Regional Identity - Stereotypes

By: Nathan on 12:07

Scottish Sterotypes
One of the most used Scottish stereotype areas is that they all wear kilts and tartan clothes, this is not true and there are many people that certainly don’t. In the TV drama Outlander the male characters generally wear kilts, this would fit in with the original stereotype. An example of a counter type to this are most if not all the characters from Taggart, a Scottish TV Drama. They don’t adhere to this stereotype due to their lack of kilts. Another common stereotype for Scottish people is that they are very heavy drinkers; this can be highly offensive to some people in Scotland and is largely a false belief. Although not strictly a TV drama “Grounds Keeper Willie” from The Simpsons is a heavy drinker, thus representing this stereotype. He is also a cartoon, which means that his persona is completely manufactured, this means that the producers purposely decided to use this stereotype. The counter type to this popular stereotype is, again from Taggart. They don’t all drink heavily and a great proportion of the characters are Scottish. One further stereotype is that Scottish people are traditionally ginger haired, this stereotype originates from way back. A lot of producers choose to include this stereotype in a Scottish characters portrayal. This stereotype was used by Dr Who in the character Amy Pond, she has ginger hair, and she is Scottish. This is clearly an effect that the producers wanted to include. A counter type to this stereotype area is The Hound from The Game of Thrones, he does not have ginger hair which means that the producers did not choose to use that stereotype.

Liverpool Stereotypes
It is largely stereotyped by people of other regional identities (primarily people from London and other "higher" areas) that people from Liverpool are unintelligent, uneducated, thieves, violent and hopeless. This is down to the fact that traditionally people in Liverpool did low paid jobs and left school early, now however this is largely untrue. Most current media representations of Liverpoolians are the old fashioned, outdated view.

Newcastle Stereotypes
This is one of the most stereotyped region in the UK, one stereotype of how a Geordie should be is that they are loud, usually drunk, always joking and many more things. These stereotypes are largely unfounded and not true. There are many successful people from Newcastle, thus contradicting the stereotype that people from newcastle are uneducated. Examples of Geordie stereotypes in media are Tosker and some other characters from our friends in the north. They largely fit the common stereotype. 

Yorkshire Stereotypes
The dialect in Yorkshire is easily distinguishable. The most common stereotype of a Yorkshire person is as tight with money, there is a saying that "a Yorkshireman is a Scotsman with all the generosity squeezed out of him", which referrers how Scotsmen are also stereotyped as being tight but not as tight as people from Yorkshire . Yorkshire people are often stereotyped as friendly but they are also stereotyped to be "bloody-minded" argumentative and stubborn. Generally it is stereotyped that men from Yorkshire wear flat caps and tweed style clothes. There are certain foods that are commonly associated with Yorkshire, these include: Yorkshire puddings, potatoes and other similar foods.

Birmingham Stereotypes
Brummies as they are referred to commonly, are largely stereotyped to be relatively unintelligent, this stereotype was largely brought about by the fact that a lot of Brummies had low level manufacturing jobs, for companies such as the now collapsed MG Rover Group. They had these jobs as there where many, and a lot of them where following in at least one ansestors footsteps. This is largely untrue today as many of the big employers have either seised trading or moved most of the production abroad, this is the case with MG Motor UK. The intelligence stereotype is also related to their instantly recognisable accent. Which to some may sound unintelligent.

Welsh Stereotypes
Wales is sometimes known as the land of song, and is used for its singers. A very widely used stereotype of Welsh people is that they all like rugby, although many people in wales do, in fact like rugby it is not everyone. The welsh also have their own accent when speaking English but they do also have their own language.
One example of a TV Drama that uses Welsh stereotypes is Gavin and Stacy, which all of Welsh characters, speak in the stereotypical accent. Another example of a TV drama that focuses on Welsh stereotype areas is Sky 1 series Stella.

Irish Stereotypes
There are many Irish stereotypes, one of the most widely used ones is that Irish people only eat potatoes, and cant be without them. This of course as with most stereotypes is not true and is a dated and passed view to take. Also a big stereotype area for the Irish is that they drink a lot, this I'm not going to go into to much detail about as it is not completely incorrect, however it's not 100% correct either. Ireland is often associated with lepricorns and people having ginger hair which again ins't true. The TV comedy Mrs Brown's Boys includes a lot of the above stereotypes and many more.

London Stereotypes
London can be seen in various ways because, as with other big cities there are good parts and bad parts. The residents from the better parts are stereotyped to be rich, which is largely true, well spoken, which is again, largely true and snobbish which can depend on the person in question. These stereotypes can be seen in some of the episodes of Sherlock Holmes. The other side to London stereotypes is the poorer not so good side of London, which its residents are largely stereotyped to be gang members, ethnic minorities, uneducated and other similar things. These are mostly untrue for the most part. These characters can be seen often on TV.

