class and status

Class & status shown through shameless clip.

Class and status is either, upper class, middle class or working class. This is shown through how a person lives. For example: their job, house and how much money they have. The life styles of the different class categories vary when portrayed through the media. Working class is normally shown to be quite poor, dirty small houses, lots of children and could be on benefits. Middle class people are shown to have an average life style, few children, enough money to be well looked after, polite, good education and a nice family home. Upper class is shown to be well dressed, smart, clean, polite, big house, very good income, well educated and posh.

Initial thoughts.

My initial thought on the clip from shameless was that they are not really an organized family and argue about a lot of situations. I can tell that their class would be working class because of the way the house is so untidy and the children are so rude towards their dad by swearing at him. Also there is a baby in the room while they are swearing. From a first time viewpoint of watching this clip I can infer that the dad isn't the normal type of dad.

Shot types.

 A master shot is used on the children around the small table. This is used 0.06 seconds in to limit the amount of action you can see. The shot shows that they are working class people because they are all crammed into one small room around a very tinny table. Also the empty bottles and rubbish you can see in the background supports my initial thoughts of them being untidy.






1 minute and 27 seconds into the clip a close up is used on the dad to show his reaction to what his daughter said. She was explaining that the other children wanted to be with him.

His reaction shows that this was unexpected. This shows status because he is meant to be the parent, the leader of the family but he is shocked to hear that the children need him. Therefore this shows that he has a low status of being a rubbish parent.

During the conversation a shot reverse shot is used to keep the conversation flowing. 

This is shown 0.21 seconds in and then 0.25 seconds in. From this shot you can see that they are working class people because of the way they are sitting and they are dressed very untidy and the boy with the shoulder length brown hair looks scruffy and his shirt seems to be dirty. Also in the first shot the teenage child has a baby. This also

Shows working class because it is normally shown through the media that working class people who cannot afford much are the ones that have children at a younger age. The shot reverse shot goes to a second image of an older boy sitting in his boxers while they seem to be eating breakfast. 

This would not be seen if it was a middle or upper class family because it would be seen as disrespectful and un-polite to sit at the table while you were half dressed.

At 2 minutes and 7 seconds an extreme long shot is used of the caravan. This shows working class and having a caravan is normally associated with travelers/gypsies as the dad said during this shot.

Following this shot a long shot is used on the children and the dad while they are watching the caravan arrive. From this shot you can see that the house looks like an estate house. Therefore this shows working class because middle class people and upper class would live in a bigger and more expensive house.

An over the shoulder shot is used during the conversation of the dad and the man selling/buying the caravan. This shows his shocked reaction to how much money he is willing to pay for it. His reaction shows that he might have needed the money and thought he'd get  a lot more from selling it. This shows class and status between the two men because of the dad thought it would be a great gift and was expecting lots of money offered. Whereas the upper class man dressed in a suit was willing to pay ext to nothing for it. Therefore this shows the difference between what the working class people and upper class people believe to be a good selling product.

Another shot used is a high angle shot 3 minutes and 19 seconds into the clip. The high angle is taken from above showing what is below. This shot shows class because you can see that they are old and broken kitchen and living room furniture in the back garden. This shows they have a trampy life style and are very messy.

Sound.

The sounds used in this clip was the music at the start of the clip. This music was a hippy style of music. Therefore this shows that they are of a low status and are working class people because hippies also are shown to be working class people. The second use of music is calm and gentle which sets a certain mood to fit in with the dads reaction at the time. Towards the end of the clip up beat music is used when the caravan is introduced into the scene. 

Also other sound was speaking. The children swore in front of their dad and a new born baby and also actually swearing at their dad when in conversation. This shows they are working class people because this would not be acceptable in a higher class home. 

Following this the dad also speaks very inappropriately towards the children. This was either him speaking rudely towards them or swearing too.

Another sound used was the caravan moving. You could hear it screeching, this shows that the caravan was in a poor conditions and that it would belong to a working class person because it's a caravan and higher class people don't own caravans and also if they did it would be a posher one they this one.  

Mise-en scene

Straight away from the way the dad is dressed 0.10 seconds into the clip you can tell he is of a lower class because of the way he is dressed so untidy and messy with scruffy long nots in his hair.

From his body language you can also tell he is a working class person because of the way he is slouched instead of standing up straight.

The house is not decorated and doesn't seem like a very inviting home. It's very unclear and messy with rubbish and empty bottles on the table. This suggests they are working class because they seem to live like animals and don't really seem bothered by the way they live.

The attitudes of the children shows that they are very laid back. From this we can suggest that the kids do not go to school because they don't seem to be very rushed in the morning. And also because the older children are not dressed they are in their pajamas we can infer that they do not go to work either.

Due to the way that the children swear through out this clip we can suggest that they do not have any manors and are not a very polite bunch of children. Therefore we can suggest further they they have been brought up into a working class family.

Editing.

During watching this clip the editing was shown through eye-line matches.

One of the eye line matches was at the start of the clip when the dad ad children are having a conversation. The dad is looking down of the kids and they are looking up to him. This shows the dad to have a higher status at this point because it shows him at a higher level. He is seen to be in power at this time.

Another eye-line match was between the dad and the man he was selling the caravan to. This was shown by the dad looking up at the man in the suit and then the man in the suit looking down on the dad. This shows that the dad is of a lower status than the man buying the caravan because he has to look up to him while he is looking down on him, proving he is of a lower status and class.

Stereotypes.

In class and status stereotypes can be shown through upper class people, middle class people and working class people.

class:
During this clip the family are seen to be working class. This is shown through the use of stereotypes.
For example: messy hair, untidy, unclean house, rubbish all around the house, living in an estate house, having a teenage girl will a baby. Also they do not have a lot of money and the children are very un polite. They are also all living in a tidy house its very cramped.

status:
The status in this clip varies depending on the groups within each scene. For example when the dad is speaking down to the children he is showing a higher status than the kids because generally parents have a higher status than their children because they are an example of a leader. Another example of status is when the man in the suit is talking to the dad. You can tell he has a higher status because he looks professional and he looks down on the dad when speaking to him.

Conclusion.

Overall from now watching the clip many times I can see that the family are lower class due to the way they live. The dad does seem to have a higher status at some points in the clip because he is the parent but then this changes when the children swear at him and he swears back at the children. This is not how I would image a middle class or upper class family to live because of the way they seem to struggle. Therefore this must be working class and status family.