Stereotypes in media

Regionalism

Representation: Regionalism

Through the media, audiences gather a stereotype of the city of Liverpool and the inhabitants as being disruptive, poor and thuggish. One example is after the tragic Hillsborough incident when 96 were killed, The Sun made the following their had line:

This headline caused massive outrage amongst Liverpudlians because they knew it not to be true. The Sun is the second most read newspaper across Britain so people reading this would generalise that all Liverpudlians are like this and have the audacity to steal from murdered innocent people: this solidifies the pre existing idea that scousers are bad. The headlines were not true and were created as a cover up for the government and polices mistakes made. Now, The Sun isn't sold in Liverpool because of the outrageous headlines and the negative stereotype  created around Liverpool.




This trailer is for the 2006 film 'Under the mud' whish is set in Liverpool. It's about a family breaking down during the film, but the setting and context of the family's situations adds to the already existing stereotype of broken families and being disruptive. All though the film wasn't focusing as such on he broken family and it had many positives in the film such as how supportive and friendly scouse people are, violence is a big part of the film and continues trough out the film.

In another form of media, the BBC drama series Waterloo Road introduced the Barry Family, who were, a stereotypical family who got into trouble, wore rollers and pyjamas in the street and were seem to be on benefits. BBC Scotland who produce Waterloo Road are under fire for painting the people of Liverpool in a negative light.The series about a fictional school, which is filmed in Greenock, Inverclyde, has now been condemned as "offensive and closed-minded".

After the new family made their debut, BBC Radio Merseyside was inundated with complaints.