Essex Stereotypes 
Essex is an area where many stereotypes are aimed at, most of these are appearance related. For example it is widely stereotyped that people from Essex have fake body features, are orange and have had their teeth whitened. It is further stereotyped that they can only care about their appearance and that that is their number one priority, which is true in some cases. The Show The Only Way Is Essex uses these stereotypes and to an extent has caused them to be more widely used.

Cornwall Stereotypes
One of the most used and well known stereotypes for Cornwall is the fact that they are "inbred" this stereotype is obviously incorrect and can cause significant offence to local people. a further stereotype is that the people there are "backward" again this causes great offence to residents of Cornwall. Unfortunately these stereotypes are used in TV and it needs top be stopped.

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Regional identity in TV drama - Our Friends

By: Nathan on 10:19

Analysis
Regional identity is represented in various ways through the 4 areas of representation in this clip from our friends.
The first shot is an over the shoulder shot this shows one of the male characters, he enters in  a rush type fashion, this could be a representation that he has not been educated on how to behave in such scenarios (posh restaurants). The next scene, is also an over the shoulder shot, this time however focusing on the other characters, another male and a lady, as soon as she says "hello" we can instantly tell she has a different regional identity to the rest of the characters, she appears to be from London or another "posh" area. On the other hand they appear to be from Newcastle, this is represented through diegetic sound when she speaks, the way she says "hi" we can instantly tell that she is of a "posher" regional identity.

Further more in the scene where she starts to read the menu and asks whether anyone has had the gamberoni, all the other characters appear confused, this instantly gives the viewer the impression that she is of a higher class region then the others. When the male character hesitates and then suddenly exclaims "prawns" it backs up our initial impression that he is less educated due to being from a socially perceived "lesser" region.
As far a mise-en-scene is concerned for this scene, the "posher" woman is clearly more used to wearing the upmarket clothes.

Helen then asks about the prawns, which is diegetic sound, the male from Newcastle then replies by describing the prawns. The characters from Newcastle laugh but Helen clearly doesn't find it funny, this represents that her sense of humor is different to theirs. Which could portray that she is from a more highly perceived regional identity. 
Subsequently there is a mid-shot of Tosker which shows him attempting to eat the spaghetti. He tries to eat some of the spaghetti from his fork. However, he largely fails as all of the spaghetti falls off his fork and back onto the plate before he places the food in his mouth. This could be trying to represent how Geordies may be perceived to not have very good table manners and are not be used to situations like eating in posh restaurants. 

When Mary and Helen are having a conversation (which is diegetic sound) Tosker interrupts. Helen replies to this interruption by stating "I'm sorry I was talking to Mary".  This could represent that Helen is not familiar with people interrupting into a conversation and she is used to talking to one person at a time. This may further suggest how people from Newcastle have little manners and talking over people is included in this, Tosker appeared to have no problem in interrupting. It may also show that people from London like Helen, have better manners and are not afraid to say what and how they are feeling as she appears to tell him right away that she was in fact, talking to Mary and that she does not wish for him to join the conversation.

The intelligence of Geordies is then touched upon by way of Tosker saying to Helen "whats one of them" (referring to the job she has said). This represents both that the types of jobs available in Newcastle aren't as "high end" as their London counterparts, and that Geordies aren't as educated as they fail to construct a proper sentence.

Eventually the focus turns to region based financial stereotypes, which links to the previous issue of the job, this comes about due to the fact that Helen doesn't respond to Tosker when he asked about what her job is, yet she choses to respond when the question is about money, this would be arguably a representation that people from London and other "higher" status regions are likely to have more money, it also portrays them as liking to show off their wages. This financial stereotyping continues when Tosker asks how much the deserts are, which could imply that people from Newcastle are tighter with money as they don't earn as much. The waiter laughs the question off (takes it as a joke). This is the stereotype that again, higher class people (which largely come from places like London), don't have much care over money as they earn more. 

Once that scene is finished, we move on to a series of close ups when Helen and Tosker start arguing, this is used to make us able (as viewers) to feel their emotions and establish their feelings more easily. In relation to regional identity though, this effect could be used to establish the representation that at this particular given moment there is no authority, as Tosker's less jokey and more serious side is revealed. This could portray the fact that in certain areas people are equal no matter what their regional background is.
When Helen realises this she quickly starts to laugh, and as Tosker doesn't know how to deal with this, she regains authority in the situation. This further backs up the point that people from London are stereotypically cleverer and thus are able to plan ahead better. It also could represent the stereotype that Londoners are rude.

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Regional identity

By: Nathan on 14:33

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