Social class and TV Drama

1. TV Drama: Representation of
Class and Status

2. Starter – Class War
• Pick a ‘person’ and as class you need to
sort yourselves into a ‘status continuum’
with the highest status person at the front
by the white board and the lowest ranked
person by the windows.
• You will need to justify your status and
want to have the highest status
possible….

3. Lesson Objectives
• Explore representations of class and
status in TV Drama
• Evaluate the impact of these
representations on the audience

4. Debates about our topic.
• That your class affects who you become and what you can do.
• Whether class is relevant in today’s society (Boundaries of class are
fragmenting and people are finding it harder to identify themselves as a
particular class.)
• The varying limitations that being a lower class citizen enables, i.e. material
deprivation can stop you from having the funds to purchase things needed
for school (– your class is what has been your downfall).
• The link between class and status (i.e. Being a higher class gives you a
higher status and vice versa.) – If this can enable corruption amongst the
classes.
• Whether it is class that is important in society, or if its your ethnicity/gender.

5. Class War – Working Class
• Working class is a term used in sociology to describe those
employed in ‘lower tier’ jobs (low skill, education and payment).
• It typically refers to a section of society dependent on physical
labour, especially with an hourly wage.
• The term is usually contrasted with the upper class and middle
class, in terms of less access to economic resources, education and
cultural interests.
• Its usage can be derogatory, but many people self-identify as
working class and experience a sense of pride.
• What jobs would we class as ‘working class’
• What characteristics do we think ‘working class’ people have?

6. Class War – Middle Class
• The middle class are any class in the middle of
a social schema or structure.
• They are the broad group of people in
contemporary society who fall socioeconomically
between the working class and upper class.
• Usually there is a sense that they are not sure of
their place
• What jobs would we class as ‘middle class’
• What characteristics do we think ‘middle class’
people have?

7. Class War – Upper Class
• In sociology an upper class is the group of people at the
top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class
may have great power over the allocation of resources
and governmental policy in their area.
• The phrase "upper class" has had a complex range of
meanings and usages. In many traditional societies,
membership of the upper class was hard or even
impossible to acquire by any means other than being
born into it.
• What jobs would we class as ‘Upper class’ – would they
even really work?
• What characteristics do we think ‘Upper class’ people
have?

8. People.
Makeup.
The hairstyle
The big hoops
Brick wall

9. People.
Clean shaven
Hairstyle.
His shirt and
jacket
Exterior
setting

10. People.
Hairstyle
Makeup
Clothing
Facial Expression and
Pose

11. People.
Costume Drama
Costume
Exterior Location

12. People.
Jewellery
Costume
Props

13. People.
Costumes
Facial Expressions
and Pose

14. Places.

15. Places.

16. Places.

17. Places.

18. Places.

19. Places.

20. Merlin
• What does this clip tell us about class and
status ?
• Merlin

21. Mise en Scene
Sound
Camera
Editing

22. What does this clip tell us about
class and status ?
Downton Abbey

23. What does this clip tell us about
class and status ?
Trinity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsQMGnysc5Y