TV Drama: Representation of Class and Status

What does this clip tell us about class and status ?

Trinity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsQMGnysc5Y

What does this clip tell us about class and status ?

Waking the Dead

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_TuHRj4gqA&feature=related

Lesson Objectives

• Explore representations of class and status in TV Drama

• Evaluate the impact of these representations on the audience

Class War!• As with many terms describing social class, working class is defined

and used in many different ways.

• Working class is a term used in sociology to describe those employed in lower tier jobs, as measured by skill, education and payment.

• It typically refers to a section of society dependent on physical labor, especially when compensated with an hourly wage.

• The term is usually contrasted with the upper class and middle class, in terms of access to economic resources, education and cultural interests.

• Its usage can be derogatory, but many people self-identify as working class and experience a sense of pride.

Class th Class War! e Definition!

• The middle class are any class in the middle of a social schema.

• They are the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socioeconomically between the working class and upper class.

• Usually there is a sense that they are not sure of their place

Class War!

• In sociology an upper class is the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class may have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area, but only to the extent that the power of the state can intervene in free exchange or distort investment. This expression of class refers to access to power through the state or marketplace. The phrase "upper class" has had a complex range of meanings and usages. In many traditional societies, membership of the upper class was hard or even impossible to acquire by any means other than being born into it.

Social Status

• Social status, the position or rank of a person or group within the society, can be determined two ways.

• One can earn their social status by their own achievements, which is known as achieved status.

• Alternatively, one can be placed in the system by their inherited position, which is called ascribed status

Representation – class and status

Definitions and potential examples (Presence and Absence)

Stereotypes

Archetypes

Key Ideologies

Technical Aspects – Camera shots, movement and position likely to be significant

Positive

Negative

Most likely sub genres/ example texts

Technical Aspects – Editing likely to be significant

Technical Aspects – Mise-en-Scene likely to be significant

Technical Aspects – Sound likely to be significant

Middle Class

No Angels

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-lhxcMXwJ0

Working Class

Sub genre most likely to feature in?

Appeal to audience and institution?

Examples of working class characters?

Positive Characteristics of Working Class? Negative Characteristics of Working Class?

Middle Class

Goldplated

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1wJ2oGuTJU

Middle Class

Sub genre most likely to feature in?

Appeal to audience and institution?

Examples of middle class characters?

Positive Characteristics of Middle Class? Negative Characteristics of Middle Class?

Middle Class

Pride and Prejudice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1wJ2oGuTJU

Upper Class

Sub genre most likely to feature in?

Appeal to audience and institution?

Examples of upper class characters?

Positive Characteristics of Upper Class? Negative Characteristics of Upper Class?