Exam Question Plan

Discuss the contemporary representation of a nation, region or social group in the media using specific textual examples from at least 2 media to support your answer.

Introduction:

Identify two examples - cross reference Misfits and Fishtank and say how they both represent the youth of Britain to be corrupt.

Social group - teenagers

Nation - Britain

Region - London. Regions reflect the social group as they are also seen to be corrupt.

Theorist - Marcusse says that the mass media have the power to influence our judgement on social groups.

Main

How 'An Education' shows teenagers in London 1960s are shown to be hardworking and respectful of conservative values. Goes against present representation of London as we only see it to be corrupt in both medias.

Discuss

The contemporary of nations, religion or social groups.

Intro

• mention all three texts that your looking at and what your representation is eg. britishness.
• discuss how the nation has been portrayed through the media and if this is an correct or incorrect portrayal.
  

Main

• Use your textual examples, key scenes, and use TEA to support it.
  

Essay Plan

Discuss the contemporary representation of a nation, region or social group in the media using specific textual examples from at least two media to support your answers.

Intro

Explain the question in relation to what we are going to talk about
Introduce the products that we are going to talk about
- Fish Tank
- MisFits

Main

MisFits and Fish Tank in relation to the representation of nation.
Stereotypical view of british teenagers, and the environment that they live in. It does however in MisFits give a range of ethnic groups and social groups to show the range of society in britain.

MisFits and Fish Tank in relation to the representation of region
Representations of London and places near. Even if the show isn't set in these areas a passive audience automatically applies this representation to London as it is the most well known.

MisFits and Fish Tank in relation to the representation of Social Groups
Propps Character Theory gives lots of the false heros, etc.
Teenagers are stereotypical representations of villains and not very clever in contemporary hows, where as in the 60's and 70's Teenagers are shown as clever and dedicated students.

Plan

Discuss the Contemporary representation of a nation, region, or social group in the media using specific textual examples from at least two media to support your answers.

Introduction- Explain the meaning of contemporary representation and how you will use textual examples to represent nation, region, or social group. Use of FILM + TV
past + present + future representations

Main- 1- Nation. related to misfits and how there are portray as sterotpical teenagers. empathises this by idea of marcusse. mindless audience. passive auidence belive this to be true represent nation in negative way.
2- Region. relate to misfits , area highlights the characters

Prompt 2: How Does Contemporary Representation Compare to Previous Time Periods

In the opening sequence of Episode 1 of MisFits the comedy side of the show is focused around swearing. The Characters are stereotypically represented as negative teenage characters. This plays to the passive audience as they would take this as being the view of all teenagers. This comes into the Theory of Marcuse where he states that audiences are turned into a mindless mass. Also we see a mixed ethnic / social group of characters where as compared to coronation street that contains mainly white middle class characters.

The comedy side of the programme although mainly focused around swearing does also converge on one character who states all of the jokes through the programme. In both coronation street and MisFits it features an Irish character that is the main comedy focus. But this is also seen in Are You Being Served as this contains a gay character who is always the one to deliver comedy to the audience.

The stereotypical representations of the characters are initially shown by the camera angles and shots of the characters through the first minute of the shot. We see close-up of the Chav character, and the gangster character which shows that these are more aggressive characters through their facial expressions. We also see a mid-shot of the Weird Kid, which shows that he is not to be trusted as he stares directly at the camera giving the audience the creeps.

To what extent is human identity increasingly mediated?

Opening of misfits we watch and analysed:

The programme portrays each character as a certain stereotype, for instance, you have the chav, the funny Irish character. Although the show groups them together with the costume of the orange jumpsuit, showing them all to be 'scum'. The chavs are closely associated with violence, the one with the cap quickly gets into a fight, and we learn that the girl is doing community service because she got into a fight at Argos, associating the shop with this group.

Nathan, the irish character, insults and jokes around within the group and is hard to take seriously. This representation is summed up by the theorists Althusser and Marcusse, as they both agree that the mass media has the power to create these stereotypes.

Although we do see some differentiation between each characters as they each have their own item, these being: a cap, a hairbrush, lollypop, mobile phone, a religious necklace and a cigarette. But we can see through the generalisation of these social groups how they are increasingly mediated, making people views on them become warped and one minded.

What are the social implications of different media representations of groups of people?

The TV show Misfits shows the different media representations of britishness through the young, disobedient cast. The opening of episode one highlights the social implications of the characters and their stereotypes primarily through their dress code and body language. For example wear a cap or vest top, or bra showing. The body language of Simon is composed and awkward in comparison to the relaxed stance of other characters, this suggests he is secretive and three dimensional and viewers will learn his personality through the series.
Media theorist Althusser's discusses the concept that audiences are influenced by the characters they watch. He believes collective identity is the key in modern society.

Comparison between 70s comedy and current

How has comedy developed/changed?

The contrast between modern and 70s comedy between MisFits and Are You Being Served (AYBS) show a distinctive change in the cultural humour between the generations. With AYBS, you notice that jokes are based much on the cultural unacceptances for homosexuality for instance which in AYBS is shown as a joke and a minority considered not high in society. The society itself usually is brought up on the traditions and the cultural norms of believing that what is shown is what the general consensus of the public believe. When a comedy is as revered as AYBS, it must have had a huge audience that enjoyed it. With welsh farmers being a joke which can be assumed to be have been funny at the time is usually now not very funny nor is considered much of a joke. Whilst in MisFits there is an interest into the art of discriminating so much that it's harsh but funny, an example of this being the irish character called Nathan.

There is a gentle sense to the presentation of AYBS as well. Showing off high class and posh voices with also in a way, very shallow acting which is very obvious to the audience then very casual, the concept seems very focused on making the audience laugh deliberately and focusing as that being the charm whilst in MisFits on the other hand gives the impression of a story with jokes that fill in to give the audience a casual sense as well so they don't feel too spaced out from them and make it feel more personal and realistic.

Most of all, you'll notice in AYBS the jokes are fairly obvious. There is a non-digetic sound of laughing in place to queue the audience that there was a joke. Reason for this perhaps was to announce that it was funny and was a joke rather then trying to be offensive to keep it's happy mood. Nowadays in the likes of MisFits, the audience have to be active to understand the humour and also allows preference to allow the viewer to see if it's for them or not rather then spoon feeding a reaction making therefore, MisFits more liberating for an audience in contrast to AYBS' way of giving expectations to society of what IS and what ISN'T funny.

