Week 5 - Representations In Media

Representation of Gender :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo7VoFlqexQ

In this first clip of my textual analysis I am analysing how gender is represented. In the first scene you see a man and a woman in scrubs (meaning this scene is in a hospital and the characters are nurses). You see the asian man who has an american accent talk down to a white woman who he says "you're dumped, you were a mistake" sternly to in which she responds to "wait till my father hears about this" which is a very common stereotype about Women - not being strong or independent enough to fight their own battles and also "daddy's little girl" - meaning she's hiding behind her father to do something about it when she tells him thus portraying her as "weak" and "cowardly". The woman then says " you know how protective men can be over their little girls" therefore amplifying the fact that she is playing on the fact that she's relying on her father to sort out the situation" because men are " stronger " and "protective" thus instilling fear into the man knowing he's got to face battling another man and not this woman. Consequently after that scene the woman is then seen shouting on the phone crying hysterically trying to get through to her father whereas before that scene the woman had an emotionless expression on her face trying to not portray any weakness to the male. This is somewhat a common stereotype in women being seen as "emotional" when no - one's there to witness and "stern" when dealing with a situation.

This scene above shows two males in competition with each other in terms of strength, health , fitness and masculinity. This is represented by their body language and speech. You start to see examples of male rivalry when the man in the light blue shirt says "I've played matches with a broken ankle.... and a fractured risk" so the man in the burgundy shirt proceeds to say "I've played 40 minutes with a fractured collarbone" attempting to show off his strength and courageous attitude when it comes to pain and sport - a stereotypical representation of men in conversation. This can be perceived as a negative or positive stereotype of men but its the most common representation. Men are always represented as very masculine and being portrayed as "effeminate" can be regarded as "unmanly" so in the next scene of the two "alpha males" trying to outweigh each other the topic of conversation swiftly moves on two sports - a common stereotype for men to talk about. The man in the burgundy makes fun of the man in the blue for playing lacrosse saying "it's not a sport... its a game ... a girl's game" thus making fun of his masculinity because lacrosse isn't a rough sport and is mostly played by women. However the man fights back by saying "Lacrosse is about smashing each other with sticks whereas rugby is about grabbing each others legs and pulling each others shorts down" therefore making a dig at his sexuality.

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Representation of gender

Elements such as the picture of the Holy Man on the wall of the front room, the costumes and greetings and the disapproval of marriage outside the community are contrasted