Stereotype Theory

Medhurst (1955) - Stereotypes can be seen as a type of media shorthand that provides an easy pout of contact when the text needs to communicate quickly with the audience.

Richard Dyer - Suggests that stereotypes are always about power. By using stereotypes, we are expressing "an agreement about a social group, as if that agreement rose independently of the stereotype. Yet for the most part it is from the stereotype that we got our ideas about social groups". Stereotyping involves a number of processes.

Traditional stereotypes
Stereotype examples in TV: Skins
Stereotype examples in movie: Adulthood

Counter types
Traditional stereotypes challenged in TV: Buffy the vampire slayer
Traditional stereotypes challenged in movie: Kick Ass

Hybrids
Mixture of stereotypes and counter types in TV: Top boy
Mixture of stereotypes and counter types in movie: Bend it like Beckham

Inbetweeners clip

• This British sitcom is most likely to be written and produced by British men in their 30's/40's. I assume this mainly because the 4 main characters are guys and it is easier for people to write for their own gender. Another reason for this, is the show is based on a very male centered society and the explicit concepts represented stereo-typically are what males have more knowledge in. 
• English actors in their 20's are represented as young teenagers round about 17 years old that are in college. They are representing the British youth culture.
• They are represented through clothing, they wear a sixth form uniform and language, they use lots of bad and inappropriate language and the storyline is very teen centred as it is about underage drinking and bunking off college. These representations can vary on a particular person and where they are from. For example an american audience probably won't be able to relate to these since they don't always have uniform in schools.
• This particular representation was selected because from a stereotypical view, these are the things a British audience can mostly relate to on British show. An alternative representation of the British youth culture could have been the pompous posh boarding school view that the Americans would most likely expect. This shows that your nationality can influence your ideas of media representation.

Hegemony and Marxism

Marxism 

• Founded by two german theorists Marx and Engels, who developed a political theory arguing that dominant ideology of society was a problem
• Marxism is about battle of social classes
• Dominant ideology - a set of ideas accepted and agreed by most people in society
• In most European and Western countries dominant ideology is know as capitalism
• Marxist says the system works so the rich get richer whilst the poor get poorer. 
• Only ruling class gain from capitalist society.
• System cannot be changed, only destroyed (communism)
• Ruing class still dominate society, they profit from dominant ideology being capitalism.
• Countries that did break away from capitalism: China, Cuba, Russia, Vietnam, Laos

Hegemony

• Antonio Gramsci founded theory of Hegemony, the process by which the dominant ideology organises society and uses culture to do this
• Hegemony refers to leadership, dominance and influence ruling class has over others
• Gramsci believed that newspapers could be used to promote the viewpoints of the ruling class and middle class and that those perspective would all be read and accepted by society
• Hegemony is shown in media through language and representation e.g. references to 'our government' or 'our foreign policy' implies unity using personal pronouns
• Another example of hegemony - popular culture creates money for producers and nothing for consumers thus working class remain entertained whilst ruling classes grow even richer
• Control of the media can influenced things such as what shows get aired or canceled and the degree to which a television station covers or does not cover certain news stories

What does it mean to be british?

Stereotypes  

Scotland: They all have ginger hair, white skin and freckles.

               The men all wear skirts

               They hate the english 

               They all play bagpipes

               They're racist

Northern Ireland: Drink a lot

                           They're all farmers

                           Fight a lot

                           Have huge poor families 

Wales: They lay with sheep

           Brawn and aggressive

           Dislike being mistaken for english

           Wiccan

           Drink a lot

West country: Uneducated farmers

                       Green hills 

                       Inbred

                       Love cider

Home counties (including London): Middle class

                                                    Full of tourists

                                                    Rude snobs

                                                    Slutty girls 

                                                    

North east (Newcastle,Middleborough): Lots of bright orange makeup

                                                          Not intelligent 

                                                          Drink a lot

                                                               

North west (Liverpool,Manchester): Full of criminals

                                                     Racist

                                                     Football fans 

                                                     Good bands

Midlands (Nottingham,Birmingham): Dull and boring

                                                      A bit thick

                                                      Bad accents

                                                      Chavs

                                                      Youngsters are bad

Britain overall: Tea drinkers, Cultured, Posh, Fish&Chips, Curry, Multicultural, Royal family, Rain, Warm beer, Talk like the queen, Bad teeth, Love to queue