Gossip Girl - Sexuality

Gossip Girl is a show that revolves around spoilt teenagers (who turn into young adults as the show progresses) who live in New York's Upper East Side. The show has been dubbed to be over-sexualised and to be a bad representation of women in the media due the women in the show being unfaithful to short-term partners. This is the only major negative portrayal in the show. 

Eric is a recurring character who came out as gay halfway through the first season. His mother disapproved of his choice at first, but soon came around. This was both a negative and positive portrayal of homosexuality, because at first, his mother was ashamed of him. This is a negative representation, because it could make gay members of the audience feel ashamed of who they are. She later told him that she accepts him for who he is and she loves him, which balances out the portrayal to more positive. 

The clip shows Blair talking to a man who is clearly ashamed of his sexuality and is pretending to be straight. Blair threatens to post evidence of his sexuality online, and then Eric comes in. He proudly announces that he's gay, and the man who's ashamed calls him a "faggot". This is an incredibly negative portrayal of sexuality in the show, but Eric doesn't let it phase him. He walks away, and Blair posts the evidence online. The man freaks out, still not admitting to anything.

This is a mostly negative representation of sexuality/homesexuality in the show. There's positive aspects, because Eric is proud of his sexuality and gives the man a chance to admit his secret, but when he retaliates, Eric leaves. The portrayal could be a lot more positive, and I think the show tried to be more positive with the sexuality, but it does give off a negative vibe. It should promote being gay better instead of having too many characters being ashamed of it.

New Girl - Race

New Girl is a sitcom based around four people who live in an apartment together - Jess, Nick, Schmidt and Winston. Winson is African-American, and is the only person from this race in the show. This is not a negative representation of race, though, because the show also has a character called Cece who is Indian, and Schmidt who is Jewish. The show's purpose is not to bring together different races and religions, but the audience can tell that the cast has been carefully selected.

It can be said that the stereotype of an African-American man is that he enjoys sport (e.g. basketball, soccer), he can attract women easily, and he has a big appetite. Winston's character, however, doesn't have a lot of luck with women, as we can see in the clip where he's trying to talk to a girl, and the food stereotype never really comes into the show. Winston used to be a basketball player in another country, but returned to the U.S. after a while. He fits the main stereotype of loving sport, but that's about it. There's not a lot said about Winston's race, and the stereotypes that come from this aren't major at all.

This is a very positive representation of African-Americans. The show has tried to prove the point that racial stereotypes shouldn't amount to anything. It could be said that his lack of African-American stereotypes brings more humour to the show, and I agree with this to a certain extent, but the show hasn't tried to stick to the stereotypes really, so overall, a positive representation of African Americans has been portrayed in New Girl.

Letters To Juliet - Age

Letters To Juliet is a 2010 romance film about a journalist who finds an old love letter about a man she shouldn't be in love with. This journalist tracks down this woman, and together with her and her grandson, they search for the man she wrote about in her letter. The young journalist is fascinated by the letter she found, and when she meets the woman behind it, I feel that she's captivated by her still fond love for this man, and she see's the older woman as a wise person. That is the first representation regarding age in the film; the young woman find's the older woman very wise and is interested in everything she has to say.

When the older woman is close to being reunited with her old lover, she almost backs out, and this makes me think that she feels like she did all those years ago. She's nervous to see this man for this first time in a long time, and she acts like he's her first love, like a teenager again. This is a positive representation of age - it's showing us that you can love like you're young, even if you're not young.

The whole film's representation of age is positive overall. The young journalist is so interested in the woman as a whole, and she writes about her and produces a successful newspaper article based on her. The older woman is, in the end, reunited with her old flame which tells the audience that age doesn't matter when it comes to love - anything could happen. The film has a positive message about it, which makes the film so much better.

Supernatural - Gender

This is a clip from the show "Supernatural", about two brothers called Sam and Dean who go hunting for supernatural beings. The woman we can see in the clip is called Jo, and is the young daughter of one of Sam and Dean's friends. She aspires to be a hunter, but her mother is against it. This is already an indication of gender inequality. The mother has no issue with Sam and Dean being hunters, but she won't let her daughter anywhere near the supernatural world. 

In the clip, we can see Dean confronting Jo about her not being able to hunt. Dean agrees with her mother which angers Jo. The clip (a short montage) then cuts to Sam beating up Jo, and her being tied up and becoming a damsel in distress. She becomes helpless and feeble. This is how females are often represented in TV shows - inferior to males, and in need of help. 

This is a negative, unequal representation of females in the media. This makes females appear helpless in a sort of situation against a man. This clip certainly makes men superior to women because Dean is assuming Jo can't handle hunting like he and Sam, and because Jo is losing in a fight between her and Sam. This is a common representation of females in the media, and I disagree with it. Women should be treated equally, and should not be seen as the two things they're usually seen as in the media - either a sexualised woman or a damsel in distress. 

Radford Family - Class

This newspaper article is about a family made up of two parents and 16 children (with the seventeenth on the way). Sue Radford has had a baby with her husband Noel Radford every 17 months for the past 24 years. They're said to be "thrilled" to be expecting yet another baby. Sue first became pregnant with their first child together at the age of 14, and they were determined to keep the baby. After their second baby, they pledged to have even more, and that's exactly what they did.

The couple own a bakery together and both work very hard. They live in a former children's home and use a minibus as a car. They're a working class family. I think this family is a positive representation of a working class family because the parents are loving of all of their children, and the fact they want even more children goes to show how family-orientated they are. Their way of life is often scrutinised by the press and general public, but the family is clearly loving of one another - you can even tell just by looking at the photographs - so it doesn't seem to matter to the family what other's think.

Click here to view the article.