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How is gender presented in the “mistresses”?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3NhPDuC5BU

-Lewis Lloyd, Jenna Diggory, Alex Dibble

In the beginning of the scene, the Mum is seen holding the “super mum” mug. This is reflected in the way she act and how she is trying to support the rest of the family. This also conveys that she is trying to play the male role in the relationship. The Father tried to talk her out of the taking on this dominant role and tries to talk her into taking salsa lessons to lower her male role and create more feminine characterises. This is because the male is stereotypically the dominant figure in the relationship that brings in the income for the family; he is trying to talk her out of it so he can reclaim this role.

The female figure is then reflected with the other mother that feels she is to protect the child from when the 2 teenagers run from the bathroom. She demonstrates the stereotypical characteristics of the mother in a TV drama as she is helping the child get dressed and showing mother characteristics rather than the dominant characteristics the other female figure showed with her work. In the scene where the bay lifts come to the door, the male figure tries to regain control of the situation, conveying he can stand up for himself in the situation. On the other hand, the female is conveyed to try and get involved by sticking her nose into the situation when the male said it did not concern her. This image is given to females because they’re stereotypically conveyed to be nosey and cause more problems. The female is also conveyed as being weak because she is asking questions to get answers but is not getting noticed and is being discarded. She is also shown as weak when the bay lifts shoved past her. This may also reflect the opinion of women from the male perspective in TV dramas as characters tend to see females as weaker and less important.

After the bay lifts shoved past both of the characters, the power of the male figure is conveyed as to be taken away from him because both the male and female were moved away. This makes him seem weaker as he could not show he was stronger than the bay lifts. Once the female asks what’s going on, he tries to regain himself by snatching the paper and shouting at her, before storming off. This conveys that the male figure does not want to be belittled to the point of a females place and must regain himself. The female all the way through this is still unaware of what is going on as no one actually lets her in on any information. Females in TV dramas are often conveyed to be less intelligent than men and are not meant to get involved with larger obstacles than what the female character is capable of.

At one point, a mother is dressing a child as 2 teenagers run from the bathroom; leading her to resort in covering her eyes. There are many points to be made about the 2 teenagers and how they’re conveyed in terms of their gender. The male ran out first with the female following. This gives an impression that the male figure is the leader and the females always follows being a male figure. In terms of costume, the male had himself exposed to the camera where as the female was covered by a towel. In TV dramas, it is more appropriate or socially acceptable for the male to show their body but inappropriate for the female to do so unless she is conveyed as a “slut” character. The intelligence of the characters are also questioned because the male acknowledged that he was doing wrong and ran to hide himself from the child where As the female was perfectly fine to stop and talk to the mother. The actress used as the female is blonde so the creators may feel they’re to convey her as a “dumb blonde” and is clueless to what is appropriate and what is not.