Representation of gender in Men Behaving Badly and Absolutely Fabulous.

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Compare how the representation of gender is constructed by the way character’s appearance and dialogue in your two chosen television programmes

In comparing Men Behaving Badly and Absolutely Fabulous I will find both differences and similarities in gender construction. Absolutely Fabulous is heavily set towards extreme female stereotypes and the male characters are mainly weak, whereas in Men Behaving Badly the male characters are more dominant and their attitudes and relationships to the female characters is more obvious.

In the Absolutely Fabulous episode Menopause, there are many stereotypes regarding women. Through Edina we see the woman struggling to be a mother, have a career and delay the ageing progress. Edina wears clothes inappropriate to her age and applies a lot of vibrant coloured makeup to try and make herself appear youthful and fashionable which she miserable fails to do. Edwina’s language throughout the episode is far from the traditional stereotype of women being ladylike and polite. Edina is much the opposite, a very loud and flamboyant woman. This contributes much to her character as it emphasises her struggle to keep herself young and stylish. In this particular episode we see Edina’s PR company failing to strive alongside the rival company, and it shows the viewers Edina’s desperate desire to become famous and popular, which gives reason to her appearance. Edina’s attitude of old age is revealed when Patsy, her best friend and the person she is most close to, shows signs of age. Edina shrieks in horror at Patsy’s weak bones, and insists the menopause support group sit on bin bags. Although these actions are extreme, viewers who also fear the problems ageing brings may relate to her panic.

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The role of Patsy is played even more raucous and brash then Edina. Patsy’s character wears much more sophisticated clothes then Edina, although her make up is not as vibrant it is still thickly implied. This implies perhaps Patsy is just as scared of ageing as Edina, and her makeup is there to cover up tell-tale signs of ageing such as wrinkles and lines. In this episode Patsy appears in Edina’s daughters daydream, and in this we see Patsy acting the opposite of how she usually does. Patsy decides to have a baby, constantly wears an apron and speaks much ...

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