Primary Research

Analyse some good extracts from Mistresses, The Street etc. Write your analysis down - explore how the females are NOT just expressions of stereotypes of femininity, and perhaps also how in some ways they still are?

Then get an audience of fans (or individual fans) and explore with them what they like about these reps, and also whether THEY see them as examples of changing/challenging reps of females. "Do you like this because it is different to how women are normally portrayed?" sort of questions....

What to do

To boil it down to the very basic skeleton:

1. Read about reps of gender (Gauntlett etc).
2. Analyse texts where women depart from stereotypical gender roles (and perhaps the extent to which these stereotypical roles are changing across the media).
3. Explore the responses of real women audiences to these representations. You could select a range of clips, show them to a group of women, and then discuss with them their responses to the clips.

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=0RuRknkzxe4C&oi=fnd&pg=PA79&dq=women+going+against+the+norm+in+television+drama&ots=neQlFrPZcO&sig=BnmCEF8a9v_BR4bnaes_dVrD54Q#PPA81,M1

http://www.ur.umich.edu/0506/Jul24_06/12.shtml

Main texts

Academic stuff:
Gauntlett Media, Gender and Identity
background info on gender reps

You will find some useful things in Action Chicks
- though it is mainly about film.

In Teaching TV Drama the sections on representation and on Shameless might be useful.

Media products to analyse:
Mistresses
The Street
(Widows - older series which challenged gender roles in 1983 - http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/W/htmlW/widows/widows.htm)

http://books.google.co.uk/books?q=television+dramas+representation+of+women&source=citation&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=bottom-3results&hl=en

list of helpful books!!!

http://www.mediaknowall.com/gender.html
The normal representation of women in television drama!!!