Are there any similarities in the comedy?

Comparing are you being served and misfits

How has comedy developed/changed?

- Are you being served was based on everyday events and the comedy was about what people were saying. It focuses on stereotypes and slapstick comedy. A lot of the time we are laughing at someone being embarrassed or humiliated and this is shown through the canned laughter that only the audience can hear but the characters can't hear. Some of the canned laughter is over exaggerated which provides a cue encouraging the audience to laugh and stating that something is supposed to be funny.

-Misfits is based on abnormal events about teenagers discovering they have unusual powers after being struck by lightning. We feel that this is not a stereotypical comedy, however parts of the series are funny. With think that the series was not written to be just a comedy as it also contain serious elements such as murders and the crimes that were committed leading to community service. The humour comes from the characters personalities and the way they talk and react to each other. As teenagers, we can relate to some of the comedy but we are not prompted to laugh as there is no canned laughter because the series was made for a younger audience so it wasn't needed. An older audience would probably not laugh at the comedy in the series as a lot of slang is used and there are references to sex.

Are there any similarities in the com

A comparison between 'Are you being served?' and MisFits.

Are you being served is a comedy series that was created during the 1970's whereas MisFits is a contemporary comedy that has been created in the present. Are you being served is a slapstick comedy. Are you being served typically had a more traditional sitcom comedy style. This means that during the scene, events generate chances for the characters to give a sarcastic comment or some other slapstick action. This is scene during the scene 'Sexy Knickers' we saw a customer trying on a pair of trousers and a character who is a the till rips a piece of paper to make it seem as though the customer has ripped the trousers. This style of comedy, although seems a bit basic and out of date compared to modern day comedy programs, the overall style of using comedy is still used in a similar way today. We see this in Misfits where we see Nathan give sarcastic comments at every opportunity, for example when he talks to his mum about how she shouldn't kick him out, and she says that she needs to give her relationship a chance. Nathan then comes out with a sarcastic comment of 'has Jezza been crying to you at night over me'. This shows that the typical slapstick comedy is still delivered in a similar way to how it was delivered in the 1970's.

But not all comedy is

Comparison Between ~ Are you being served + Misfits.

Both of these examples are from the comedy genre however are from very different time periods. Consequently they contain very different forms of humor. All humor is Based around sexual references, however in are you being served and all comedy in the 1970s the comedy is based around sexual innuendos in comparison to the current comedy where the jokes are more crude, blatant and up-front.
Overall the comedy subject hasn't changed much however the content has become more crude to remain shocking.

How has comedy developed?

Both MisFits and Are you being served feature comedy elements for the audience of that time.

Are you being served typically had a more traditional sitcom comedy style. This means that during the scene, events generate chances for the characters to give a sarcastic comment or some other slapstick action. This is scene during the scene 'Sexy Knickers' we saw a customer trying on a pair of trousers and a character who is a the till rips a piece of paper to make it seem as though the customer has ripped the trousers. This style of comedy, although seems a bit basic and out of date compared to modern day comedy programs, the overall style of using comedy is still used in a similar way today. We see this in Misfits where we see Nathan give sarcastic comments at every opportunity, for example when he talks to his mum about how she shouldn't kick him out, and she says that she needs to give her relationship a chance. Nathan then comes out with a sarcastic comment of 'has Jezza been crying to you at night over me'. This shows that the typical slapstick comedy is still delivered in a similar way to how it was delivered in the 1970's.

But not all comedy is the same between the 70's and now. We find in 'Are you being served' when two of the employees are serving a customer that they use small tricks to try and make clothes bigger, for example putting their knee inside the arms of jackets to make them bigger. The other character then tries this with a pair of trousers and ends up ripping them completely. They then use canned laughter to show that this is a particular comedy event, but now adays this is out of date and not funny enough for today's society. We then find that in todays modern comedies, stereotypes is a key role in producing comedies. This comes through them having 5 characters each with a different stereotype, for example the stereotype of Nathan, the Irish Kid, who is a stereotypical loudmouth character that says things before he thinks. Also the powers mean that they have additional comedy areas to explore. This comes through when we see Alisha's power which is Sexual Pheromone Manipulation, which ends up using sexually styled comedy for the audiences pleasure. This shows that not only are they using stereotypes they are using sexually styled comedy to generate modern day comedy.

The Sexually styled comedy in MisFits is a stereotypical controversial comedy area. This means that Channel 4 have decided to explore a more explicit style of comedy that wouldn't have been acceptable to broadcast in the 70's but is on the edge of what is acceptable now, showing that our perception of comedy seems to have changed to the modern day style of comedy.

Misfits + Are you being served

the comedy in AYBS is very promiscuous and lets the audience connote what each statement means, for examples with the holes in the mans trousers and jacket. MF on the other hand is very blatant comedy, usually it comes through the Irish character Nathan, who's rude adaptations of situations and outbursts are funny to teenage audiences. Both comedies are similar though in the fact that the comedy comes purely through speech, all the characters appear normal in appearance and there's no slapstick element to it. The comedy has changed form over the years but it hasn't changed subject. Sex is the main factor in both but AYBS is more innuendo where, as I've said, MF is blatant and forced in the audience face by the characters.
A difference would be the insulting comedy in MF also towards Simon, who is called a pervert and a twat throughout, and although we shouldn't laugh at someone being insulted, the way its delivered is very comedic.

Comparing Are you being served and Misfits

How has the comedy developed or changed and are there any similarities in the comedy?

The comedy in are you being served is very subtle without the use of swearing of angry/ aggressive behaviour. Instead the comedy used was based on sexual innuendoes and having the line 'Are you being served' asked before any of the staff members talk to each other. Also the comedy style used in this series looks at mocking certain groups of people and the stereotypes/ behaviors. An example of this is the homosexual references and the differences shown between the young and older generations and how they interoperate costumers and their demands.

In contrast to this Misfits uses very rude and open comedy if regular use of swearing and sexual references. However there are elements of the comedy which are more or less the same, an example of this is how the joker of the group is an Irish man and the group member who most of the abuse is aimed at is a man, who is said by the other members to have 'mental issues.' Both of these instances, again are mocking people who are different or have problems.

Is the comedy controversial?

