How Gay People Are Represented Withinn TV Dramas

Gay men/women are represented all in a similar way in different dramas. They are represented with the use of the 4 technical codes which are mise-en-scene, camera, editing and sound.

Usually the gay characters are represented as we would stereotypically imagine them to be like. For men this would be wearing make-up, wearing female clothes and being bitchy. Whereas, for the gay women it is quite the opposite with men's shirts, baggy trousers and short hair.

TV Dramas always represent the gay person to feel that they are uncomfortable with their sexuality and feel it s wrong, unless they are a character who came into the dram being openly gay. For example Christian in Eastenders is known for being gay and everyone else around knows it, whereas Syed is not openly gay and tries to tell himself he is not gay and hide it from Christian and his family.

The mise-en-scene for gay people in dramas is usually in bars and clubs. However the mise-en-scene for a gay person is also typically the same of that of a straight person. This could be at home, or at work, or even simply walking along the street. For example, Syed works with his parents in a curry factory and he goes to the pub and also goes out to R&R, the local club. He appears in the setting of his family home often aswell. Also another character Christian does really seem to have an obvious job, although he does walk the streets like a normal person and shoots scenes in his home, mainly the living area. He too goes to R&R like Syed. Sophie out of Corination Street is a gay female who is yet to become open about her sexuality, she too does not have a vastly different mise-en-scene to that of a straight actor in Corination Street.

The Sounds which are used in the scenes of Syed, Christian and Sophie are not different to that of a straight person. The sounds which are used a usually general background noises, for example if they were in the street the background noises used may be birds, cars, people shouting, whereas if they were indoors you may hear a television or people talking etc.

The camera shots used to represent the 3 gay characters would be mainly close ups, showing just the head and shoulders, medium shot showing their body down to their waist, medium long shots which goes down to the knees and also long shots, which fit the whole body into a frame.These are evenly used for Sophie and Syed, however i think that the medium long shot is used slightly more on Christian due to him having a muscular physique which shows off another stereotype characteristic for a gay man.
The editing used to represent the gay characters include continuity editing, which shows reality and time moving forward, cross cutting which alters, interweaves or intersperses on narrative action with another, usually in different locations or places. Editing also used includes eye-line match which is a type of editing which cuts from one character to what they have been looking at, and also linear narrative which is a style of storytelling in which events happen chronologically.
In conclusion a gay man/women is not shown any differently using the 4 technical codes than to a straight person, this could be to show that they aren't really that different to a straight person apart from their sexuality. Gay people are only shown to be gay within a TV Drama due to the way they look or act and what sort of clothes they wear etc.