Stereotypes in the Media

1. What is the stereotype of the working class? Working class roles were either seen as comic or sinister, or a last minute plot twist would reveal them to have come from a socially elevated background. Working wives in television series tend to be middle class women in pursuit of careers and working class men tend to be shown as immature, irresponsible and requiring the supervision of their 'betters'. Members of the white working classes are portrayed as dumb, inarticulate and old fashioned. In 1956, John Osborne's play 'Look Back in Anger' revolutionalised English drama by focusing on a new kind of hero - Jimmy Porter, a working class man who knew he was more articulate and intelligent than the pepole who looked down on him. Osborne, being one of several 'angry young men' who produced plays, novels and ultimately screenplays depiciting proudly working class characters trying to better themselves while remaining true to their roots.

2. Do films of the British New Wave challenge that stereotype? 'British New Wave' of the late 1950s and early 1960s grew out of this movement, key titles including Room at the Top (1958), Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), A Kind of Loving (1962), the Lonlinessa of the Long-Distance Runner (1962) and This Sporting Life (1963). New stars who emerged from this period incluided Alan Bates, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Albert Finney and Richard Harris, none of whom could plausibly have played leading roles in the drawing room and Empire-fixated British films of the 1930s. By the early 21st century, it seems almost compulsory for a British cinema had largely been used for comic effect or as 'salt of the earth' cannon fodder. The action portrayed by the working class characters details everyday dramas - hence the 'kitchen sink' tag. We then see events through the emotional journeys of the characters. The films 'Only Room at the Top' and 'Look Back in Anger' look directly at conflict between working class and middle class characters. The later films concentrate on conflicts within the working class contrasting rough e.g. Arthur Seaton in 'Saturday Night Sunday Morning' with 'respectable' e.g. Vic Brown in a 'Kind of Loving.

3. Does the ideology of the films reflect a stereotype or rework it? The 'new wave' films and the sources that inspired them gave a voice to a working-class that was for the first time gaining some economic power. In some ways, the ideology of the films reflects the typically working class stereotypes, as it portrays them in an 'everyday' drama and the nitty and gritty of everyday life. The British New Wave films often drew attention to the reality of life for the working classes, especially in the North of England, characterised as 'its grim up north.' Usually in black and white, these films had spontaneous quality, often shot in a pseudo-documentary style on real locations and with real people rather than extras, apparently capturing life as it happens.

4. Where does the caper film, 'The Italian Job' fit in? The Italian Job, has characters which are from many different social classes, including the ruling class and working class, committing robbery against high officials in Italy. These are ordinary men who are getting involved in criminal actions, however, the audience does not appear to dislike the characters