Representation of Class and Status - Shameless

Representation of Class and Status

Shameless

The clip opens with the main character waling down some stars. The setting clearly shows that the characters in the clip are living in a lower class society because of the clothing positioned on the stair case which suggest that the environment is dirty and cluttered, the paint on the stair case is faded away at parts which suggests that the building in which the characters are living in is old in which age can be associated with lower class as well as the clothes in which the main character is wearing, unclean and baggy clothing that allows the character to be presented in a poor state. Blue wall paint suggest cold temperatures which is also associated with a lack of wealth and lower class society. As the character enters the scene, he appears to be disorientated and confused due to the slow pace of his movements and the way in which he speaks. ‘Oooohhh’ suggests a slurred speech that is associated with disorientation. The mid shot allows the audience to witness the poor state of the environment of the characters and the main character. The additional soundtrack in the background creates a slow and disorientated atmosphere that further supports the idea that the characters in the household are lower class citizens.

At six seconds of the clip, the audience are presented with the other characters of the family. The male children of the family appear to be wearing fairly mainstream clothing that allow them to stand out from the lower class society and attempt to enter a middle class society. Although, one character is not wearing any trousers which suggests idleness and the lack of money needed to purchase more clothing. The female character is presented in a dressing gown which further supports the idea that the family are having money issues and therefore impacting the clothing choices of the children. Additionally, she is holding and feeding a baby that could possibly be her son or daughter. This again refers to the lower class society as some teenage pregnancies occur due to a parent living in a lower class society. Teenage mothers are associated with being poor, unemployed and stressed. The setting of the living area of where the characters are sitting in appears to be similar to a garage due the painted wall on the left, and the grey brick work on the right. The curtains are drawn which emphasises that the characters prefer to live in a darkened environment. And similarly to before, the room is cluttered with empty glass bottles and other discarded items.

As the father character is speaking, his arm gesture suggests that he is talking directly to his family, the wide distance between his arms suggest that his family is large. The slow speech continues here which suggests that the character is still disorientated. A handheld camera is used throughout the scene, this emphasises that there may be a possible tension in the family. As the father character speaks, the words that he is saying are slurred or repeated. This shows that the character is unintelligent and he is trying to use longer vocabulary to allow him to sound more intelligent and appear more like a father figure rather than alcoholic. An over the shoulder shot allows one of the sons to talk back to the father by contradicting his father’s speech. The hand held camera emphasises the tension between the father character and his son. The camera shakes more violently as the sibling faces up to his father and the conversation escalates. The father pauses to emphasise that he is clueless of thinking of a comeback to the point risen by his son and responds with an immature and sarcastic ‘I don’t know smartarse you’re the one with the answers’. This shows that the character is not portrayed as a father figure, but more of an older child. Another over the shoulder shot is included to allow the other siblings to join in with the conversation. To further support the idea that the father is appeared to be immature, it becomes evident that the character has edited details about a house to impress his family. In response to this, the father responds angrily by expressing through hand and arm gestures and facial expressions. Editing is used here, such as jump cuts to continue to idea that the character may be ‘crazy’ and tilting of the camera to create a sensation that expresses the insanity of the character.

Despite the argument, the female character raises the point that the family want to stay together by living in the same house. Following this response from the female character, a calm, tranquil soundtrack is introduced to create the realism that the family want to stay together.  The camera zooms in the characters to capture the expressions of the characters so that they can express their own thoughts and opinions. This creates a large pause to allow the father to come to terms with the situation. This generates that a ‘lesson’ is learnt here and strangely it targets the children rather than the father. This contradicts the idea of the conversation as the character that is needing to learn from a lesson is the father as he is meant to be responsible for his children and put them first instead of himself. The character appears distressed as he explains how being a father and telling lies to his children is a ‘job’.

The concluding scene opens with an up beating soundtrack that is included to raise the spirits of the children as a new home is introduced. The darkened lighting emphasises how the family have sunk to a new low by essentially downgrading themselves from a house to a caravan. A panning movement is used to quickly change from a scene of the caravan to a scene of the family. This allows the audience to witness their reaction to this. The father character continues to try and sound intelligent by using large vocabulary which again become slurred and not understandable on occasions. As a close up of the female character is displayed, it becomes clear that she is disappointed with his father as he already knew that it was not a house and therefore parts her mouth and shakes her head in disappointment. As the father continues to talk, the close up of a turtle moving closer to the road is displayed. This is used to eliminate the other characters from this part of the scene and focus on the turtle. This eventually shows that the family is unaware that an awkward event will soon occur. Quick cuts are used to change from when the turtle is being run over to the father continuing his conversation. It is not until a crushing sound effect of the turtle’s shell that a member of the family realise that the turtle is a priority and has now met its doom. They immediately assume that the animal was attempting to find its way home and eliminate the fact that none of the family were watching it to prevent an event like this from happening. Following this, an estate agent appears and explains that a buyer has been found. He then presents the father with the money which leads to a negative response. A close up shows the negative response from the father by focusing on his face. His mouth is parted and a blank expression is left on his face. The estate agent continues to talk whilst the camera focuses on the father. Unaware of the children laughing at the father from behind his back the father begins to join in, thus bringing together the family. The clip concludes with an aerial shot of the scene thus emphasising how low the characters are in modern society.