Avengers Britishness

Stereotypes of Britain

• Tea and biscuits
• Posh and polite 
• Royalty
• BBC, Doctor Who, Eastenders 

Avengers Characters

Mrs Peel Representation

Mrs Peel is represented as wealthy, upper first class and posh. This is represented through her clothes, she wears very clean, tidy and smart clothes that look as though only wealthier women in the 60's could have worn these. Her clothes stereotypically represent how women would have acted in the 60's. The settings that Mrs Peel was in shows that she is a very wealthy woman. She is normally seen in the places that only wealthier women would be, for example the train carriage, the carriage was very first class. The props Mrs Peel uses are the stereotypical items that wealthier women in the 60's would have used for example her handbag, she walks around with her handbag wherever she goes.

Steed Representation

•  Costume: He wears a very tidy, neat suit. Stereotypically wealthier men in the 60's would have worn the same type of suits to show status, he also wears a bowler hat. 
• Settings: Steed is found to be in places that are quite violent or that are quite fist upper class.
• Props: The props used by Mr Steed are very stereotypical as to what men in the 60's would have used such as the umbrella and the bowler hat. 
• Action: Mr Steed is often found flirting with Mrs Peel in a number of occasions. He uses action for when he is in situations in which he is fighting. 
• Dialogue: Mr Steed's dialogue is very posh and sophisticated as a wealthy man in the 60's would have spoken, he is very formal towards Emma Peel, however isn't so formal when he is speaking to other men. 
• Stereotypes: Mr Steed follows typical stereotypes that a man would have in the 60's. He is very posh and formal, very polite however will use violence to defend himself and others.

1960's stereotypes

What stereotypes were used in Episode 1?

• Nationalities: In episode 1, there were strictly white British men and women, there were no other races in this episode.
• Gender: Genders in episode 1 were separated into stereotypes for example, the more physical leading roles were male characters apart from Emma Peel who had a big female role in the physical side. 
• Job role: Job roles in episode 1 were stereotypical, Emma Peel pretended to be a primary school teacher and discover more about the village whereas Steed was doing more physical jobs like walking around talking to people and getting into fights. 
• Places: The places in the episode were upper class London and the small seaside village. These are very stereotypical places the UK as other countries would have thought of London or small seaside villages when they thought about the UK. 

How was MEDIA LANGUAGE used to show the social context of the 1960's?

Exam style question
How was MEDIA LANGUAGE used to show the social context of the 1960's?

Consider:
Camerawork
Mise-En-Scene
Editing
Sound

Mies-En-Scene was used extensively throughout the scene to show that the TV show was set in the 1960's. The eyeball on the door of Mrs Peel's flat shows the sort of eye makeup that was used in the 60's for example the eyelashes. Mrs Peel's clothes are leather and tight which shows she is a very sexual person, this maybe because the contraceptive pill was released in the 60's. Mr Steed walked around with an umbrella, this shows that the TV show was set in the 60's as men back then walked around with an umbrella, also the way he used the umbrella, he would do certain things with it rather than using his hands.

The use of camera work throughout the scene represents the style of the show. The opening shot features a close up of the umbrella pressing the doorbell to Mrs Peel's flat which is hinting at spy drama. The second shot features a tilt and pan of the camera to reveal a big on the door of the flat to show the personality of the character who lives in that flat and to show that the TV show is set in the 60's and that it was set in London, specifically the wealthier parts. The camera then pans to the male agent at a low angle - medium close up, this gives him status and importance as stereotypical British men were seen as higher people during the 60's. The camera then features the first shot of the female agent at a high angle shot, signifying 1960's British stereotypes towards women.

The editing throughout the scene features parallel editing at the start of the scene, showing the first scene at the seaside, but then transitioning to the male agent ringing the doorbell in London, to join these two scenes together they used a graphics match, the graphics match was the umbrella ringing the doorbell. A one-two shot was used when the two agents were talking to each other, this was to show the reactions of both the agents, they both had very sexual and smiley reactions and comments.