Representations

                                                                 Representation 

Class: Working class children are being called poor and underachievers by the media who then goes onto saying that they need longer school hours and incentives to turn up in the first place. It then goes onto saying that people who have free school meals need to attend 'outstanding' rated schools in order to achieve five good GCSE results. This shows that the media is assuming children whose family has less income are less intelligent than middle class children. The newspaper article is using stereotypes to show that all poor children are not smart enough to achieve good results without hand outs.




Gender: Women are portrayed as less intelligent than men in many aspects of the media such as newspapers or film and television shows. One example of this is Penny from the Big Bang Theory. Penny does not understand any of the scientific terms that the mains scientists use but a lot of the time the joke is that they are using words that no one understands. Even though we do not understand the terms either we all think of Penny as the dumb blonde just because of her appearance. By casting a blonde as Penny we stereotype her as the typical dumb blonde and we all laugh at her when the men pick on her. This is a negative view that shows that women are not intelligent enough to understand science and that they only care about fashion. Women are shown as mean and snobby towards each other in the film Mean Girls. Women are shown as packs of stereotypes that do not get along with the other stereotypes and they are not allowed to do anything that they want apart from what others expect from them.

Age: Young people are shown in a negative light in the media because they are easy targets by older people. One example of the way young people are shown on television is Catherine Tate's Lauren sketch where she is shown to be rude and always questioning her authority figures which winds them up. This is a typical view on younger people that could hurt younger peoples feelings and make them withdrawn from older people who they could talk to and relate to. The show Skins shows young people as reckless who go around smoking doing drugs and being promiscuous. This shows young people as negative.

Race: There is a stereotype that is commonly believed that Asian people are more intelligent than other races. This is commonly shown in television shows such as Family Guy or Glee. In Family Guy Peter Griffin is shown during a maths exam to get a Asian child and sit him on his desk to give him the answers that he needs to pass the exam. In Glee Mike Chang is made to quit the club that he loves because he got an 'Asian F ' which is anything below an A plus. This shows that the media pushes this idea on us so we believe it.  This is a positive stereotype if it is true and you are Asian but not if it is being mocked like in Family Guy.

Sexuality: Glee shows a positive side to being homosexual by having numerous characters that are gay or lesbian and focusing on their relationships. But it could be seen as negative when Santana came out as a lesbian to her mum who then kicked her out of the house. This could put people off of telling their parents what sexuality they are and they feel that they could not be themselves around those they love.