There are parts in both Are you being served and Misfits which could be classed or seen as being controversial. This is because they mock/ abuse minorities within the members of the group.

Also in Misfits death and killing people is put together with comedy which could, to some audience members imply that killing can be fun.

Effects debate

Skins

Skins has influenced young people into partying and the evidence of this is 'Skins Parties' events which they advertise on facebook with an open invite, so that anybody can come.

In one case of a 'Skins Party' one girls invite esculated and ended up with her house being trashed by up to 50 yobs and dog being drugged. Causing £5,000 worth of damage to her parents home. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23445131-the-teen-party-where-50-yobs-trashed-the-house-and-even-drugged-the-family-puppy.do

Effects Debate - SAW

SAW - released 2004, rated 18. Contains strong graphic violence.
Directed by James Wan.




Should images be mediated/censored or should we have a free choice?

We believe that the film would not be suitable for a 14 year old to watch as they may be vulnerable to the images they see. However an 18 year old may have come across similar images later in their life and would not be as naive to the scenes in the film, we therefore think that certification is needed for Saw. However we do not think that images should be censored and that people old enough to watch the film should have a free choice to whether they watch it or not.

If we think films/TV can have a negative impact can the positive impact be as strong?

The positive impact from Saw is that it shows the goodness in people as they are willing to do things and be hurt themselves in order to save other people however they do not have a choice. This impact is not as strong as the negative impact as after watching the film people would be shocked by the images rather than thinking about the positive elements, giving it more reason to be rated an 18.

Do you agree that film/TV can change someones behaviour?

After researching the film, we found that no crimes were committed as a result of watching the film and the film also received more positive reviews than negative reviews. William Usher from Cinemablend said that Saw pushed the controversial boundaries and called it a 'tutorial for sadists to get pleasure from'. We do not agree with this view as we believe that people who have watched it have been genuinely shocked by it and we think that someone who gets pleasure out of watching people get hurt and who's behaviour would change as a result would have to be a bit mentally unstable to begin with.

Do you think the film should be banned?

No, we think that people should be able to chose whether they watch it or not if they are the age it is rated or older.

Effects Debate

Certain images should be mediated, and the choice we have should remain the same. even though it seems ridiculous, as if a 17 and 11 month year old cant take in what an 18 year old can. Things can easily be accessed on the internet also, for example for you-tube you can access videos with explicit violence can be accessed with the tick of box. Also porn is another example of something easy to access even though society deems it unacceptable. But if these ratings did not exist, there would be no boundaries and young children who would have been influenced by power rangers, would find themselves looking up to Leather face and Rambo.


We think the negatives will have more of an influence than the positives, for example if you were to rethink your life the negatives would have a bigger impact. We also agree that TV can change someones behavior, Mario Petrucci said 'Children take their role models from TV characters whilst adults increasingly relate to soaps'. We took our examples from the controversial film Texas Chainsaw Massacre, after the first viewing watchers experienced anxiety and depression whilst after a second viewing found it more enjoyable. This pushes home the point that violence after viewing becomes more acceptable.
We can see from the reactions of these video gamers, their virtual life is treated as if real. The reactions they give portray real feelings for a life that isn't reality.

CHUCKY AND HIS SEED

Chucky is a film about a possessed doll who sets out on a killing rampage. The film shows scenes of intense violence and a lot of blood is seen.

In 1993, a young boy was murdered by two 10 year old schoolboys. UK tabloid newspapers claimed that the attack on James Bulger was inspired by the film Child's Play 3, and campaigned for the rules on "video nasties" to be tightened. The sequel of the Chucky films are all classified as 15s. The classification is correct for these films however not when shown to a younger audience who do not understand the consequences of a murder. Alot of children these days are exposed to violent and gory films or on tv through the media. Some televisions do not have parental locks on and therefore, children can watch anything they aspire too.

Films definately can influence peoples behaviour, as this sort of behaviour has to be watched an learned in order to be carried out. We believe that the accused weren't not soley influence by the film however we feel that the boys would've been mentally unstable to carry out a murder like this.

These films should not be banned because most audiences who they are aimed at are mature enough to watch and not react in the way the films do. They have their own mind and are able to make their own decisions without necessarily being affected or biased by the footage.

" THERE were echoes of the James Bulger murder yesterday when the court heard that the two accused brothers watched pornographic and 'extremely violent' horror films at home.Among them were the Child's Play movies featuring a demonic doll called Chucky, who comes to life and kills people.Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, the young killers of James Bulger, also watched the Chucky films, their 1993 trial heard.Others seen by the brothers were the Saw movies which feature explicit scenes of torture." Daily Mail Jan 22th 2010

Effects Debate

A clockwork orange

A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 darkly satirical scifi film adaptation of Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel A Clockwork Orange. The film concerns Alex (Malcolm McDowell), a charismatic, psychopathic delinquent whose pleasures are classical music (especially Beethoven), rape, and Ultra-violence. He leads a small gang of thugs (Pete, Georgie, and Dim), whom he calls his droogs. The film tells the horrific crime spree of his gang, his capture, and attempted rehabilitation via a controversial psychological conditioning technique. Alex narrates most of the film in Nadsat, a fractured, contemporary adolescent argot comprising Slavic, English, and Cockney Rhyming slang.

This film was withdrawn by Kubrick himself as his family along with himself were getting too many death threats. It was only after his death that it was shown again in cinemas and put on DVD and VCR.

The British authorities considered the sexual violence extreme, furthermore, there occurred legal claims that the movie A Clockwork Orange had inspired true copycat behavior, as per press cuttings at the British Film Institute. In March 1972, at trial, the prosecutor accusing the fourteen-year-old-boy defendant of the manslaughter of a classmate, referred to A Clockwork Orange, telling the judge that the case had a macabre relevance to the film. The attacker, a Bletchly boy of sixteen, pleaded guilty after telling police that friends had told him of the film “and the beating up of an old boy like this one”; defence counsel told the trial “the link between this crime and sensational literature, particularly A Clockwork Orange, is established beyond reasonable doubt”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article782393.ece

Three Spanish teenagers fascinated by the film Clockwork Orange burnt a homeless woman to death for kicks.

Popular belief was that those copycat attacks led Kubrick to withdraw the film from distribution in the United Kingdom, however, in a television documentary, made after his death, widow Christiane confirmed rumours that he withdrew A Clockwork Orange on police advice, after threats against him and family (the source of those threats are undiscussed).

