Representation- EAST ENDERS

East Enders

This episode of the TV Drama East Enders represents teens as stuck up, rebellious, obnoxious, disrespectful, impulsive and aggressive. Adults on the other-hand, are portrayed as calm, responsible, and craving peace. Females are strongly represented as rough, strong individuals, contrasted to classic stereotypes of women being quiet, outspoken, and heavily reliant on men. In this extract women are shown to be vary cable of leading change, whilst also able to elude the extreme outbursts of anger that men are shown to succumb more easily to. They are able to keep their cool, maintaining their calm front in the midst of havoc/ commotion, which portrays their strength. Disability is another area that is represented. It is portrayed as a negative embarrassing quality which is mocked and ridiculed. 

The youth of society are represented (primarily) by a Pizza delivery young adult. He first enters the scene abruptly making a big clammer, bashing through the front door and raising his voice and drawing attention from customers in the bar. We see first off that he is insensitive to his surroundings, and clearly not very professional at his job. His indiscreet manor, gives us the impression that he is rebellious, not giving any care to what other think or say. The youth is also displayed as aggressive through Mis-en-scene as the juvenile pulls a fist at the bar tender several times. He is clearly wanting to start a bigger commotion, and arouses drama unnecessarily from an accidental incident that has occurred whilst placing the blame on everyone he can. This aggressive nature that teens are given credit for, is elevated through fast edits. The camera flicks between over the shoulder shots with shot reverse shots of the pizza boy and several people behind the bar, who take turns trying to repudiate the impertinent boy from the bar. Through the sound, we hear an assembly of noises consisting of a busy bar with chattering customers, clanging dishes etc. this background ambiance sets a stressful atmosphere which evokes more annoyance when the Pizza delivery youth barges in a adds to the hassle of the bar. Through close up camera shots we also set the outbreak of anger, and unleashed unbridled emotion on teens' face. Another point to note, is that the camera always seems to be in motion as it views the youth candidate, but is always static whist filmimg the adults in the scene. This contrasts how the two age demographics are portrayed. The movement including zooms on the youth, help convey that youth are being portrayed as energetic, yet rambunctious, and unrestrained, and at times obnoxious, whilst the stable, motionless camera whilst filming the adults, shows their desire for calmness and peace. This desired tranquillity is again reiterated through the dialogue, 'lets just hope today will be a nice, quiet day. '' Is opposed by the harsh, abrasive noise as the Pizza deliver boy arrives. This highlights to the audience, of the difficulty to achieve understanding, respect and ease of communication between age demographics in society today.

In this extract, disability is extremely negatively portrayed in a very unconventional, politically incorrect way. For example, three different times throughout the clip, characters are mocked by being likened to being 'mentally slow' and having a 'limp'. For example, as the woman in the scene tries to settle a rapidly rising fight, by placate slow talking to calm the atmosphere, and her slow talking is ridiculed and said to be due from 'learning difficulties'. Another example is when the pizza delivery guy throws a rage and raises his voice to any walking stranger. He is described as being 'dimlow',in other words mentally manic, or mad, (which this young bloke may actually be), perhaps possessing an illness such as anger issues. Because the characters in the scene appear annoyed at this bloke, we as an audience also adopt feelings of annoyance. This may start to channel certain negative perceptions not only towards this one mentally/emotionally challenged bloke, but all mentally disabled people, as human nature urges us to make generalised assumptions. Through sound, we hear busy street ambiance which raises the sense of commotion that this young man has created, which helps to raise the perception, that indeed, he can't let young go of his emotions, and may be mentally disabled (even if only in a minor way). We also hear alarms which may elude to the fact that he is ill (alarms connote to ambulances which help people who are sick). This young pizza delivery lad then also taunts a young man as 'limping away from the crime scene'. This ridiculing makes both the man, and people who are physically disabled seem weak and cowardice.

The classic historic stereotype of females being passive characters, and often, objects for the male audience members to gaze on, is heavily contested with in this clip. Instead of being portrayed as week, outspoken, and reliant on men, they are portrayed more as tough, and able to take action independently. They are also shown to be more emotionally stable than the men in the scene, who seem more ready to act violently and undignified because of their emotions. For example, as the young pizza delivery bloke slams his hands on the bar bench/counter top, beckoning a fight, the male bar tender becomes enraged, escalating in anger and ready to rally the young man. The brooding fight fails to initiate due to a female character, who silences the men putting them back into their places. Through mis-en-scene, we see the physical act of the woman thrusting her arm out in front of the male bar tender to create a margin between the two opposing males. This act alone may inspire female audiences participants into taking courageous actions, and the strength that is displayed through this woman. Through sound we hear that this woman is able to mollify her words to placate the strong emotions of those around her. Her words are slow, to counteract the stress and conflict that the young boy has brought upon the situation. On top of this, even after her attempt to appease, she is falsely ridiculed for having learning difficulties, yet even still she is able to laugh off the hard words. This shows us that women are able to keep there dignity. Further more, this woman is shown to be taking on the phone to sort out the young mans' issue (his moped was stolen). The camera shows a close up of the woman trying to block out the ruckus of noise that the heated pizza block is mitigating, yet she stills seems unaffected by the whole situation as we see her holding an expression of tranquillity. Often woman in society are know for letting their emotions unrestrained, however in this episode, we are given the opposite ques. We are also shown that although woman do posses a soft side, (phone call on behalf of pizza delivery man shows sympathy, and kindness), they also posses strength of character, dignity and courage.