Gender Roles In Stereotypes

The media often uses images of men and women in stereotypical roles in print and non-print texts. This is quite common because society has been taught to accept groups of people with certain characteristics, especially females. They are often stereotyped by their roles in society and their image. Stereotypical women are commonly used in feature films like Legally Blonde and print texts to exploit maternal role models and sex symbols. The media uses persuasive techniques such as layout, camera angles and lighting, characters and setting to promote stereotypes.

The layout in print advertisements can mean a lot of things. The Band-aid advertisement for healing gel exploits the image of a perfect mother by the layout. The mother is holding her
In the advertisement, the lighting has been focused on the top of the mother and the side of the child. This exploits the characteristics of the perfect mother such as being moral, caring and loving. In Health products, the media tends to use people with a clean appearance and good looking to promote their products because we have been taught to believe that these people are perfect and if we use the product, we will be like them. The stereotyping of women’s roles within society is frequently reinforced by the setting they are placed in and the characters they play in feature
Elle and the other characters from her sorority are mostly blonde, beautiful and young. Elle’s two main friends are both, like Elle, fashion experts. They idolize Elle in her looks and personality. When Elle is about to leave with her boyfriend, the members of her sorority are fussing around Elle to make her look her best. This gives us a perspective of a “dumb blonde” by Elle’s personality and her friends. We are taught to accept blondes as dumb bimbos who only care about fashion and beauty. Characters such as Elle Woods are often recognised by the stereotypical roles and images they have been put in by the