Friday, 9 October 2009

How is class represented in this scene?

In the scene of Eastenders, the inner city working class are represented in quite a negative light. The scene is full of conflict within and between families with there being a full blown argument about an affair. Even when characters are talking to each other nicely, conflict lies underneath like the sister being reluctant to go out with her sibling. However, the working class are also shown in a positive light as they seem to care a lot about each other, want to help each other and care what they think about one another.
In the scene, the jobs shown are manual ones, there is no higher education needed to perform the featured jobs. This included the kitchen workers, who were in uniform. In the kitchen scene, the people are gathered around looking at a sonogram picture, a mid shot is used here as this is normally used in soaps. When the argument is in full wing, a two shot is used to show Masood and Jane, the accused standing as if they are a team on one side and then a mid-shot showing the pregnant lady alone. This highlights the sense of mistrust and makes the viewer feel the angst in the air, again this is a negative portrayal of the working class as it seems that the families dont trust each other. The close ups used to show the reaction on the peoples faces, placing emphasis on shock and anger.
The other job shown is the barmen working in the pub, again no higher eucation is needed, the audience may think that the working class only perform manual work and not jobs that needs qualifications like a lawyer or businessman. In the pub scene, a two shot is used to show unity between Peggy and Joel, as Joel is helping Peggy. However, the power suit and patronising nature of the fiery woman suggests dominance in their relationship; the woman is telling the man what to do, suggesting that working class women are not suppressed. Here the man is represented as stupid, and the customers are scam artists, a negative representation of eastenders.
The scene features white and asian people with the kitchen part showing them mixing together. This gives the audience a sense of community and cancels out the negative stereotypes of the eastend being racist. As a whole, the community is represented as traditional, they look out for one another and mingle. This is heightened by the traditional decor in the pub and the way Charlie looks out for Stacey.
In Charlies and Staceys scene, a low angle is used to show Charlie as a tall patriarc figure looking over Stacey. The dialogue also suggests concern from the man to the young girl. Also the lighting is low key, this suggests that there could be dark times ahead that Charlie should be concerned about. Strangely a point of view shot is used as Charlie looks into box of memories, here we go on a nostalgic trip and remember better times with him. This scene represents the working class as tight knit and caring, family and family values are important to them.
To create verisimilatude, which is very important in soaps, the scene features everyone weraing casual high street clothing, this is because the working class cannot afford high end clothes and dont need them because they wear a uniform, do manual work or dont work at all.
The scene heavily features colloquial langauge and slang like how they say 'nah' instead of 'no' and have phrases like 'out on the lash'. This can be seen as negative, as it seems the working class have an uneducated lazy way of talking, however it would not be realistic to have eastenders talking in standard English. Also the way the area is represented is true to life with graffiti on the walls and flytipping, working class people may be seen as scruffy or uncaring to their area,
In this small scene, the working class are represented in both positive and negative lights, however this makes the episode more true as no group of people are all good or all bad.