Social Implications of

Representation
LO: To understand what is meant by the
term Social Implications and how this
can be applied to Representation of
British Women in Film and TV

How watching representations affects

our views and opinions of groups
Media operates within a structure that
PRODUCES and REINFORCES the dominant
ideology
Dominant Ideology is created predominantly
by white, middle ages, middle class,
heterosexual males
It is there ideas that infiltrate media texts and
ensure that other views do not get heard

1940s
The social implications of watching films like A Brief
Encounter (1945) and A Vacation from Marriage (1945)
for the audience of that era would be that they thought
twice about infidelity, divorce, breaking up famillies.
It's awfully easy to lie when you know that you're trusted implicitly. So very easy, and so very degrading.
we're a happily married couple and let's never forget that. This is my home. You're my husband. And my children are upstairs in
bed. I'm a happily married woman - or I was, rather, until a few weeks ago. This is my whole world, and it's enough, or rather, it
was until a few weeks ago. But, oh, Fred, I've been so foolish. I've fallen in love. I'm an ordinary woman. I didn't think such violent
things could happen to ordinary people.

How would the audience have responded to this ?

How would the audience regard people in society who did
leave their family, who did have affairs, who did break up
the family home ?

A Brief Encounter (1945)

The social implications of A Brief Encounter
(1945) would have been to look at extra marital
affairs as something sordid and degrading.
Angry, disappointed, sordid

7.39 (BBC 2014)

Nearly 70 years on the television programme
follows the same narrative but with a different
representation for a modern audience with a
different set of social implications.
Sally an Carl start a passionate affair after
meeting on a train. The representation of this
affair is more positive than ABE(1945)

7.39 (Mike Nichols)

The narrative implies that there is a reason for
their affair. That its almost inevitable. At the
end of the narrative all ends well, Sally has a
family unit and is shown very happy with a baby
and new partner. Carl is welcomed back into the
home as if nothing has happened.
What are the social implications here ?
How does it differ from ABE (1945)

A Kind of Loving (1962)

With the immense social changes happening in
the 60s the kitchen sink dramas catered for an
emerging new target audience wanting to watch
characters and narratives they could identify
with.
The narrative was predominantly patriarchal and
women were represented either as virgins or
whores.

A Kind of Loving (1962)

You know, it's a funny feeling. Sometimes I really fancy her, and the next day I can hardly stand the sight of her

The social implications of representing women as either virgin or whores is to

categorise women by their sexuality. Therefore, women who were sexually
liberated would be classed as slags which had negative connotations.
Opening Sequence
The social implications of representing marriage as an inevitability something women dream about and men want to get away from reduces
women to stereotypes. Curtailing mens natural freedom, entrapping them
into marriage and fatherhood.

Educating Rita (1983)

Post feminist era where we have a female prime
minister and women are going into more senior
roles and high flying careers become valuable target
audiences themselves.
The social implications of representing women like
Rita as a collective identity could be that British
woman are seen as equal to men. Perhaps the
social implications of the representation of British
women as a collective identity becoming more
independent is that they are begun to be taken
more seriously.

The social implications of representing British

women in contemporary film and TV can be
seen to reflect the collective identity of MEN
rather than women.

Scott & Bailey

The most senior positions in the police force are taken up by women with the
male characters all working under them

New Tricks

Both series put a female in the role of the boss over the men

The Fall (BBC2)

The women characters are all in professional jobs at the top of their careers Forensic
Scientist, Chief Investigating Officer, Deputy Investigating Officer

Social Implications
Social implications mean how representations
can affect the way we think about people or
places.
Dyer How we treat people is how we see them,
how we see them comes from representation

Discuss the social implications of media in relation to collective identity. You may refer to one
group or people or more in your answer

Dyer suggests that How we treat people is how we see them, how we see them comes from representation .
This quote can be discussed when analysing the social implications of media in relation to British women as a
collective identity. Within film and television there are many contemporary representations of British women
that uphold the dominant ideology as well as challenging it. For example, Tamara Drewe (2010) Salmon
Fishing in the Yemen (2013), Scott and Bailey (ITV) and New Tricks (BBC).
1.

Discuss history of films to show understanding of social implications A Brief Encounter (1945), A Kind of
Loving (1962) and Coronation Street ITV

2.

Discuss social implications of Educating Rita (1983)

3.
4.
5.

Discuss social implications of contemporary film

Discuss social implications of contemporary tv
Conclusion

Feminist theory, dominant ideology, capitalism, consumerism, ideological agencies, Marxist theory

Discuss the social implications of media in relation to collective identity.

You may refer to one group of people or more in your answer