After watching this film, it is shown why some people can be upset or offended by this film. we agree with certification to a certain extent but we do not agree with censoring as we believe that when you hit the age of 18 you should be sensible and mature enough not to be influenced by what you are witnessing.

Effects Debate

We chose to evaluate South Park episodes 200 and 201 as there are various debates and controversial issues which have been raised due to the use of the prophet mohammed as a character.

In the episode 200 the images of mohammed were uncensored as his character was dressed in a bear costume and as a result his face not seen. Following the story plot into episode 201 which was aired on 21st April 2010 on comedy central he is seen in a black censored box.

Following this episode there was a mass response from various communities including the Muslim population. It was taken to such an extent that al Amrikee wrote an April 15 entry on his Twitter page: "May Allah kill Matt Stone and Trey Parker (the cartoon creators) and burn them in Hell for all eternity. They insult our prophets Muhammad, Jesus, and Moses. As well as this a Muslim Organization threatened to kill the cartoon creators if they continued to show the episode with mohammed in shot.

As well as seeing the prophet mohammed in the episodes, we also see Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Joseph Smith, Krishna, Lao Tzu, and Sea Man. These characters have not had the same response to the extent of mohammed has even though they are all treated the same in the episode. This shows that it has become more acceptable to make comedy out of these faiths.

With all this happening it is clear why channel have been forced to censor material which is seen as others to be rude or discriminative, even though it is only a small percentage of the viewing figures who complain or who are affected. Because of this we feel that censoring is not a good idea and that people should be allowed to make up their own decisions whether they watch the program or not. However having an age rating is necessary as it cuts down the amount of exposure to violence that younger generations have.

Following on from this we don't think that films should be banned and that, again people should choose what they watch and when without other people dictating.

The Effects Of Manhunt 2

Manhunt 2 was banned in the UK due to Excessive violence however this ban was later lifted due to the public's protest to the BBFC forcing them the certify as legal to sell. This is because all video game bans only prevent the games from being sold, buying and playing the game will always be legal unless the game is banned worldwide.
Being developed by Take-Two Interactive, the same development team as the grand theft auto team, the game already has a violent reputation. After being praised for the immense graphics from RAGE, the game building software used on both manhunt and GTA, the game has huge publicity. This publicity soon rejected the game in society in response to mass murders that are believed to have been influenced by the game. the Hungerford Massacre is a perfect example of the violent influences the game has on players.

We feel there should be stricter restrictions on modern violence in video games. The negative impact Manhunt had on Robert Ryan is believed to have triggered the wave of attacks and doesn't compliment the graphics and game features which are the positive impact of the game.
Our group believe the BBFC ratings should have strickter guidelines on which games are suitable for different age groups. Advertising companies shouldn't appeal to incorrect age groups and in response to the manhunt influences, rating companies shouldn't be afraid to ban video games or discourage gamers to buy inappropriate games.

Mikey - Effects Debate

For the Effects Debate, we have chosen to research about the film 'Mikey' (1993). The film featured a little boy called Mikey Holt, who was adopted by a family, who expected him to be the kind kid they saw him to be. But instead Mikey hid his actual intentions, where it turned out he was a murderous psychopath. He ended up killing nearly all of the main cast and faking his own death, just so that he managed to escape capture and get adopted again.

The controversy around this film, mainly came from the coincidence of its release with the Jamie Bulger case where a little boy is stolen and beaten to death by two young boys. The British Government believed that the film could spur other kids to act violently towards each other.

The film was originally passed as an 18 by the BBFC. But after the Jamie Bulger case, the daily mail announced that the upcoming release of Mikey also featured a child killer. Other films had already been blamed for the violence of the two young children in the case, and so a scared BBFC director was forced to revoke the 18 certificate and the film became officially banned. (Source: The Independant)

From this film it is clear that governments feel that some films, such as this one, should be mediated due to events happening in a particular country at that time. I think a similar example would be a film showing planes crashing into a landmark due to terrorism being banned after 9/11. But to a certain extent other films that have been banned, without a relating event such as a murder, shouldn't be banned, unless the public oppose the release of the film. So this shows that to a certain extent Mediation and Censorship is good, but only to a certain extent.

We think that in relation to the publics view of a film the positive impact of a film can be as strong as the negative impact of a film, but we also believe that the media play a part in emphasising the negative impact more than the positive impact making it seem as though there is an imbalance.

In respect to the question that media can change someone's behaviour? we believe that types of media like, film, TV, games, etc. can in some respects change someone's behaviour for example someone who watches a lot of action films or plays a lot of action games may become so addictive that their behaviour changes to suit what they see in these media sources. But we think that the main behaviour related problem is that if someone is inclined to behave badly or are likely to commit a murder in their nature, then media sources featuring death, killing, torture, etc. could ignite the underlying part of their nature and make them commit a similar style murder/torture. We believe that this is a reason that the british government had for banning the film Mikey.

We believe that the film Mikey, had a justified reason for the film to be banned, but we feel that this could have been released a few years later after the event as the film itself hadn't had any effect on the children in the Jamie Bulger case, but the government saw that it could spur others to commit a similar crime.

Red Riding

The key scene i have decided to look into is the scene when we are first introduced to the journalist entering a pub. The pub is very badly lit and full of smoke by middle aged men who are smoking cigarettes or cigars. This is a good example of how 1974 pubs would be like as most people would go on their lunch break to the pub and have a drink. The bad lighting creates shadows and gives it a dim feel to the place and it doesn't seem very welcoming. The smoke gives it a musty, old feeling to it and shows that its old because we now have the smoking ban in place.

The journalist, Dunford, is wearing smart but casual clothing, in browns and greens which was quite popular in those days. Many of the other characters in the pub are either in suits or similar clothing to Dunford which suggest that they cared what they looked like and obviously, it was popular at the time.

The dialogue is quite limited to work and their families and their accents are yorkshire. Their is not much said between them in the pub as they continue their conversations back at work. THe dim mise-en-scene of the 1970s suggest that it wasnt a welcoming place as the pubs are smoking and badly lit.

<><>Red Riding Evaluation<><> First Bar Scene.

