British Soap Opera

Episode aired on 12/09/2011

Representation of Men and Women: Mis En Scene

• Appearance:

• Wearing a suit.

• Looking smart.

• Business man.

• Positioning:

• Male towering above woman – takes up majority of the frame in comparison to the female.

• Facial expression:

• Male looking harsh, menacing - frowning

• Facial expression:

• Female looking happy/ditsy – smiling.

• Appearance:

• Denim jacket

• Blonde hair .

• Plain brick wall

• Game machine

• Looks simple/boring/

cheap.

• Lighting:

• Naturalistic .

Representation of men: Sound

• Bored, uninterested;

Just making conversation

Trying to be polite.

• Talking ‘down’ to woman

• Rude

• Bringing up her past

• Hints at her being a stripper

Representation of men: Camera

• A selection of mid shots and over the shoulder shots –

naturalistic, aids narrative.

• It is more the dominant positioning of the men in the

shot that highlights them rather than the position or movement of the camera.

The representation of the white working class-film

Submarine portrays a husband and wife, the wife a housewife and the man stuck in a dead end job he did not wish to be in, a stereotypical factor of the working class family. The man is shown looking run down, with long hair and a beard to further show his lack of enthusiasm and care for himself. The woman always looks clean and pristine, constantly worrying about her hair, showing she wants change in her life but cannot get out of the rut she is in.

One of the main plots of the story stems from the unhappiness of these roles and the boredom of a never changing daily routine. This is what kick starts the plot, allowing for an interesting change of habit to take place in which all participating parties life's get affected.

The subject of jobs plays a big part in most working class storylines as the people usually do not have jobs (The Full Monty) or the jobs are boring/low paid. This means the characters want a bit of excitement in their life, in the case of “Submarine,” the woman starting an affair. This then allows another story to stem as we watch the son keep an eye on his parents relationship, to try and help revive it and to try and stop it falling apart.

Throughout the film there are scenes of young people smoking, bullying and committing acts of arson. However this is not portrayed in a particularly negative light, as it is shown through the eyes of the pretentious lead, who finds these acts fun and tried to justify them throughout the film by saying it doesn't matter if it is only every now and again.

Near the start of the film we see an overweight girl get bullied out of school by the leads; in response to this the main character writes her a letter advising her on “how not to get bullied.” This is ironic as the lead himself is a victim of bullying and he is alienated from his classmates. The film also portrays gang bullying, in which the girl gets called a “slut” and the boy gets called “gay.” This is something that happens in many films portraying the working class, such as “Fish Tank.”

British Sit-com

The main characters all male, with the prior goal of getting rich, which they attempt to achieve by stealing and committing frauds, which would always end in disaster. This continuous plot line can easily portray a negative representation of all working class families, but as it is evidently a sit-com, it has been overly exaggerated.

Their general costume appears to have a consistent theme, with one of the characters always wearing a fur coat, to give an idea of being rich, but only comes across as a ‘dealer’ with the look of being fake. Another character only wears sluggish, 1990’s clothes, but still comes across as being shabby.

Representation of the Working Class

The third character changes half way through the series, but he wears a ‘miners’ cap, and trench coat, with dark coloured vest tops over shirts. This character also comes across as shabby and poor. All characters are old fashioned, with a sense of pride of themselves, as they are always smoke cigars etc, which portrays them as feeling wealthy, even though they are evidently not, which is being broadcasted as a stereotype for all working class people.

The main characters within the programme are all working class males, living in the known deprived suburban area; Peckham, in South London, which is more commonly known as the ‘poorer’ area.

There is 3 of them, all fully grown, all living in a ‘shabby’ flat together, which has uneven décor and an un-styled theme. Amongst the filth of the apartment lies stolen goods, or items in which they plan to sell off for a profitable value.

Representation of Location

This deprived state of living, and their form of income could come across to the audience as a collective representation of the British working class. However, the audience may take it with ‘a pinch of salt’ as their awareness that the show is a sitcom, may interfere with the portrayal of the working class.

Dialogue and Speech: The accent of all the characters is a typical British/London accent, and they have a tendency to insult, and use foul language, which shows them as a ‘stereotypical’ family within society. However, supported by the props and location, it proves that they are not of a higher class.

Other Points