The document discusses concepts related to ethnicity, dominant and subordinate groups, and hegemony. It then provides stereotypes associated with different ethnic groups and poses discussion questions related to TV show clips depicting various ethnic representations. The clips from Skins and Misfits are analyzed in terms of which groups are dominant versus subordinate and whether hegemony is challenged in the portrayals. The document examines ethnic stereotypes in media and encourages critical analysis of representations.

2.  What is ethnicity?
The fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural
tradition.
 What is a dominant group?
A group that has more population than the subordinate group..
 What is a subordinate group?
Belonging to a lower or inferior class rank.
 What is hegemony?
The socially accepted and agreed beliefs of those in the ruling class.

3.  Can you think of any?
 What are the stereotypes of the following
images?

4.  A homosexual, Anglo-
Asian man.

5.  A smart Indian who
moved to America and
Is slightly nerdy, due to
the sweater vest.

6.  An Indian doctor, a
typical stereotype.

7.  Sophisticated, high
class citizens of old
England.

9. Skins
The clip of Skins I have chosen involves a Muslim
father accepting that his son is friends with
Maxxie, who is gay.

10.  It is typical for people who are a part of the
Muslim culture to be against
homosexuality, therefore in this clip it is
expected that the Muslim family would not take
well to the fact that Maxxie is gay.
 Chris who is a white character in the clip appears
and he uses language which is typical for a white
teenager, using bad language.
Clip showing this stereotype
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zda8Mt0GIs

11.  You have 10 minutes to write a couple of
paragraphs explaining your opinion.
 Remember to use evidence from the clip and
if you can evidence from:
 Mise en scene
 Sound
 Editing
 Camerawork

12.  Who would you expect the dominant group to be as this is a British TV
drama?
We would expect the British characters to be the dominant group.
 Is this the case for this clip?
No, the majority of the characters are the actual subordinate.
 Who is the dominant group in this clip? How do you know?
The dominant group in this clip is Indians. We can see this as the majority of the
characters are Indian.
 Who is the subordinate group in this clip? How do you know?
The subordinate group is English. We know this as only a few of the characters are
English.

13. In the UK, where this TV drama is made white
British people tend to be the dominant group in
society. I do not think this is the case for this clip
as the white British person is feeling
apprehensive of displaying his true self to the
Muslim families due to the fear of being
rejected. This means that in this clip the white
British male (Maxxie) is part of the subordinate
character group and the Muslim family is the
dominant group as they have the power in this
clip.

14.  Do you think hegemony is challenged in this
clip? Are the dominant beliefs challenged?
Yes as the
 Hegemony is challenged in this clip regarding
ethnicity as it challenges what a Muslim
person would think about homosexuality.

15. Misfits
The clip from Misfits I have chosen is where one
of the probation workers tries to talk to the
characters about the community service they
are doing.

16.  Each of the characters are represented in
completely different ways. Three different
ethnicities are shown in the extract;
 Black British, white British, Irish and mixed race.
Curtis, who plays the black British male character
follows the typical stereotype.
 The Irish character, Nathan, follows a typical Irish
stereotype as he has charm and is quite humorous.
 The white character is gobby and aggressive in the
extract.
 The mixed race character is glamorous and feminine
in the extract.
Clip showing stereotypes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcngcqA6zHw&feature=channel

17.  Go through each of the ethnicities represented and
answer whether the representation reinforces or
challenges the ethnic stereotype.

18.  Which ethnicity is dominant/subordinate in
this extract? Are any of them?
 How does the social worker fit?

19.  Who would you expect the dominant group
to be as this is a British TV drama?
 Is this the case for this clip?
 Who is the dominant group in this clip? How
do you know?
 Who is the subordinate group in this clip?
How do you know?

20. People of other ethnicities are not represented in with most
period dramas. This is due to the country having mostly a white
population and having full control due to racial prejudice.
Therefore being of an African, Indian etc. descendent are not
important to illustrating such points of the show as they are not
represented.
Caucasian people are represented as having power in
period/costume dramas as the cast is made up of white actors.
This is also seen due to the main character’s positions, such as
Mr Selfridge who wears fine suits and shows that he is in clear
power of his establishment. Therefore the overall representation
of white people are they have control of society.

21. Choose two more clips from TV dramas (You can use the
ones in my YouTube playlist) and answer the following
questions.
 Does the TV drama reinforce or challenge ethnic
stereotypes?
 Decide who are the dominant and subordinate ethnic
groups in the drama.
 Is hegemony challenged?
Make sure that you use evidence from mise en
scene, camerawork, editing and sound to support your
points.

22. It reinforces the ethnic stereotype of immigrants
being illegal.
The dominant groups are the staff with English
accents, apart from the barman. The subordinate
ethnic groups are everyone who hides from the
immigration service.
Hegemony is not challenged as the dominant
group are physically deporting those of the
subordinate group, maintaining their power over
them.

23.  It goes against the stereotype that Muslims
are completely against homosexuals. The
dominant group seems to be Muslims as
there are more of those characters. The
subordinate is the English character.
Hegemony is challenged as the belief of the
dominant group is that homosexuality is
wrong, however the character seems to go
against this view.