Representation of disability

How is representation of age constructed in this extract?

Two older men are sitting at a pub table and the oldest looking man thanks him, and he starts to say that it is a different world these days and that technology has improved, that there's new computers and key cards, this is being stereotypical to old people and its saying that the older generation are not familiar with new technology and they don't know how to use it. 

And the other man adds to that saying "are other people just getting younger or are we getting older" which agrees with what the other man had said. 

Then the two men start talking about retiring and this also is quite stereotypical because not all old people have to be retired some may want to keep working. Then the other man talks about moving back to India because he's now retired and he wants to settle in with the money they have saved up and with the pension that is being given to him and his wife. 

The other man then goes to a group of people and discusses about some guy who's got a sweatshop in India and is humiliating and attacking his workers. The people working for him seem to be older and he's far younger, this shows that the younger generation are disrespectful towards their elders and they think they can do anything they want because they are wealthier and believe they have more power.

How do the 2 extracts construct representations of social class? Refer to the micro-elements.

In outnumbered the social class represented is a middle class family. The family is made up of five members, three males and two females. The scene begins in a living room and immediately as we see the living room we assume that it is a middle class family, because they have good furniture. Also the oldest son and the father are playing on their wii and this shows that they are able to afford a wii, which also shows that they are a middle class family. 

The boys seem to be quite close with their father, because they're playing wii together and most parents don't play games as a family anymore, the boys seem to be in their teenage years and most teenagers have their own problems and don't tend to spend time with their parents. Also it shows that they are close because the father is very bad at the game they're playing and boys are pointing it out and making him feel bad, and he's defending himself, and they're advising him on how to play. But they're doing it in a friendly way as a joke.

The scene then moves to the kitchen, where the mother is talking to the daughter. And the daughter is doing her homework, and most children don't want to do their homework but this child is is doing her homework straight after dinner, this shows that the parents are bringing up their children and they want them to be educated. The mother seems to be close with her daughter, and the mother is currently working and the daughter doesn't want her to work and makes up excuses for her mother to stay home.


The mother then enters the living room and the father turns around to look at his son and he's on his phone and he's complaining to the mother and turns around to see her on the phone too. In that scene there was a close up of the fathers face and of the son and his wife, this close up is used to show us how he is feeling. And also a medium shot is used on the family this is to show that all the people in the family have power equally.

In this scene of Eastenders, the social groups shown are working class families. There are three groups of people shown in this episode. The episode starts with Whitney, who is dressed very casually and people would say she would come under the group of people named 'chavs'. Whitney has walked in on a boy having sexual intercourse with another girl, and after seeing this Whitney storms out and she must mean a lot to the boy because he runs after her, but she still leaves.


The scene is then cut and moves to a group of old people, who are trying out a motor bike. And they are also working class people, the women then gets off the bike is leaving and she yells "i'll pick you up at seven" but the man starts to rev the engine so the other lady does not hear what she says.


Next is another group of people who are asians and they are also working class people, and we can see this by looking at their living room. The man also seems to be unemployed at the moment and he is watching TV. The girl is telling him off and telling him to get ready so they can leave to go out.

Representation of teenagers on skins

What can you deduce about setting (and specifically the house) from the mise-en-scene?

We can see that they are living in a normal house, maybe three or four bedroom and as each child has their own room we can see that this is maybe a middle class family, we can also see this buy looking at the furniture. Tony is lying in bed and we can see a birds eye view shot of his duvet, which seems to be the body of a naked man and female. We automatically start to question what kind of a teenager he is as he has this duvet and who may have bought it for him. 

What do you think Tonys representation is? Think about camera types and behaviour. Are stereotypes or/and countertypes used?

I think that Tony is represented as a different teenager, as soon as the sun comes out he jumps out of bed most teenagers would be reluctant to get of bed in the morning they would want to sleep a little longer. Also as soon as he gets out of bed he starts to work out and we can see that Tony is very cautious about his body and maybe he wants to stay fit to please the women. I don't think that Tony is portrayed in a stereotypical way, he seems very confident and when his sister comes home in the morning he helps her out, he doesn't seem to care much that his younger sister has been out all night. 

What is the genre? does Tonys representation fit in to the genre?

I think that the genre would be comedy, because its about the life of crazy teenagers. I think Tonys character fits in well with the genre because he likes to take annoy people like his father and make them look stupid. Tony is the type of person who makes others feel intimidated. 

Can we tell how the narrative will unfold? suggest some ways 

You can't tell much just by looking at Tony, but by looking at his character we can say that something crazy is about to happen because, he may have friends who are wild and his social group may be made up of different types of people and together they're just a wild group of teenagers who do things that teenagers do.

We start with the shot of Tony in bed with the camera in a close up of him - why use this shot? Then we see him in his under pants - why? 

I think it starts with the close up just to show that its a normal boy, but as soon as it starts to move out we think hold on a minute what's wrong with his duvet, what kind of a teenager is he, and as we think that we see Tony in his under pants, which then makes us believe that this is in fact maybe a normal teenage boy because most boys tend to sleep in their underpants. 

Discuss the mise-en-scene, particularly of his bedroom. Does it tell us anything about Tonys lifestyle?

The bedroom tells us a lot about Tonys lifestyle, we see that he likes to work out he likes to look after himself and his body. As he looks out the window he watches the neighbour woman get changed so we see that he's a normal boy who's also into girls etc. The bedsheets give away a lot about Tony and confuse the audience at the same time they make us realise he's different just because he has those bedsheets not only does this make us feel different about Tony but also about his family for letting him have those sheets. 

How is Tonys sister Effy represented? How is their relationship represented?

Effy is also represented in a different way, she had been out partying all night and came home in the morning and she waits outside for her brother to distract his dad so she can sneak up. This shows that they may be close because Tony is helping out his sister but normally brothers don't tend to let their sisters go out at night, Tony doesn't seem to be protective over his sister. 

His dad doesn't seem to be the boss, he can't control his children because Tony irritates him and his dad doesn't do anything about it other then swear, and his daughter goes out at night and the father is unaware of this. By this we can see that the father does not do much and he's not very close with his children.