Exemplar essay

'These perspectives in turn are products of distinct moments in time and are specific to the social realities of these times.' Samantha lay
How far do you agree with this statement. Refer to your case studies to support your ideas.


Representation is of course a product of the time and social influences surrounding it. The representation  of women in historical media texts such as Folger's coffee advertisements are denote a 'stay at home wife/mother' who is reprimanded by her working husband for making bad coffee and for not having the foresight to buy a better brand appear. Woman are portrayed as less intelligent than men and are constrained to the domestic environment. However, a more contemporary representation and future representation of women reflect woman's changing role in society as influenced by the social and political changes of the time . In BBC 1's 2015 TV Drama Dr Foster and Smoke House's 2015 dramatic film August: Osage County, it is clear to see that representations of women, in their many different roles, are products of an ever changing landscape for female representation. 

BBC 1's Dr Foster presents many different roles for women. The main protagonist Gemma is a professional, a GP holding down a medical practice, a marriage and fulfilling the role of mother to her son. Throughout the 6 episodes of this drama, this one character is represented as: a competent GP; an unprofessional and unethical GP; a loving wife and a revengeful seductress willing to use her body in order to manipulate her husband Simon's, demise; a kind and nurturing mother and a deranged mother willing to let her husband believe she has killed their only child in order to force a confession...