This document discusses regional identity in the UK and how it is portrayed in television and film. It examines stereotypes of different regions including Northerners, Southerners, Scousers, Welsh, and Londoners. Key theorists are discussed who argue that media plays a role in constructing national and regional identities through appealing to shared values and traditions. However, some media presents a more fragmented picture and must find ways of representing diverse identities in multicultural Britain. The use of stereotypes in establishing characters and identities is also examined.

1. Regional and National Identity

2. What is Britishness?

3. Understanding regional identity
• Pick 3 of the following regions and stereotype
their regional identity:
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Northerners
Southerners
Essex
Scottish
Welsh
Scousers
Geordies
Yorkshire
Mancs
Brummies
Londoners

4. Northerners
• Stereotype= ‘Northern
Monkeys’, Loud rude,
drink a lot and of a
lower status
• Costume= Track suit or
cheap/casual clothes
• Dialogue/dialect=
Vowel sounds overpronounced
• Make up= Over the top
or minimal
• Class/Status= Low

5. Southerners
• Stereotype= ‘Poncy Southerners’
arrogant and posh
• - Dialogue/dialect= Well spoken ‘
the rain in Spain falls mainly on the
plain’
• -Costume= Suit and tie, tailored
clothing and dresses
• -Props= Brief case
• -Make up= Classy and to a
minimum
• -Class/Status= Middle/Upper

6. Essex
• Stereotype= Image conscious,
unintelligent, love to shop and
party
• Stereotype coined by TOWIE (The
Only Way is Essex)
• Dialogue/dialect= 'Shut up' 'Oh
my God' = common phrases
• Costume: Girls= Revealing/OTT
Boys: Fashionable
• Location= Clubs and boutiques
• Props: G Expensive, flashy, tacky
handbags, up to date mobile
phone
• Make up= Fake tan, fake
eyelashes and hair extensions
• Class/Status= Lower Middle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vTzuZk1O
HA

7. Scottish
• Stereotype= Humourless, hate
other nations,alcoholic and violent
• Dialogue/dialect= Strong accent
'och' 'wee'
• Costume= Kilt, tartan, Tam o'
Shanter
• Location= Highlands, cold and vast
open spaces
• Props= Bagpipes, haggis, whisky
• Make up= Ginger hair and freckles
• Class/Status= Lower class (farmers)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
fp-jVwBGUsI

8. Welsh
• Stereotype= Small ,dark
haired people who play all
rugby, sing in choirs, herd
sheep or mine coal
• Dialogue/dialect= Very ‘songlike’ and melodic, slow and
exaggerated pronunciation
• Costume= Rugby shirts
• Location= Rugby pitch, church,
pub, fields with sheep
• Props= Sheep
• Make up= Minimal
• Class/Status= Middle/Lower

9. Scousers
• Stereotype= Dangerous ;
‘Why does the river Mersey
run through Liverpool? If it
walked it would get mugged’
• - Dialogue/dialect= Flemmy,
difficult to understand; 'like'
prominent k's
• -Costume= Tracksuits, very
casual cheap looking clothing
• -Location= Pub/home
• -Props= Cheap looking
jewellery
• -Make up= Minimal, or OTT
• -Class/Status= Low
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=STIvNjWobzA

10. Yorkshire
• - Dialogue/dialect= 'Ey up’,
‘An' Ah'll tell thi that fer
nowt’, don’t pronounce ‘t’s’
• Costume= Flat caps, tweed
jackets
• Location= Open fields,
country pubs, Local shops
• Props= Whippets/Yorksire
terrier and Yorkshire
puddings
http://www.youtube.com/watc
• Make up= Minimal/pale
• Class/Status= Low (farmers) h?v=jzAD2GLfaNU

11. Geordies
• Stereotype= Loud, swear a lot,
party animals and binge drinkers
(help coined by Geordie Shore)
• Dialogue/dialect= ‘way eye
man’, difficult to understand
• Costume= Revealing, tight
clothing
• Location= Busy town centres,
clubs, urban areas
• Make up= Over the top, fake
tan, dark hair
• Class/Status= Lower middle/
middle
http://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=6PVQbnvv79I

