Media Stereotypes- Teenagers in Television DramasThe T.V drama I have chosen to write about is BBC one’s Waterloo Road. This follows the controversial stories of both Students and Teachers at a troublesome comprehensive secondary school in Rochdale (Greater Manchester). The programme deals with the difficult issues of suicide, affairs, abortion, divorce and other social issues. I chose to analyse two episodes from the latest series currently being shown weekly on BBC1 at 8PM. Waterloo Road focuses on dramatised school issues and the day to day interactions between students and teachers; therefore I would expect to encounter various stereotypes typical of teenagers outside of school and as students. Previous series of Waterloo Road show you how the writers, producers and directors have considered character stereotypes and used them to their advantage by creating dramatic storylines that emphasise particular teenage traits.
Many of the complex characters that appear in every episode conform to the four stereotypes of teenagers. As it is a drama based around a school atmosphere you would expect a wide range of diversity for the storylines to progress. The BBC website gives you some information about the characters and their backgrounds, from this you can judge which stereotype they would fit into. This could be due to issues either with themselves, school, parents/home life or perhaps the way they come across in the programme itself. Examples of these stereotypes and the characters that fit them are shown in the table below along with some reasons why the character has become that stereotypical teen.
The first episode I analysed was episode two first broadcast on 4th November 2009. Sixth form student Bolton Smilie finds himself with no one to turn to when ex John Foster’s pupil Amy Porter accuses him of attempted rape. Also in the same episode the James sisters are facing the funeral of their murdered father.
Within this episode I discovered many stereotypical traits that would cause the characters to become ‘just like any other teen’. The episode starts with playground taunting between hard girls Lindsey James and Michaela White. This shows how teenagers deal with forms of aggression and confrontation compared to adults faced with the same situation. In fact the people who play both characters in Waterloo Road are in their twenties, so these stereotypes are used to make them appear younger and immature. Also within this episode we see jealousy between Michaela and Amy over Bolton, Ros changing to Waterloo Road uniform over John Fosters and getting taunted by Lindsey, causing trouble in the classroom, Bolton accused of rape and automatically to blame because of he’s look and attitude, the two school’s continuous rivalry and peer pressure between Amy and Siobhan.
These characters only confirm stereotypes but their authenticity of representation may counteract the reality. All the characters mentioned have some form of attitude and all have difficult issues to deal with at home, but because this is a BBC drama everything is over emphasised and the intensity between characters all the time are not what all teenagers would be like in reality. They never seem to show the good side of Waterloo Road and often the idea of a good teenager is forgotten because it would not be exciting enough to call it a weekly drama.
The other episode of Waterloo Road I analysed was episode three first broadcast on 11th November 2009. I wanted to see if the teenage stereotypes were maintained at one level throughout the series. This episode shows Danielle and Aleesha stagger into school still drunk from the night before. Paul’s solution to their hangovers places Danielle’s life in danger.
Waterloo Road Teachers use typical stereotypes and claim that students don’t get up till lunch. While the nurse claims teenagers are ‘stupid’ and ‘messed up’. Danielle and Aleesha are drunk at school, lie to their parents about where they slept and are only interested in the boy’s numbers they got the night before, Aleesha calls Danielle a light weight for still being really drunk and Danielle plays up to it later when she downs ethanol, Phillip who is socially awkward tries to chat up a girl which is typical American stereotype, Lindsey and Amy get tattoos that say ‘loyalty’ and pressure Siobhan into doing the same to be loyal to their gang, Paul sell the ethanol drinks to other students not realising the consequences and Karla is pinned down by Lindsey in the playground. The teachers expect the ethanol incident to be caused by Paul or Bolton before there is any evidence it’s their fault.
The comparisons between both episodes show how the stereotypes of each character as teenagers are continuous to the storylines. They use the diversity to their advantage to create such dramatic storylines.
The characters themselves are realistic and you could imagine them existing alone in schools, but because the whole school has over exaggerated personalities to add to the drama its authenticity fails. Waterloo Roads average audience age is that of teenagers so it’s difficult to understand why they would portray them in such a bad light. Is it successful because teenagers themselves like the way students of Waterloo Road are over reacting, therefore making reality and the audience’s lives seem a little more normal in comparison?
Dumb Teens-
Phillip Ryan.
Why? Not dumb in lessons but in terms of how to socially behave he has no understanding, fantasist, trouble fitting in & awkward.
Superficial Teens-
Aleesha Dillon & Danielle Harker.
Why? Bright but don't put it to their advantage, opinionated, image obsessed & confident.
Juvenile Delinquents -
Lindsey James, Denzil Kelly, Sambuca Kelly, Paul Langley, Bolton Smilie & Michaela White. Why? Disruptive, agressive, troubled home life, dyslexia, behavioural problems, follower, misses lessons, bullying & not to be messed with.
