- Medium - TV drama - relationship between viewer and TV - close relationship - informed by audience feedback (BARB).
- Series already filmed, episodes 6 per series - BBC Wednesday 9pm
- Watershed - protecting children from 'harmful' material.
- Mike Bartlett - male director/writer Tom Vaughan Bruce Goodison
- Mulvey's theories of the male gaze - unexpected
- Relationship is built over time - familiar/like characterisation/habitual
- Where watched? At home/in living room/in bedroom/online/catch up/recorded series - SKY
- Representation stronger - TV drama - intimacy of the viewing. Web 2.0 - relationship is more flexible - audience is in control - Amazon Prime.
‘Dominant ideology serves the interest of
the ruling classes’ Marx
- Ruling class - male dominant ideology - keeping secret away from female - (mother and friends)
- Higher class has more power - can control working class and the ideology that is received by the people.
- Male/educated/privileged/white/middle aged
- Dominant ideology - ideology that is spoken about and received the most, in terms of women it could be that they're innocent or weak minded.
- Dr Foster goes against this and shows that women have the moral high ground and are not innocent through sexual tendencies.
- TV drama series - would expect this medium to explore moral issues and hold them up for inspection.
- Still in this drama series in 2015, women are still represented as having to be more morally responsible gender.
‘Stereotypes are not always negative’
Perkins
- Women - positive stereotypes:
- mothering/nurturing/caring/moral/patient/responsible
- Within Dr Foster, all of these stereotypes are represented and explored.
- Women - negative stereotypes:
- insecure/weak/sexualised/emotional/stressed/driven by their feelings/driven by their bodies/lacking intelligence
- Stereotypical representations are explored in Dr Foster, but it is more complicated that that.
- Gemma Foster herself shows all of these different sides.
- Carly as a representation of a young black female also shows positive and negative stereotypes in one character.
- Carly; victim of domestic abuse, but also becomes a 'spy' for Gemma - becomes powerful.
- Shows comforting side to Gemma - offers cigarettes, perfume and gum.
- Dynamie/moving/changing/fluid.
‘Identity is complicated. Everyone thinks
they’ve got one’ Gauntlett
- is complicated because it is dynamic - it changes overtime, cultural, historical, political influences
- Label - to help people group/recognise - trying to establish common features.
- e.g. frog: green, slimy, croak, hops, warts, cold, pond, small
- comfort in familiarity
- women - attractive to men, curvy, long hair, makeup, domestic, caring, mother, soft/high voice, dependent on man, image conscious, driven by emotion - geographically.
- content of TV programmes allows people to inspect gender.
- TV dramas play with identity construction.
- Expectations of gender roles - conformed to or subverted
- Mass audiences means that individuals will interpret the same identity in different ways - Amazon Prime, BBC iPlayer, Internet, Magazine industry - mass methods of communication.
- We do not like to be thought as having a mass identity - we are individuals - western way of thinking.
- Stereotypes are damaging, are limiting - women - drivers / men - violence
- Think about presenters on BBC Radio 1 in comparison to North Korea.
- Complicated/ complex representations of men and women in Dr Foster is an intelligent text - shows multiple ways of being 'woman' or 'man' - not simplistic text.
- is complicated because it is dynamic - it changes overtime, cultural, historical, political influences
- Label - to help people group/recognise - trying to establish common features.
- e.g. frog: green, slimy, croak, hops, warts, cold, pond, small
- comfort in familiarity
- women - attractive to men, curvy, long hair, makeup, domestic, caring, mother, soft/high voice, dependent on man, image conscious, driven by emotion - geographically.
- content of TV programmes allows people to inspect gender.
- TV dramas play with identity construction.
- Expectations of gender roles - conformed to or subverted
- Mass audiences means that individuals will interpret the same identity in different ways - Amazon Prime, BBC iPlayer, Internet, Magazine industry - mass methods of communication.
- We do not like to be thought as having a mass identity - we are individuals - western way of thinking.
- Stereotypes are damaging, are limiting - women - drivers / men - violence
- Think about presenters on BBC Radio 1 in comparison to North Korea.
- Complicated/ complex representations of men and women in Dr Foster is an intelligent text - shows multiple ways of being 'woman' or 'man' - not simplistic text.
‘Identities are not ‘given’. But are
constructed and negotiated.’ Gauntlett
- not born with given identity, but make it as you grow and by what you achieve, show, do.
- Build your own identity - unique, independent
- Dr Foster - labelled as "Doctor"/mother/wife - is insecure/conscious - husband - but contradicts stereotype by showing 'anger' and having 'cunning' plans - investigate/spies.
- Expectations of genders differ - women to be calm/patient/no aggression - men to be loud/possessive/careless
- Reality (in drama) - women; clever, anger, cunning, fake, strong - men; calm, fear, caring-to not harm anyone, worried about son, to hurt wife, finance fear
- shows how characters 'construct' their identities as women are expected to have similar characteristics - However, in Dr Foster - many women characters are shown, but are portrayed very differently to each other.
- Men too are shown differently, patient-caring for wife, old Dr-gay, husband-cheating/fear of truth coming out, neighbour-cheating with friend - Gemma - just for pleasure, has some fear but no regrets - still cares for wife but not with another women.
- personality comes through to build identity and not what public - audience perceive.
- not born with given identity, but make it as you grow and by what you achieve, show, do.
- Build your own identity - unique, independent
- Dr Foster - labelled as "Doctor"/mother/wife - is insecure/conscious - husband - but contradicts stereotype by showing 'anger' and having 'cunning' plans - investigate/spies.
- Expectations of genders differ - women to be calm/patient/no aggression - men to be loud/possessive/careless
- Reality (in drama) - women; clever, anger, cunning, fake, strong - men; calm, fear, caring-to not harm anyone, worried about son, to hurt wife, finance fear
- shows how characters 'construct' their identities as women are expected to have similar characteristics - However, in Dr Foster - many women characters are shown, but are portrayed very differently to each other.
- Men too are shown differently, patient-caring for wife, old Dr-gay, husband-cheating/fear of truth coming out, neighbour-cheating with friend - Gemma - just for pleasure, has some fear but no regrets - still cares for wife but not with another women.
- personality comes through to build identity and not what public - audience perceive.
