6 sexuality representation dp

1. The next 3 weeks:
•Exam: 22
nd
May
•This week:
•Finish off evaluations for c/w
•Full mock practice on Friday
•Next week:
•Finish off TV Drama and representation
•Week beg 4
th
May:
•Revise Music industry
•Study support on Thursdays

2. Do Now! What do the following
celebrities have in common?

3. Representation In TV Drama
Learning Objective:
Develop understanding of
representations of sexuality

4. Stereotypes of Homosexuality
•Sensitively list some of the stereotypes of
homosexual men and women?
•Where do we get these stereotypes from?

5. Homosexual stereotypes
Men Women
Appearance very important (fashion)Fashion
Spread HIV – sexually promiscuous
(or active)
Sexuality less obvious?
Metrosexual (feminine) Butch – masculine?
Flamboyant – fey (exaggerated,
affected)
Dike
In relationship – one dominant, one
subservient

6. Class notes
•Men acting feminine – metro-sexual (care
about appearance), voice, mannerisms,
submissive behaviour, chatty/gossipy,
promiscuous – “camp”, effeminate,
emasculated
•Lesbians – short hair, tom-boys, go to gym
= traditional male stereotypes

7. Key ideas on sexuality
•The Heterosexual vs homosexual conflict.
•The ‘coming out’ storyline involving repressed
sexuality.
•Sexual ambiguity of characters- the metrosexual.
•The blurring of boundaries between ‘traditional’
masculine and feminine gender stereotypes and
sexuality stereotypes?

8. Sexuality in TV Drama
•Homosexual characters in TV drama have often been
portrayed in very stereotypical ways.
•Task: Can you name any homosexual characters from mainstream drama?
What about soap operas?
•There is a history of gay characters in soaps starting from the 1980’s. These
characters have often caused shock headlines and moral panic in the
newspapers and other media.
•Moral panic = the creation of fear around a specific group of society through
negative representation.

•Soaps often feature gay characters as a stock types now.

9. Homosexuality in TV Drama
•What percentage of the population are gay? Is this accurately
reflected on TV?
•The UK certainly has an affection for ‘camp’ gay men on
mainstream TV. (Graham Norton, Alan Carr, Paul O’Grady).
•With gay characters in TV drama much has often been made of
their homosexuality, it is very much a defining aspect of their
characterisation rather than that they are just a character who
happens to be attracted to the same sex.
•Often plots focus on the attitudes of hetrosexual characters
and their coming to terms with a gay character’s sexuality.

10. •How do the technical aspects make meaning
with regards to the representation of
sexuality from the clip?

11. Christian and Syed
•http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=NVndnDk4Le4
•How do they conform to or subvert from
homosexual stereotypes?

12. Christian and Syed

13. Coronation Street:
Sophie and Sian’s hen night
•Watch the clip and make notes in groups
–Cinematography
–Editing
–Sound
–Mise-en-scene
•https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b95TYvxMx8g
•Write an answer to the following question:
–How do the technical aspects construct the
representation of sexuality in the extract?

14. Task
•Watch the clips of gay characters in Shameless, Skins
and The Wire.
•Make notes on the following, these are the key areas
to consider when analysing representations of
homosexuality:
-Is their sexuality important to their character construction?
-Is it immediately obvious that the character is gay?
-Is the representation stereotypical? In what way?
-How are the audience encouraged to feel about that
character?

15. ‘Fingersmith’ clip- Sexuality
•Historical context- seen as disgraceful in the past.
Scandalous
•Suppressed sexual desires
•Unrequited love
•Powerful, dominant heterosexuality from the male.
•Forcing Maude to conform to society’s norms.
•F’smith is heterosexual and is unaware.
•Dramatic irony- the audience know more than the F’smith.
•Loneliness, desire and lust.
•Tactile and physical relationships.

16. Notes on Sophie and Sian
•Cinematography:
•S-R-S:

17. Class notes
•Female environment
•POV shot suggests that Sophie is the instigator
•SRS used as part of CE to show the relationship
between S & S
•S & S are feminine (explain – clothes, emotionally
charged conversation) – subverting lesbian
stereotypes
•Sexual ambiguity (are they hetero or
homosexual?) and possibly repression

18. •Shot-reverse-shot used to show the thoughts
and feelings of each character
•Subvert stereotypes of female homosexuals
as masculine:
–In heterosexual relationships
–Stereotypically feminine in appearance