Media. representation ESSAY November 30, 2007

nvestigation of representation in Situation Comedy
A Situation Comedy or ‘Sitcom’ is a genre of television programmes. They normally feature a regular cast of characters and tend to focus on the reactions of the characters to unusual situations, misunderstandings or embarrassing coincidences. Sitcoms can represent characters and settings in certain ways, this is normally done deliberately. Representations can act as a major part of sitcoms. Representation is the process by which the media present us to the ‘real world’. Many sitcoms pick up on topics such as gender, age, race and sexuality and can be portrayed by the audience in certain ways. Sitcoms try to create characters as ‘everyday people’ although their personalities can be exaggerated. This is done so that the audience can understand the humour and can easily relate themselves to the characters. Most of the characters in a situation comedy are sympathetic. The audience can identify with them and their problems and care whether or not they can solve the problems. Most sitcoms are based on characters with a middle class or working class back ground. Characters in situation comedy can be represented by their gender. In sitcoms there is normally either one main character or a few, these are normally the characters that are represented. Male characters are represented as general ‘men’ and women as typical ‘women’; this is where stereotyping starts to be created in the audience. Leading male characters such as ‘Del-Boy’ from ‘Only Fools and Horses’, are associated well by men, especially those of a working class background, as they know someone like him or are like him themselves. Although most types of male characters in sitcoms are normally represented as being either; cheeky, masculine, beer drinking, lazy and on the occasion rude, it allows for men to relate to these characters, even though this could be seen as a stereotypical man in today’s society. The same applies to female characters and the female audience. Age can also come into account within sitcoms. For example older characters can also be recognised by the audience as most knew similar older grandparents. Teenage characters such as ‘Kevin and Perry’ are seen as stereotypical teenagers, and although many teenagers themselves don’t relate to the characters themselves, many parents can relate these exaggerated versions of teenagers to their sons and daughters. Even though mixed with jokes and unusual situations these representations can be funny, in certain circumstances these images of people can be perceived by the media. This can then lead onto stereotypes, and areas such as race and sexuality can be exploited as many people will then be stereotype due to their skin colour/ ethnicity or sexuality. If the representation of the characters in a sitcom continues over time the stereotypes can be perceived to people in real life circumstances. People can react to the stereotypical representations of characters in many ways. Mainly positive feedback comes from people who can actually associate themselves or other people with characters, but some have negative feedback, this can be due to gender, age, race, sexuality, disability or more. For example gay person may be represented as being feminine, this could make gay people themselves or others who do not like the stereotyping be against the representations. Many situation comedies try to revolve around reactions of their main characters, although this is not true in all circumstances. In many situation comedies there is a main character, usually a supporting character and occasionally a transient. A transient unlike the main character has no sympathy towards from the audience. This can be done by editing, acting, selection, costume and other processes. This is deliberately done so that the audience do not sympathise or relate this character to someone they know. Many situation comedies that work, tend to use representations and stereotypes. This is so that the audience can associate themselves and others with the characters. Avoiding emotionally involving the audience also tends to help and representations and issues on areas such as gender, age, race and sexuality, may upset few people but the majority of viewers can relate to this in their own lives or society even though many of the representations are extremely exaggerated. As society changes so will the trend of representations and stereotypes within sitcoms and the media.