The scene we have chosen to evaluate is the First bar scene. In this scene it becomes clear to the viewer that this show is set in the 1970s. this is made clear to the viewer through the use of mise-en-scene, characters used to represent the time period.

A first example of the mise-en-scene is the highly accurate setting, the clothing of the charcters is wht we would expect to see from the time period, second fctor which makes the scene look authentic is the lighting used, this gives the scene an eerie and gritty feel characteristic of the time period.
A second example would be the objectification of women, In this scene every man is smoking and holding pints of lager and being loud, while the women are all sitting down in the corners in much smaller parts not enjoying themselves as much.

Red Riding Evaluation

The scene I have selected to evaluate the time period and location is where Dunford bursts into the newspaper office to see his boss who is engaged in a conversation with another journalist. Primarily, the mise-en-scene is used to portray the noir style and to represent the time period of the 1970s. The colour scheme in the office is dull and basic and the costumes are simplistic and monotonous, the weather also contributes to the gloomy atmosphere bu using pathetic fallacy. This visual dark look reflects the mysterious undertone and corruption within the officials of society. Further factors add to the narrative and location such as dialogue. The accents used are strong yorkshire accents.

Red Riding Key Scene

When Dunford went into a residential area in Yorkshire to talk to the person who found the first dead girl on the building site, It showed all the houses looked the same; gray, square buildings and also the weather is overcast showing that the areas where not necessarily nice places to live. this is also shown by the park or green area in front of the houses was covered in burnt patches and rubble and burnt out cars, where there are children hitting the cars and destroying other things, this also shows that children had more freedom to as they wanted and there there pearents were less concerned with where there children where. and inside the house the decor was very plan and there were not that many ornaments or things that did not have any use to show that money was less readily available and people only got what they needed, also there was a large gas heater dominating the room as it was the only heat source. An other in which it was shown that money was hard to come by was that there was a man around twenty still living at home and working when ever he could at the building site.

Red Rider - How time period is set

The scene were Dunford drives home to see his family, we see his authentic 'Morris' car and his dark heavy suit, which supports the tome period of the 70's. We also see him enter an under developed estate, with dark mise en scene and old stone building materials. There are other older cars down the street as he enters. The house its decorated in a dark green colour and has beige wallpaper, we'd relate this design to older houses as newer designs always seem brighter. his family all wear similar clothes to his, and style their hair in a conventional way; His male family all have greased back hair for example. The representation makes the 70's look unwelcoming to live in, due to the dark mise en scene and the corrupt representation of the police and news.

An Education

INTRO

Key scenes and give synopsis, Mention how the film uses stereotypes to Create a romanticized View of 1960's London, this film highlights the importance of Education and the family unit.

POINTS

• Key Scenes - Scene in club - glamorous lifestyle only available to Jenny because of David.

• Kitchen scene - doesn't need to go to university anymore because she has a rich husband now. This contradicts everything they said previously about needing a education.

Contrast Alfie

• Families (leaving Lady And Kid) when Alfie leaves the children and Gilda it highlights how important family is in 1960s Britain. This is in contrast to an education. Contrast working class to middle class. Careers in An Education
  

• Contrast to Fish Tank; corrupt family. Difference in family priorities.
  

Conclusion

• Refer to question
• Family priorities - husband is essential
• Family moralities/strong family unit
• Jenny doesn't take responsibility

Question

To what extent does the film represent the collective identity of the British Working class in a negative way?

PLAN

Two key scenes:

- Party

- Daughters and Mother Scene

Introduction:

Fish Tank represents British working class negatively through 2 key scenes (party scene and dancing at the end). Throughout the film we see Mia becoming more trapped in the underprivileged situation she is in. We see how the British working classes living standards, family life and relationships affect different characters.

Scene 1

The party scene represents the british working class as alcoholic, sexually active and abusive people who have no respect for themselves, their actions and what their emotional impact on others watching might be. An example of this would be Mia's mum who has organised this party and has forcefully told her children to disappear during the party. When she sees Mia downstairs she yells at her and pinches her to make her go upstairs and be out of the way, treating them like rubbish that needs to be out of the way./

Scene 2

The dancing scene represents a lovely hug between mother and daughter. The dance is like a hug because they both have a dancing talent in common. Mias little sister Tyler, also is involved in the dance and it shows the first connection in the film shared between the whole family. Mia and her mum aren't close enough to speak about feelings so instead the love is shared through dancing instead of words.

To conclude :

party scenes shows british society as alcoholics, sexually active and rude people. Also represents them as having no respect for themselves and other people.

Dancing scene shows for the first time family unity in the film, with MIa and her mother not close at all, the love between mother and daughter is reflected through dance.

However this is not a true representation of British society

Barthes Theory - An Education

In the film An Education we can see representation from this theory for example we can see The College or her uniform as a signifier. The relationship between these two is a controlled and educated teenage life . I would say the relationship between the two is the education side, it shows girls heading for high grades and wanted to go to well known unis such as oxford. I interpret it as a slightly snobbish upper class British representation of what an education should be like.
Another scene you could apply this theory to would be the one where David is taking the family out, then Jenny find the letters in his car. This signified that David was married, which meant the relationship that he was a liar and a cheat. I interpreted this as David being a through and through liar as it isn't the first time he does it in the film, he cannot be trusted.

Roland Barthes - Semeology (FISH TANK)

The theory portrayed by Roland Barthes shows the messages and narrative within Fish Tank.
Signifier - Area/Neighborhood
Signified - No escape from inevitable future
Semeology - The relationship between signifier and signified is that

Roland Barthes Semiology

Fish Tank

We chose the scene when Mia finds the horse.

Signifier = the horse

Signified = Horses are expensive so it suggests that they may have stolen it or were better of in life at an earlier stage.

Sign = Mia wants to help the horse as it is in a bad environment which is similar to herself.

Roland Barthes Theory

Fish Tank

The scene i have chosen is when Mia first comes across the horse.

Signifier - The horse

Signified - Proves that at some stage the owners had money as horses are expensive, possibly farm owners or owned by people who live in the country as horses need space.

Sign - Shows the poorness of the area as the horse is old, weak and very skinny, standing tied to a concrete block in a abandoned site. Horses are normally seen as being strong and powerful.