12. Mancs
• Stereotype= Loud, rude, funny and fond of
fighting (Helped coined by Oasis)
• Dialogue/dialect= ‘Oh, aye’ ‘Nowt’
• Costume= Manchester United
• Shirt
• Location= Busy town centres
• Class/Status= Low/lower
• middle

13. Brummies
• Stereotype= Unintelligent and
unfriendly
• Dialogue/dialect= 'Yow' heavily
pronunciation the 'ow' of 'You'
• Costume= Casual/ Cheao
• Location= Busy, industrialised
centres
• Make up= Greasy hair
• Class/Status= Low

14. Londoners (Northern/ more posh
boroughs)
• - Dialogue/dialect= Well spoken, range of
vocabulary
• -Costume= Cashmere jumpers/sweaters and
suits
• -Location= Skyscrapers, swanky bars, posh
homes
• -Props= Briefcase
• -Class/Status= Middle/upper

15. Londoners (Cockney/ South London)
• - Dialogue/dialect= ‘Gorblimey’, Rhyming slang
‘apples and pairs = stairs’,dropping ‘t’s’
• -Costume= Flat caps
• -Location= Busy streets, market stalls
• -Make up= Minimal
• -Class/Status= Low

16. Now think about programs/films set in the following
locations, do they reinforce these stereotypes through
mise-en-scene (location, setting, actors, props, costumes
etc), camera work, sound (include dialect that could be
colloquial) and editing?
•
•
•
•
•
EastEnders
Shameless
TrainSpotting/Braveheart/Monarch of the Glen
Doc Martin
Emmerdale

17. The satellite map shows us a city sprawl
so we know that the programme is set
in an urban area. However it is the
River Thames than reveals the specific
location as being London.
Regional Identity can be seen
by the views we see in the
picture. We can see the
countryside in the distance
and we can also see an old
vehicle of which is only used in
the countryside.

18. You can tell that this is
set in the country also
because the
background of the first
picture is the country
and in the second
picture the house is
styled as a country
house. Also, what the
characters are wearing
symbolises ‘the
country’
You can tell that this is set in an estate as
there are flats in the background and the
people look like they aren't of a high class
because of the clothes they are wearing
therefore we would expect them to live
there and if there is a show about them
then it would be set here.

19. Manchester - Mancunians, or Mancs
Liverpool – Scousers
Task: As you watch, write notes and then write
one P.E.E for each of the following clips

20. As you watch, consider:
•Setting
•Accents
•Dialogue
•Props
•Make up
•Class of characters
•Costumes

21. • As you watch, consider:
• Setting
• Accents
• Dialogue
• Props
• Make up
• Class of characters
• Costumes

22. For Regional Identity in Emmer dale we shall look at this clip for examples:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01QQB_nrOtU
Views at 0.30 show that the setting is in the country and we see straight away that all
the views we see are all of this manor also/
We see that the clothes and possessions (van) show low class as the clothes look old
and used as the van that the women is driving does too.
We know that they either run or live on a barn as when they open the barn we see a lot
of sheep , which can only really be in the country which backs up our other beliefs.
We then see people decorating a house which we can see was very old by the décor for
example the curtains are very countrified which means that if the house was oringinally
decorated as if it was in the country it is probably in the country.
We then see the sheep again and the farm surroundings which is repeated throughout
which only drums in the fact that they are in the country and that that is their regional
identity.

23. • Good example clips to look at during revision
if you want to practice note taking include;
Vicar of Dibley or Doc Martin (middle
class/upper class characters do not have
regional accents and are presented ‘as
intelligent’ while the locals are ridiculed – this
obviously links to Marxism).

