two men are shown to be talking about more mature subjects than what an everyday man would talk about. The editing move was used at the end of this clip, when the older man would point a non - continuity shot was used.

When the editing technique was used, the next scene was used to show yet another stereotypical view. This stereotypical view was based upon a women's capability to control her emotions. The action shot first used revealed the women spinning around and shouting while the male stereotypically stands there calm and shows that he can control his emotions and keep calm in this serious situation. The close up shot used on her bag was then used to show the audience closely that the stuff in the bag was being thrown about to give a more dramatic atmosphere. After a few shot, reverse shot of the action and the close up of the bag, a close up shot was then used based on the male's face to continue his stereotypical emotion of not being bothered.

After this dramatic scene, the stereotypical view was still used when a pan movement was used to follow the female as she becomes more stressed and starts ripping the dresses around the rails looking for her ring. A hand held camera movement was also used to give the audience a more realistic view as the women continues pulling everything apart while the man starts to become more worried about the mess. This movement continued through out the scene as the worker finally manages to get her to stop on condition that he will look for the ring himself. This was then made complete when she offered a huge sum of money for the finding of her ring.

After this scene, another stereotypical scene was used and influenced by the Mise-en-scène. This scene was based upon on the man being able to 'fix' anything broken. This scene was started by an action shot as the man was shown to be speaking on the phone to an unknown person while he was 'fixing' the system alarm. This was interrupted by a quick cut in shot before being shown as the extreme close up shot of the alarm when the man cuts the wrong wire. This can be interpreted as another stereotypical view of how men cannot multi-task.

To create more of a consistent flow, the editing move was used by creating the shot to fast speed past the wall and through the clothes onto the workers face as he searches for the ring. A close up shot was used to show how serious his face is when he searches for the ring. His search is interrupted when a black dress falls down, the tilt movement was used to let the viewers get a close observation on the the young mans clothes but also the face as he seems to keep a 'trendy' hairstyle while chewing gum. This reveals that young men are shown in the media to be careless and carefree about everything and anything. After this shot the close up shot was placed back on the worker as he left the dress and continued to try and search for the ring. A slide edit was then used to continue the non - continuity of the clips.

After the slide edit was used, the Mise-en-scène shown the mens club again as this time they are all socialising while one of the other members is seen to reading the newspaper. In the background a butler is clearly seen to be waiting for orders from those waiting on him. This scene is only shown quickly before another slide edit is used horizontally onto a close up shot. 

After the horizontal slide edit, there is shown to be a close up shot of the young mans hand as he is seen to reveal the 'lost' ring. This is then led by a pan movement of his arm as he leans down and pretends to retrieve the 'lost' ring from the floor by the worker. He then continues his acting in front of the worker as he places the ring near his face and comments about the ring. By showing this, the scene reveals the stereotypical view of men being sly and smart as they can easily trick anyone else into a little game they create to earn things. The conversations between the two men then continues for awhile as the man continues being extremely sly. 

Near the end of the clip, after the man has managed to trick the worker into giving him the money. A pan shot was used briefly to follow the young man into the cafe. The Mise-en-scène reveals the place to be more run down and not a place a business man will be seen. A close up shot was then used to show this young girls face talking on the phone as she smirks when she notices this young sly man. The clip ended on the sly moves of both of the young people with the stereotypical view of being sly and sneaky.