Semiology

ROBIN HOOD EXAMPLE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSqL9ygBCck

trailer

Signifier- bow and arrow
signified- medieval weapon
Semiology- used to battle/ defend in medieval times
Sign- symbol of robin hood. His bow and arrow symbols the fight against the barron to save the communtiy

Roland Barthes Theory

In Fish Tank, there are several very key Roland theories.
The clip where the family are dancing together, this shows the fact that dance and music talks more than words. The daughter and mother fight all the time, but when they start dancing they are calm and for a second really love and respect each other. Then as soon as the dancing stops the mother feels the need to shout and be angry again. It also shows how sad a life can be if the family finds it hard to get along. The dance is a release of anger and aggression, this is turned into love and mutual respect.

Fish Tank - Ronald Barthes Theory

We have chosen to look at the scene where Mia tries to set the horse free.

Signifier: Mia and the horse

Signified: The horse is innocent in a helpless situation when it should be wild and free.

Semiology: Mia and the horse both feel helpless and they don't have much of a life. Mia becomes quite attached to the horse.

Sign: Show's that Mia cares about the horse even though it appears that she doesn't care about anyone. She makes numerous attempts to save it and set if free. She feels sorry for it and maybe feels that its her job to set the horse free as no one else knows it is there and the owners don't care about the welfare of the horse.

Roland Barthes - Semiology [FISH TANK]

The Theory portrayed by Roland Barthes Leads us to believe that each situation in the film has a Signifier, a Signified and a Sign. This theory can be seen in Fish Tank, One example of this is the scene where she finds a horse, the chained up horse is set to symbolize her and how she is trapped by being poor.
Signifier - Chained up Horse.
Signified - Chained down like she is in society.
Sign - Poverty has put them both in this position. They cannot escape.

Semiology - Fish Tank

In the party scene towards the beginning of the film we see that the flat has lots of Alcohol littered around and each person at the party has a bottle of alcohol in their hand.

In terms of Roland Barthes' Semiology Theory we see that this has a few different meanings about the environment that the characters live in.

Signifier - Lots of Alcohol

Signified - The meaning of lots of alcohol is that the scene could be a party scene, characters drowning their sorrows by getting drunk or possible alcoholism in some if not all of the characters.

Sign - The interpretation of the signifier and signified is that the environment could be a wealthy environment as there is lots of alcohol, but with a closer look at the alcohol we see that it is cheaper alcohol versions of cider, vodka and beer rather than well known brands. This shows that the environment is actually not a wealthy environment. Also we could interpret that the characters are not well educated, as they turn to drink most of the time, as well as a potential abusive environment due to alcoholism. This matches the actual environment that the characters live in with it showing a mainly drunk environment and an abusive environment from Mia's Mum.

Roland Bathes theory - Fish tank.

In fish tank there is a horse attached to chains that Mia makes several attempts to free. The horse signifies Mia in a way that it is usually an animal represented as free but is stuck on a chain & so cant do so, which is how Mia feels that she wants to be free but is stuck cooped up in a council estate where her mum would keep her upstairs when she'd have parties and punish her if she came down. It could also show innocence as it is white showing Mia's innocence as it dies after she sleeps with Connor.

Fish Tank Location

Even though i missed the main film, I think that the locations would have a heavy part tot play in the connotation of characters and atmosphere. Council estates are, stereotypically, where most crimes happen due to the majority of the population being poorer and in less specialized jobs. When you see the establishing shots of the area, you already have an idea of what to expect from the story and characters, especially if at some point in your life, you have lived on an estate. Even though the action is probably over-exaggerated, the location helps to make the happeneings more believable, and maybe even relate-able.

Eample Questions

Eample Questions

Fish Tank

Which characters do you like and why?

In the film Fish Tank we liked Mia's little sister Tyler because she is easy to identify with and you are made to feel sorry for her as she seems to have to fend for herself. In one scene we see her in her sister's room smoking with her friend which shows she is perhaps easily influenced by her mum and sister. Mia and her mum are busy doing other things so a lot of the time Tyler is looking after herself.
We also liked the the traveler Billy. When he and his brothers first met Mia they were horrible to her and stole her things, but Billy was the one to give them back and he befriended Mia throughout the film. Even though Mia is quite rude to him he always seems to want to hang out with her and be there for her.

What image of British females does this film portray?

The film portrays the image that British females sleep around and have no respect for themselves. Mia's mum is often seen wondering round in her underwear smoking in front of men and her daughters. She gets together with a man called Connor who develops a liking for her daughter Mia. Even though Mia knows that Connor is with her mum and that she is underage she sleeps with him while her mum is in the house.
There is a scene where Mia goes for a dance audition and we see women wearing barely anything dancing in front of men and women. It gives us the impression that they don't care what other people think of them and that they are confident in themselves to get up and dance infront of other people.

What could the significance of the locations be?

Fish Tank is filmed in Barking in London. It is filmed at a block of flats which look like they could be on a council estate. This location could be quite significant as it is obviously not a wealthy place and it is probably a place where there is a high crime rate. The location could also influence the way the characters in the film are bought up and the values they are taught by their parents and people around them. In the film we see a scene showing a view of the flats, we see children of a young age and their parents smoking and playing loud music which suggests to us that if children are experiencing this at such a young age they are likely to copy this kind of behaviour when they are older.

Fish Tank

The characters were based in a very stereotypical housing state in Essex. With the mouthy 15 year old whom couldn't reason with people, but could in the sense she had emotion. The mother came across as a mum whom had Mia when she was pretty young. How she treats her as if she isn't part of her life and that she wants to enjoy her life without having to care for her children to an extent, showing not much of a motherly figure, depsite though helping Mia get into a school, which the youngest daughter phrased it as "A place full of retarded skanks".


The film represents british females as being short tempered, being very two faced, being very sexually charged. You see two scenes of a sexual nature in this film, both showing Connor having sex with the mother of Mia and also with Mia.


The locations represent a sense of restriction. This restriction is personified by how everyone is very angry and short tempered throughout the film. Connor although living in a nice area of Essex in Tilbury is more relaxed and knows how to unwind which makes him more relaxed as an individual.

Fish Tank

• Which character did you like & Why?

Billy; Because he was looking out for her... setting of the dog to distract his brothers and let her escape & Gives back her stuff that his brothers took from her, he offered to come with her to Tilbury (Conner's) & asked her to go to wales with him which let her get away from her family & everything that had just happened.

