Representation and Regulation: Exam Practice

Family Guy has more stereotypes than Eastenders, as Eastenders contains fairly limited representations of different groups that are featured in the UK. In Family Guy, gender is fairly represented through the male and female characters of Peter Griffin and Lois Griffin. Peter, on one hand is represented as being immature and gullible, as he purchases outlandish items such as a 1920s magazine kiosk, helicopters, and other unimaginable items and is often dominant, as he doesn't listen to his wife. However, Lois Griffin is represented as being practical and sensible, as she makes the right decisions, as signified when she removes the carpet in the house to prevent Peter from statically shocking everyone , due to his fuzzy pyjamas. However, she is also sexually driven and can be seen to be alluring to other males such as Quagmire. The female newsreader Diane Simmons is a female character that is subordinated, as she has little to say on the news and is a sex object that is controlled by her co anchor Tom Tucker.

These representations contrast with Eastenders, where there are a range of representations of different groups, such as homosexuals, black people and Asian families. Firstly women are presented as being obnoxious and sexually alluring, as signified with Kim Fox. Other dominant representations of women include Zainab Masood, who controls her husband and is in charge of their company Masala Masood. Women are also represented as always being concerned with love as Heather Trott is really excited to go on a website with someone else. Men are also represented as being dominant, as signified with Phil Mitchell and Max Branning, but are also represented as sly , as signfied with Michael Moon.

There are alternative representations of men, such as being sad and emotional, as Jack Branning grieves his child who died in a cot death, and other men being concerned about him and caring towards him, as signified with Alfie Moon.

In accordance to the other representations, ethinic minorities are represented as being active members of the community and are caring to other characters, as signified with the Masood family, which is an alternative representation in a post 9/11 era, where Muslims are demonised in the media and are resented.

In this episode from Eastenders, the most stereotyped group are teenagers. They are represented as being confused, angry, bullies and troublesome, as signified with Ben Mitchell, who makes a false profile on a dating website, in order to appeal to Heather but in a negative way, which will cause her to feel lonely. The other stereotypes are signified as being rebellious and relaxed, as seen with Fat Boy who acts like a black person with an informal, slang accent.

In contrast to Eastenders, Family Guy constructs stereotypes in order to create humour and often mocks and exaggerates these representations to entertain audiences.Therefore, audiences would be able to identify with these stereotypes and mock them without being in trouble, as they are represented as the extremes of what they recognise in their own lives. Yet, in Eastenders, most of the groups are fairly constructed in order to show audiences that alternative representations of these groups do exist, as men are able to be dominant, yet be emotional and caring and ethnic groups such as British Muslims are not evil or threatening to the status quo. Yet it can be argued whether the institution has any hegemonic values, as teenagers and women are not fairly represented and men are to a larger extent.