Representation and Regulation- Exam practice

Family has more stereotypes than Eastenders as it representations are very limited compared to the diverse range of representations seen in Eastenders. Mostly represented in Family is gender; men through the father, Peter, and women through the mother, Lois. Men are represented as loving gadgets like cool cars, and never listening to their wives which are a dominant representation of men. Women are represented as practical as Lois asks if they can afford the expensive car. She is also represented as a mother who is always tired and worn out as she is resting on the sofa, and the baby begins to cry (though it can talk) for her attention. Women are also represented as a sex object as on the news, the presenter was shown just as her legs, not her body or face. Interestingly, her opinions are voiced even though it’s limited to 2 taps of her shoe for yes and one for no.

This contrasts with Eastenders where there are a range of representations of different groups. Firstly women are presented as chatty and nagging signified by a character nagging her husband and another woman nagging a teen for his behaviour. Women are also represented as always being concerned with love as one character is really excited to go on a webdate with someone else.

There are alternative representations of men, such as being sad and emotional, as one character grevies his child, and other men being concerend about him and caring towards him.

Unlike usual, ethinic minorties are represented as caring and concerened about their communitity, which is an alternative representation in a post 9/11 era.

From this episode, the most stereotyped group are teenagers. They are seen as angry aggressive, teasing and troublesome signified by one character getting angry from being teased by another. This stereotype of teens is reinforced by the way another teen is dressed. While the whole family is eating at the tabele, one is wearing a cap, hoodie and tracksuit bottoms.This character always dresses like this, reinforcing negative and typical expectations of teens.

As a result, Family Guy has a lot more stereotypes than Eastenders because it uses stereotypes as a way of creating humour. Audience would be able to identify with these comic characters because they are the extremes of what they recognise in their own lives. The fact that it's an american show again suggests why there are extremes because their crude and offencive humour involves a lot of stereotyping.

Most of the groups in Eastenders are represented fairly, as not all groups are represented in stereotypical ways such as men being emotional and caring.Though there is less stereotyping, there seems to be some of women and teens and questions if the institution still has hegemonic values as the men are represented fairly where women and teens are not.