The most commonly addressed factors of representation are gender, disabilities, race, and age.
Gender: Media texts include more roles for men than women. This gap is shrinking but still exists. The roles played by men and women are vastly different: men are often leaders and soldiers, while women are often objectified and shown as beautiful and fragile.
Race: Racism, stereotyping and cliches are often used when minority roles are being represented. Minorities are underrepresented in the media and shown as criminals or rule breakers.
Disability: Disabled actors and roles often portray veterans who are struggling to get accustomed to their new lives. Many movies showing the lives of the disabled show that they are not so different as the rest of us.
Age: Young people are shown in media to be naive, lazy, entitled brats. They often go through a life changing experience where they end up being mature men and women. The elderly, on the other hand, are shown as being stuck in their ways, boring and pessimistic.
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