• What image of British females does this film portray?

The film shows stereotypical women from a council estate. Mia's mother is shown single mother who is often drunk and then brings home random men (being her new boyfriend Conner), She also throws a party with her friends and makes her kids stay upstairs & when Mia comes down she finds people trying to get with each other who are just there for sex and drink. Her younger sister Tyler acts older than she is drinking & Smoking laying in the sun trying to catch a tan. The girls at the park who are Mia's age seem to just want to impress boys by dancing and are bitchy with Mia. Mia isn't like the girls on her estate and is more of a tomboy headbutting another girl in the nose in an argument, going into the lake to catch a fish unlike her mother & sister, She also has an ambition to become a professional dancer, although Mia also drinks often like her family members and other people on the estate.
Kiera (Conner's daughter) is near to Tyler's age and is how you'd expect someone of that age to be playing and dressing up instead of drinking and smoking and is immature compared to her.

• What could the significance of the locations be?

Mia's estate: Shows the stereotypical image of a council estate. With the people on the estate not seeming to care, drinking, smoking, swearing even at a young age.
Tilbury (Conner's Home): It seems like a higher class area than where Mia comes from and they look down on her there i.e. When she is walking through Tilbury to find Conner's house a woman walks past and gives her a dirty look just from looking at Mia.

Fish Tank

Which characters do you like and why?

I like Billy because he looked out for Mia as he let the dog go as a distraction against his brothers. He gives back her bag when they take it off her and even offers to go to Tilbury with her. He invites her to whales at the end of the movie aswell.

What image of British females does this film portray?

The women in this film are portrayed to be very stereotypical 'chavs' as all of the female residents on the rundown London council estate are wearing tracksuits and lots of jewelery. To add to this they spend most of their day in groups on the streets drinking and taking drugs while their parents are no where to be seen. The females in the film are also made to be looked at as sexual objects by the males. This can be seen by how some of the older aged girls on the street wear less clothes when dancing while a large group of males sit and watch, themselves topless. This idea can also be seen in the scene when Mia comes down stairs and starts talking to her mums new boyfriend. Following this the new boyfriend becomes intermate with her even through he is going out with her mum and she is under age.

What could the significance of the locations be?

The locations are very important because they add to the sterotypes which this film is largely based on. For example the same atmosphere would not to created if the 'chav' population of the film would not live on a council estate as this is the place where sterotypes place them.

An Education (The Good Film)

Distributed by:

• Sony Pictures Classics (USA)

Budget:

• $7.5 million

Produced by:

• Finola Dwyer
• Amanda Posey
• Douglas Hansen
• Wendy Japhet
• Jamie Laurenson
• Caroline Levy
• James D. Stern
• David M. Thompson.

Release date(s):

• 18 January 2009 (sundance)
• 30 October 2009

Marketing:

• Sundance Festival

An Education - Research

- The film An Education was produced by BBC Films in the UK and Endgame Entertainment in the US. It was distributed by E1 Entertainment and Sony Pictures Classic in the US.

- The budget for the film was $7.5 million

- The film was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in America on the 18th January 2009. It was then released in the UK on the 20th October 2009. It may have been released at an early date in the USA as they have the biggest cinema going population and if the film was successful there then we would hear about it in the UK

- It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Motion Picture of the Year and Carey Mulligan won a BAFTA for Best Leading Actress. This would have helped market the film as they would have shown these awards on the advertisements such as posters and bill boards and also would have put it on the DVD cover.

- An Education was released at 763 theaters

Selected Scene: Kitchen drying dishes
In this scene Jenny's father is explaining that securing a place at Oxford University is no longer vital as her newly found boyfriend; David, can provide for her. This follows Sheldon Stryker's theory that we interact with others in order to create identity; Jenny has entered into a much different lifestyle since interacting with David when before she has been under the collective identity of a young school girl who works for an education instead of having fun. The scene emphasises the change in collective identity.

Theory Examples...

SHELDON STRYKER: They are caring about her education as it was very important to the parents and children in those days. This is a great example of his theory because it proves that they followed what was 'meant' to happen.

MARCUSE: Through out the film there is no need to question anything so it becomes passive and preferred.

ALTHUSSER: They relish in 'British' things and celebrate/parade their wonders.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn9IMe5jmf0

An Education

The clip we have chosen is the scene when David is first introduced to Jennies parents.

Sheldon Stryker:

Strykers theory is shown in this clip as it is when Jenny introduces David to her parents. People develop a consistant set of behaviours and introducing a new boyfriend to the females parents is a very important aspect of life.

Althusser:

The parents seem to be happy with their daughters choice in men and you can tell they feel that he would be a good husband and thus look after her and support her. This is normal for that era in time because women were expected to be wives and mothers first opposed to getting a job.

Marcuse:

steven was meant to do this one.

Collective indentity theory

SHELDON STRYKER

Basically she is sixteen but shes acting mature. She is socialising with characters of a much older mature age. For example when they talk about whether jennie and david have had sexual relations.

ALTHUSSER - Interpellation

She starts to act differently and they influence her to start smoking and dressing as if she were of a older more sophisticated age.

MARCUSE

People think that it is good that she is spending time with more mature characters and with a man with lots of dollar, because he will be able to provide for her instead of her going to university .

An Education - You're a Lucky Man!

You're a lucky man!

The scene shown here is the first time when the parents of Jenny meet David, which

whilst meeting him, there is a sense of tension. The clip demonstrates a stereotypical

example of the daughter showing his mum and dad his boyfriend. But unstereotypically,

David is jewish and he is pretty old whilst Jenny's parents expected someone younger perhaps.

This scene shows references of Althusser's principle, because this clip identifies the characters

identifying with common rituals played when in the process of meeting someone instrumental

to the family.

Plus, Macuse could have an impact on a passive audience whom in some societies do the same

ritual and allow a newcomer into the house and speak to them. Plus, reference to when Jenny brought

round Graham and they had dinner with the family with the stereotypical conversations of what you

do and what exactly he wants to do, possibly go to university in which Graham says he would prefer

to go on a gap year, which, in this society today is considered constructive and understandable but

in the 1960s was looked in more of a taboo by some high class families based on success. Marcuse'

principal also comes into play here with even now, gap years being viewed by some audiences as

a waste of time.

An Education.

