Representation of Social Class Mock - Shameless

This is a clip from the TV drama 'Shameless', The father is seen to be wearing dirty clothes and long, un-groomed hair. He is seen to be a working class man in a mid-life crisis. He is seen to be recovering from drug use and this is confirmed when the daughter states he took '3 e's last night'. This reinforces the stereotype that working class people are part of chav culture and do drugs and alcohol. The dad is shown in a long shot, and the family is shown in a long shot as well to show the distance in-between them in terms of their relationship. This is an example of a working class family struggling. It reinforces the stereotype that they're a broken family and shows the upper class have more power over them due to finances. There are close ups of the father's face to show how much it is emotionally affecting him that he is letting his family down. The shot reverse shot shows conflict between the useless, drug using father and the struggling children, further reinforcing the underclass stereotype of a broken family. When the daughter says "we want you" soft piano music plays in the background to show their compassion. This makes the audience pity them, reinforcing the positive stereotype of them being sympathetic and sorry for themselves. The teenage girl with the baby is casted to show the stereotype of the working class youth culture today who have unprotected sex and suffer the consequences, showing how uneducated they are because they aren't using protection as they may not have been taught this.

The messy kitchen  represents the mess that this underclass family is in, there are alcohol bottles everywhere which show he is dependant on alcohol, and he is uneducated as he looks to alcohol for the answer. The camera movement is shaky which shows the distortion and confusion in a working class family's world.

The setting of a council estate also plays a part in living up to the stereotype of the underclass who depend on the upper class to help them live.
The lack of vocabulary from the rest of the family reinforces the stereotype of the working class being uneducated. However the father challenges this stereotype because he uses several examples of complex vocabulary. This supports my idea that he is in a mid life crisis.

In terms of camera composition there is juxtaposition used when the upper class man enters the shot, standing next to the working class father. This shows that they are significantly different in how they are dressed; The upper class man is in business attire showing he is employed whereas the father is shown in his rags which outline his social status. Also there is spacing between the two characters to show the distance between the upper and underclass. An older the shoulder shot shows the upper class man is shown to be looking down on the underclass father. In terms of sound they speak in two completely different speech codes, the upper class man in a elaborated, complex speech code the working class speaks in a restricted code,