Shameless (Social Class Essay)

In the first scene we see the father character walk down the stairs in dirtied old cloths and filthy hair, speaking in a slurred voice, giving the impression that he is drunk which reinforces the stereotype of underclass people being subjugated to drug and alcohol abuse. To go along with this the camera. To go along with this underclass feel, the location this scene is set in is a run down council house. During this scene the family and the father are having a conversation. This is shown via a shot reverse shot which in turn creates a sense of conflict between them, which is and example of the stereotype of a underclass family being broken or dis-functional. During this conflict between the father and the rest of the family, the father is shown through low angle shots along with the rest of the family being placed lower down from him making him look like the most powerful one in the home. We then see the fathers daughter with, presumably her baby. She is nursing the baby with a bottle. I saw the baby as a sign of innocence and hope in the family's rather bleak situation. Throughout the scene the camera gets progressively more wild and erratic as the father gets angrier. This along with crazy editing the stereotype of  underclass people being dangerous. Even though so far the underclass family has been shown in a negative light, by the end of the extract the editing and camerawork gets a lot calmer, and a calm non-diegetic soundtrack begins to play, making the audience feel sympathy towards the family.

The composition in the next scene shows the family all together outside seeing the arrival of their caravan. This composition used shows the unification of the underclass family. So its challenging the stereotype of broken underclass families. Its around about now that a upper class man in a suit shows up to deal with what a assumed was a will. In juxtaposition between him and the rest of the family makes the more obvious accusation of them being underclass. Its now that the father finds out he was only left £40 in the will of his aunt. Although to anyone else this would be rather devastating but the family just laugh it off. This challenges the sterotype of broken underclass families because they can still come together  by the end in a positive light.