In the social sciences, a social group has been defined as two or more people who interact with one another, share similar characteristics and collectively have a sense of unity and Representation is the use of signs that stand in for and take the place of something else. It is through representation that people organize the world and reality through the act of naming its elements.
thus there are also stereotypes which are the widely adopted about specific types of individuals or certain ways of behaving intended to represent the entire group of those individuals and which is something that is widely present in the society and the humans need to stereotype the people around them. in media there is a convention of representing social groups, let's start with age.
in media, children are usually seen as young and innocent that need protection from adults and that they are powerless and need adults protection from the outside world. one of the films that break this representation of children is the popular movie series, Home Alone.
teenagers are often seen as lazy, aggressive and moody as they are going through puberty and that they hate school. even inside teenagers, there are also several stereotypes created by them which can be commonly be seen in a high school movie like High school musical or Clueless. young adults in their 20ies are often represented as young passionate adults who are trying to make money and are trying to find love. middle-aged adults are often represented as humans who are not aware of current trends an popular culture and are depicted as not being tech-savvy and being boring people which not always true even in real life. elderly, like young children, are shown as weak who need help and protection from the youngers. there is an also representation of regional identity which I would not be describing in detail as it would become never-ending.
there is also the representation of gender, and there are several stereotypes of males and females in media. there is the traditional masculine man and is depicted as tall, strong, dominant over women and a person who does not indulge in house chores. there is the new man who looks peaceful, casual, equal to women and looks after the family. the gay man is depicted as mine, weak and as a person who has a job in the fashion or glam industry. on the other hand, a traditional woman is depicted as someone who stays at home, cooks for the family, weak, scared of male characters and is innocent. there is The Vamp who is, Disloyal, Flirty and Uses people to get her way. then there is the lesbian women, who is shown as a man-hater, and dresses up like a man, and portrays masculine body language and behaviour.
these were few of the stereotypes present in media and their representation of social groups.
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