24. Key Theorists
• Theorist Andrew Higson (1998) writes; “Identity is generally
understood to be the shared identity of naturalized
inhabitants of a particular political-geographic space – this
can be a particular nation or region.”
• Benedict Anderson (1983) maintains that the media play a
vital role in constructing a national/regional identity as in
reality the nation is too big for everyone to know each
other yet they often have shared values ; “The unification
of people in the modern world is achieved not by military
but by cultural means, in particular the media system
enables people (of a nation or region) to feel part of a
coherent, meaningful and homogenous community.”

25. Higson (1998) claims that many TV dramas (such as
Eastenders, Corrie etc) demonstrate the importance
of community and patriarchal values; “Social and
cultural differences seem less significant when
shared. The common purpose pulls the individual
characters of the drama together, forges them into
an organic, self-functioning community and ensures
that each person has a clear role in the community.
This small, self-contained functional community can
then be read as standing for the nation, which is
thereby imagined as a consensual gathering
together of the diverse interests of individuals who
make up that community.”

26. Higson (1998) and Corrigan (1992) argues that TV
drama does not always present communities like
this, “Identity is fluid, unstable and contingent on
circumstances” (Corrigan 1992) “Allegiances are
forever being made, unmade and remade;
community cannot be taken for granted; they are
insecure and often self-destructive…Tension of race,
gender, sexuality, the family and generations
represent not simply as multicultural but in
disarray”(Higson 1998).

27. • In short, as Higson summarised; “Images of social
and cultural disturbance and fragmentation are
more prominent than images of consensual
community” this obviously paints a slightly
negative image of multicultural Britain.
• Higson goes onto argue that TV drama has to find
ways of representing hybrid identities in
multicultural Britain; “As Britain becomes visibly
multicultural, so the makers of media texts have
attempted to deal with plurality, to find space in
representation for cultural minorities, ethnic or
otherwise. In doing so, the cultural boundaries of
the nation have been redefined, and a wider,
more extended and hybrid national ‘community’
imagined.”

28. Constructing images of
regional/national identity:
• According to Higson (1989) there are two
ways in which the process of constructing
images of national/regional identity should be
understood; “The first involves an inward
looking process, defining the nation in terms
of its own cultural history. The second is a
more outward-looking process, defining the
nation in terms of its difference from others.”

29. In other words, stereotypes play a large role in
constructing images of identity and these can either
reaffirm notions of a nation (historic/culture) or
contradict them. For example, as Higson (1998) states;
“Film like Trainspotting (1995) deal with quite specific
cultural traditions, including working class traditions,
youth traditions, all of which can be subsumed under the
umbrella term Britishness.” In other words, Trainspotting
taps into traditional stereotypes of Scotland while
illustrating what these stereotypes mean to working class
youths (social-realist interpretation). Interestingly, this
film changed the way this film represented Scotland
changed outward perceptions of the nations (negatively).

30. Higson also argues that; “Representations of
national/regional identity are constructed as the
narrative of the text unfolds, as characters are
pitted against one another, so a sense of identity
emerges…but at the same time producers often
resort to stereotyping as a means of establishing
character and identity.”

31. • Higson goes on to say; “Stereotyping is a form of
shorthand, a way of establishing character by
adopting recognisable and well established
conventions of representation…the stereotype
reduces characters to the most basic form and
attempts to naturalise them and the more widely
recognisable they become the more readily they
are accepted. Except that if a stereotype becomes
more widely recognisable it becomes comic”.
• Higson adds; “No wonder then that a particular
characterization may be critised for being
stereotypical, meaning it lacks a realistic
dimension, it fails to match up to the reality of
identity.”

32. • As Higson points out, it is always important to
analyse: “Identities and alliances, in particular
relating to class, ethnicity, religion, class and
gender.” In other words, how does a certain
region seem to view these things and what
does it imply the producer wants you to think
about this region and its views.

33. In terms of regional identity, it is again
important to remember Medhurt – think about
who the dominant producers are because it is
often the case they stereotype those ‘not like
them’ (working class ‘Cornish Carrot Crunchers’
etc). Also, it is worth noting that if middle class
white men appear in regional TV dramas (e.g. Dr
Martin/Vicar of Dibley) they are usually made
out to be educated and reasonable unlike the
locals.