Class and status in TV drama

Class and status includes where someone lives, what sort of job they have with the amount of income going into their home.

Camera angles are used to show class and status because if someone in a TV show has a really nice house then they are obviously rather wealthy then the angle will be a full picture of the house that they have. This will show the audience whether they are a high class and status or a low class family. But it may not just be the outside of the house, when the camera gets inside then the camera man pans around the whole house this will show the conditions of the house and so show the audience the main condition of the house.

Editing can be used to show the class and status because if there is a poor person on the TV show then cutting from a poor person to a higher class person can show just how much the lower class person is struggled in their life.

Sound is used to show class and status because if there is a party at a posh house then the low noise of mingling is very obvious that it is a high class party and not a low class party, this is because at low class parties there is normally lots of alcohol and really loud music. This shows the different types of class’ parties, which can give an indication about what sort of people they are.

Mise-en-scene is used to show class because the set that they are on will be of the house, you can tell what the kind of people will be like because of the home they live in. If the set is really nice then the people that live in that house will be high class. Props on the set can tell the class of the people in the house, if there are lots of nice things with many nice ornaments then they will be a high class person.

Class and status links to gender because most high class people are males who have really good jobs, normally women who are high class are either born into it or marry into it. This used to be more the case around 50-100 years ago when noble men used to marry their daughters off to rich males in order to gain money.

Class and status links to age because there may be less young high class people than older high class people, this is because older people have more time to gain a large amount of money and they have less large parties and more chances to become higher class, where as younger people are normally focused on just getting a good social base than gaining enough money to become a higher class person.

Class and status links to Ethnicity because people who are from different countries originally are less likely to have really good jobs because they come to this country to get better jobs, these jobs are not likely to give the high class status. White British people are more likely to be rich high class people in England, whereas Muslims are less likely to become high class people.

Class and Status links to sexuality because homosexual people are very picked on more when they are younger but when they are older people are more responsible and more respectful about peoples decisions, so this would not stop homosexual people from becoming high class people.

Class and status links to physical disability because disabled people are probably less likely to become high class people. This is because they are at a disadvantage as they cannot work. They might not have enough money to be thought of as ‘high class.’ People who are not disabled are probably more likely to become high class because they can actually work to gain more money.

Class and status links to regional identity because if you live in a certain part of a city then you are more likely to be a higher class, like if you live in Kensington then you are more likely to be higher class than if you live in hackney because you live in a nicer area and people would respect your property more.