Capital: Representations blog task
1) Watch episodes two and three of Capital and write a 50-word summary of each. You can either do this in class after school using the Media department's DVD or buy the whole series on Amazon download for £3.99 (SD).
Episode 2
Arabella comes back to a house occupied by a nanny who is taking care of her two sons whilst her husband dwells on his 'small' cash out. Quentina is determined to plead her case to the judge and defends herself against accusations of her working and living in London illegally. The Kamals get visited by their mother. Armed police storm in the Kamals home and arrest the three sons.
Episode 3
In this episode we see disasters starting to occur in all familys. Roger has been fired from his job due to his deputy losing 30 million pounds and being sent to jail. Shahid was sent to jail due to his IP address being traced back to his house due to him letting his guest stay. Roger and Arabella are forced to fire their nanny and the Kamal family attempt to find a lawyer to help Shahid's case. The case concludes with the audience finally finding out who sent the post cards.
2) Write an analysis of the representation in each of the key scenes from episode 1 we studied in class:
Scene 1: opening sequence 00:30 – 4.49
Place: The red title symbolised the idea od danger. "We're all millionaires" shows how expensive house prices are in that part of london. London is perceived to be a good place for familes to grow up and start a family - the only women and husband are a prime example. Police sirens are an audio code for crime to occure.
Family and gender: males were seens as more dominant due to them bring in the main source of income(patriarch). The asian owner of the shop and the old women's husband counting the money is an example of the stereotypes linked to that gender role. Females are seen as more caring which is shown when the women was taking her daughter to school in the flash back.
Ethnicity and religion: area is seen as multi-cultural as immigrants have moved into the area. "Its my duty as a muslim" - The muslim family appear to be very religious. The old women mistaked pakistanis for indians (stereotypes). Muslim family appear to have connotations linked to bing hard working and successful.
Issues: the slow mo at the funeral shows how the womens life has come to a pause. The idea of aging was shown through a montage of compressed editing. That passage pf time (flash back) was shown through a no linear narrative.
Scene 2: work in the City 6.28 – 8.10
Place: the over crowed train was a common mode of trasport in and out of the city. The city was seen as a global institution.
Family and gender: office workers were dominated by white males - competitve.
Ethnicity and religion: people working in high end businesses are white
Issues: there's a huge number of competition between the older and younger generation for money. Multi-million trading going on in big business shows the inequality between (rich vs poor).
Scene 3: “Which of those isn’t absolutely essential?” 14.00 – 15.35
Place: a P.O.V shot of the voyeur is established through the use of camera shots and sounds. Enigma codes are created through the use of darkness and the hoodied character.
Family and gender: mulveys male gaze was shown when the camera focused on the women getting undressed infront of her husband. City workers seem to be more distant with the wifes which shows the struggles they face way from a working environment.
Issues: a million £ is nothing to the rich (chump change). "Absolutely essential" - shows they're unable to live a normal life style with their added expenditure.
Scene 4: asylum 18.03 – 19.42 AND 31.10 – 32.40
Place: A different unseen part of London - as she leaves her lodging accommodation we see a lot of people living in a small space - immigrants.
Family and gender: males are seen as a dominat figure who supplies the money( ticket officers boss). Challengs dominat representations as the women is working to earn her own income. Financial and sexual exploitation.
Ethnicity and religion: hard working balck women being exploited - christian doing the right thing by giving back to society.
Issues: middle class people back people vs lower class black people - abbuse of power.
Scene 5: “What use is 30 grand?” 36.40 – 39.00
Issues: Ignorance of the wealthy - "Fundamentally not fair", "It's not a question of greed, it's justice" "30,000" - this amount of money would so much use to less fortunate/wealthy.
Scene 6: life at the corner shop 40.10 – 42.55
Issues: Ignorance of the wealthy - Arabella judging the shop as she is used to shopping somewhere more prestigious, she doesn't realise how nice the community around her actually is because she is caught up in her own world of wealth.
You can choose which aspects to focus on for each scene: London, family, gender, ethnicity, religion, immigration, asylum, inequality, wealth, aging etc.
3) How does Capital use stereotypes? Do the characters and issues represented in Capital reinforce or subvert the stereotypes we typically see in the media?
Capital uses the stereotype of the wealthier people in society being quite arrogant and ignorant - this is seen in episode 1. This is a reinforced stereotype as we typically see rich people being represented in this way in the media. The illegal immigrant in Capital is represented in a way which makes the viewer feel sympathetic towards her which is a subvert of the negative stereotype usually used to portray immigrants in the media. The stereotype of Europeans often being builders is reinforced - we see this in episode 2.