Sheldon Stryker: The norm in society and what her parents wanted was for her to get an education and go to university to be independent and self sufficient, But she went against this and wanted to travel with the older people she had met and saw her education as pointless and boring.

Althusser: She decided that she didn't want to follow everyone else and conform to societies expectations with going to university so went against this. However, when David had asked her to marry him, her family didn't care about her throwing her education away as she could live off him and his wealth. She only realised that she had thrown it all away and done the wrong thing when she discovered that he was already married.

Marcuse: The audience can be both passive and active. They could be passive in the sense that they dont have a say in what she does as its in the past and accept what she is doing, but active as they can see she is making a mistake in choosing this man over her education and are questioning what he wants her for, how long it will last, and if its worth it.

Alfie - By JJ And Scott

The clip where Alfie walks into the Church and sees Gilda with her new husband, getting a new baby christened shows family values, that Alfie failed to recognize. Gilda does what society expects of her, be a loving christian mother whilst the father takes care of the up-keeping of the family. This is a stereotypical view of the family identity of the time. The Scene conforms to Strykers Theory agrees with the family group being represented as a collective which constitutes to the behavior and expectations. If we take Marcuse's Theory into consideration, all we would be seeing is a males representation of the 60's and it would take more than a passive audience to read into the family values that are portrayed.
Althussers theory would require us to recognize that having a baby outside of marriage is unaccepted in society.

Alfie Collective Idea Theory

± The scene where Lily has an abortion in the kitchen of Alfie's house is perfect for highlighting the family values that are expected within society. The moral and social expectations of the 1960s are that women cannot conceive a child outside their marriage, it was highly illegal in the 1960s but is merely frowned upon in modern times. Masculinity is also portrayed in Alfie in the scene in the bar/pub.

Alfie and Family Values

SCENE: Gilda tells Alfie she is pregnant (Family Values)

Sheldon Stryker
In this scene Gilda thinks it is important for her and Alfie to get married now that she is pregnant as family values are important to her. During this time it became a society expectation that women should be married before having children and that they should stay at home and look after the children while the man is out working.

Althusser
Gilda recognises that it is expected of women to be married as when she goes to have the baby at the hospital she pretends to be married to Alfie and uses his surname as she was afraid that people would look down on her for having no husband.

Marcuse
The prescribed attitude would be that Gilda should marry Alfie in order to meet societies expectations.

Alfie -Family Values

The particular scene we are looking at is: when Gilda's youngest son is being christened and Alfie is seen looking over as Gilda's recently wedded husband Humphrey takes on the fatherly role.

Sheldon Stryker implies that other people in society effect or identity. Where being societies expectations reinforce and affect actions that individuals take. This theory is evident in this scene as although Gilda isn't genuinely in love with Humphrey, she has merely settled down with him in order to conform to societies expectations. Humphrey is seen to be taking the main father role model within the family replacing alfie's position therefore complying to the traditional gender roles within the family during this particular period.

Althusser implies that the media portrays the particular representation that children should be christened and part of a traditional family. during this clip we witness alfie overlooking this stereotypical representation of a 60's family.

following on from Althusser the audience are led to believe this representation is to be 100% accurate and true.

Alfie.

Gilda. Family Values.
Became pregnant out of wedlock with Alfie. She was then going to give her son away once he was born but then changed her mind. Alfie wasn't willing to marry her or be a constant father figure in his sons life, only at weekends. So she married a man who loved her but she didnt love him however respected him.

Marcuse's Theory- She didn't have the perscribed attitude that the media carry out as she was pregnant out of wedlock and worked, which wasn't the norm for women of this time.

Althusser's Theory - She realised that being pregnant out of wedlock was frowned apon and so she decided to marry a man who she didn't love just to conform to this (Bus Conductor).

Stryker's Theory - She got the baby baptised which societies expectations that every child was baptised so she felt that she had to live up to this.

Alfie

Changing Role of Women

The clip we have chosen is: Where Alfie and Gilder have an argument over her keeping the baby and getting a new job to support him.

Sheldon Stryker:

His theory can be seen in this clip because Gilder is expected to keep the baby and wants to keep the baby but Alfie is trying to talk her out of it though it is society's expectations to keep the baby.

Althusser:

His theory can be see in this clip because guilder recgonises thats she is the childs mother and is expected to keep the baby and marry the father because which is what society expects.

Marcuse:

His theory can be seen in this clip as he mentions that media carry certain emotional reactions which can be shown through Gilder getting a job and looking after the baby, pretty much on her own. This would trigger emotion as its quite sad as she would normally have a husband who would help out instead of having a guy like Alfie.

Alfie - Relationships

Relationships - In the scene between Alfie and Annie, the first one we see shows a good relationship typical of 1960s culture in which the women is doing the cleaning and the man is going out to do work. But obviously, Annie doesn't know this isn't exactly a job she would approve of. Marcuse refers to how mass media gives a false representation of culture in the time it is set and hence makes us believe that if we were a passive audience, we'd believe that it would be standard for the husband to go out and work by the means of sleeping with other women. In response to Althusser's notion of interpellation allows us to recognise Annie's role as a traditional female role in the household set in 1960s.

Also, to refer to Stryker's discipline, we can term Annie as the typical housewife. Plus in relation to Althusser's notion, then Annie would probably identify with this role.

Collective Idenity Theory - Alfie

SHELDON STRYKER:

Family Values: Women were expected to be married and have a family to have a baby, not take the pill or modern contraception, not have affairs and be a mother as their job, be treated with less respect. This are shown in several clips with in the film: Woman hiding affair/ Alfie parades it about, Lady has to put second name so doesn't look like she is actually single - which is frowned upon.
Masculinity: This is also shown very well in the scene between Alfie and his friends, where they start questioning his masculinity because he has a woman cooking and cleaning for him. This is what men were meant to believe as they wanted to be masculine...which conceives of not being told what to do, living on their own and being total 'men'!

ALTHUSSER:

Relationships: This is shown by Alfie who constantly describes and is proud of being the type of relationships and others that were happening in Britain at that time. This is through out the film at several different points when he talks to the camera.

MARCUSE:

Changing Role Of Women: The viewer of this era (2010) sees the film and just takes in the information that women were treated that way, as it doesn't happen as much or as severe. They become mindless as we are less mentally challenged now so we are used to watching quite boring and passive films of today.