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1. Gender in TV Dramas
By Rhia Assi

2. Gender stereotypes and their
countertypes
• Gender Roles- Expressive roles tend to be
given to females; being a housewife
- Instrumental roles tend to be given to men,
being the provider of the family.
• Men being inferior to Women.
• Women being seen as sexual objects- male
gaze.

3. Camera Shots
• Camera Shots can be used to show gender roles
to reinforce typical stereotypes and
countertypes. They can do this through, e.g.
emphasising the mans height compared to a
women's, this will make the man seem more
inferior to women, a typical stereotype. This
could also show that the women easy easily
influenced by the man and the man has a certain
power over women.
• They could also show the role difference men
and women typically have by emphasising a
women have a expressive role by using an
establishing shot to show they are in the kitchen
(when they are).

4. Editing
• Editing can be used to show the frailness and
unstable and indecisive ways of women by
using jump cut, creating the sudden
unsteadiness women can create.
• Jump cuts can also be used to show men are
inferior and better than women as they show
they can show they work very quickly and
efficiently.

5. Sound
• Sound can represent gender in TV drama by emphasising
tone of voice for example, making a man voice seem strong
and confidence opposed to a women's sounding soft and
fragile making the man again seem dominant and inferior. It
can also be used to represent women to be sexual objects
by using diegetic sound to make women sound
promiscuous.
• Also using a soundtrack they can separate gender into the
typical stereotypes by allocating set instrumentals or songs
to a part where certain characters are shown; men could
have a strong confident sound were as sometime women
have love songs or instrumentals that suggest the idea of
women being fragile and delicate like the music.

6. Mise-en scene
• Mise-en scene in TV dramas can show
typical stereotypes as it can show women as
being a sexual object through what they
wear; revealing costumes. It can also be
shown through background colours of when
characters are shown, sometimes when
women are shown they are seen with what
is thought to be ‘girly’ colours i.e. pink in
contrast to when males are shown, having
backgrounds that are darker and thought to
be more boisterous. This could be purposely
done because of gender and colour
stereotypes but also it could help reinforce
the hierarchy men have as darker colours
are thought to be more strong hence
reinforcing a mans stereotypical personality.
In Scandal Olivia is normally
surrounded by dark colours
emphasising her role within
the TV drama as a strong,
independent character,
counteracting the stereotype.

7. Ethnicity
• Gender stereotypes are very
strong within ethnicity. In
certain ethnic groups there are
specific stereotypes for men
and women that in some terms
define them. Most Arab Islamic
women have the stereotype of
wearing a hijab as it is part of
their religion however now it
has become a stereotype that
defines them and what most
people associate them with.
In the Homeland series
women wore the hijab as they
are expected to.

8. Sexuality
• In terms of sexuality and gender in drama, for men and
women it differs with homosexuality of men and women
holding several different stereotypes hence being viewed
and represented differently. E.g for men there is
stereotypes that they will all die of HIV/Aids. All gay men
are feminine whereas most gay women are butch unless
they are “lipstick lesbians”- shown by dressing very girly
however still homosexual opposed to the typical stereotype
of them dressing like boys would.
• In terms of being bisexual, typically in TV drama men who
are bisexual may be seen as weird or strange whereas
women that are bisexual sometimes are seen to be “hot”
and men are more attracted to them.