Episode 2
Arabella comes back to a house occupied by a nanny who is taking care of her two sons whilst her husband dwells on his 'small' cash out. Quentina is determined to plead her case to the judge and defends herself against accusations of her working and living in London illegally. The Kamals get visited by their mother. Armed police storm in the Kamals home and arrest the three sons.
Episode 3
In this episode we see disasters starting to occur in all familys. Roger has been fired from his job due to his deputy losing 30 million pounds and being sent to jail. Shahid was sent to jail due to his IP address being traced back to his house due to him letting his guest stay. Roger and Arabella are forced to fire their nanny and the Kamal family attempt to find a lawyer to help Shahid's case. The case concludes with the audience finally finding out who sent the post cards.
2) Write an analysis of the representation in each of the key scenes from episode 1 we studied in class:
Scene 1: opening sequence 00:30 – 4.49
Place: The red title symbolised the idea od danger. "We're all millionaires" shows how expensive house prices are in that part of london. London is perceived to be a good place for familes to grow up and start a family - the only women and husband are a prime example. Police sirens are an audio code for crime to occure.
Family and gender: males were seens as more dominant due to them bring in the main source of income(patriarch). The asian owner of the shop and the old women's husband counting the money is an example of the stereotypes linked to that gender role. Females are seen as more caring which is shown when the women was taking her daughter to school in the flash back.
Ethnicity and religion: area is seen as multi-cultural as immigrants have moved into the area. "Its my duty as a muslim" - The muslim family appear to be very religious. The old women mistaked pakistanis for indians (stereotypes). Muslim family appear to have connotations linked to bing hard working and successful.
Issues: the slow mo at the funeral shows how the womens life has come to a pause. The idea of aging was shown through a montage of compressed editing. That passage pf time (flash back) was shown through a no linear narrative.
Scene 2: work in the City 6.28 – 8.10
Place: the over crowed train was a common mode of trasport in and out of the city. The city was seen as a global institution.
Family and gender: office workers were dominated by white males - competitve.
Ethnicity and religion: people working in high end businesses are white
Issues: there's a huge number of competition between the older and younger generation for money. Multi-million trading going on in big business shows the inequality between (rich vs poor).
Scene 3: “Which of those isn’t absolutely essential?” 14.00 – 15.35
Place: a P.O.V shot of the voyeur is established through the use of camera shots and sounds. Enigma codes are created through the use of darkness and the hoodied character.
Family and gender: mulveys male gaze was shown when the camera focused on the women getting undressed infront of her husband. City workers seem to be more distant with the wifes which shows the struggles they face way from a working environment.
Issues: a million £ is nothing to the rich (chump change). "Absolutely essential" - shows they're unable to live a normal life style with their added expenditure.
Scene 4: asylum 18.03 – 19.42 AND 31.10 – 32.40
Place: A different unseen part of London - as she leaves her lodging accommodation we see a lot of people living in a small space - immigrants.
Family and gender: males are seen as a dominat figure who supplies the money( ticket officers boss). Challengs dominat representations as the women is working to earn her own income. Financial and sexual exploitation.
Ethnicity and religion: hard working balck women being exploited - christian doing the right thing by giving back to society.
Issues: middle class people back people vs lower class black people - abbuse of power.
Scene 5: “What use is 30 grand?” 36.40 – 39.00
Issues: Ignorance of the wealthy - "Fundamentally not fair", "It's not a question of greed, it's justice" "30,000" - this amount of money would so much use to less fortunate/wealthy.
Scene 6: life at the corner shop 40.10 – 42.55
Issues: Ignorance of the wealthy - Arabella judging the shop as she is used to shopping somewhere more prestigious, she doesn't realise how nice the community around her actually is because she is caught up in her own world of wealth.
You can choose which aspects to focus on for each scene: London, family, gender, ethnicity, religion, immigration, asylum, inequality, wealth, aging etc.
3) How does Capital use stereotypes? Do the characters and issues represented in Capital reinforce or subvert the stereotypes we typically see in the media?
Capital uses the stereotype of the wealthier people in society being quite arrogant and ignorant - this is seen in episode 1. This is a reinforced stereotype as we typically see rich people being represented in this way in the media. The illegal immigrant in Capital is represented in a way which makes the viewer feel sympathetic towards her which is a subvert of the negative stereotype usually used to portray immigrants in the media. The stereotype of Europeans often being builders is reinforced - we see this in episode 2.
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