Representation of Older People

Older people are represented unconventionally I the film pride as they don’t cornform to the traditional stereotype of being lifeess and disinterested in making a differnce to the world. The characters sch as Heffina and gwen aren't traditional with theur vews towards homosexuality and instead embrace and accept lgsm  

Ladies go to the gay club: 

This scene offers a representation of older people that differs from the traditional stereotype of old women; being that they have a lack of enthusiasm and are not willing to try new things or accept new societal ideologies. Within this scene, the ladies from the mining club in Wales are going to a gay club with one of the members of LGSM – Johnathon. On their way into the club, Johnathon asks the women if they are okay with it, to which Heffina - one of the older women – replies 'we want to see everything, don't we?' And Gwen agrees by saying 'even the rubber things' all of the women laugh following this. This differs from the traditional stereotype of older women as it reveals that they are fun loving and willing to try new experiences. Supporting this, when they are in the club dance music is playing and the women are all dancing with the men and it is clear that they are having a good time through their facial expressions – they are smiling to the men and to each other. This further reveals their willingness to have fun and indulge in new experiences, as well as accepting new ideologies that society presents. They are unbothered by the fact the men are homosexual – which is unexpected when the traditional stereotype is placed onto them. Likewise, the audience do not expect the older women to enjoy dance music as it is of a new generation, they would imagine the older women to listen to classical music instead and not enjoy dance music playing at the club, perhaps complaining it is too loud. Once they have left the club, they move to another and are walking in front of the men – they are laughing and expressing excitement as they walk down the stairs to the club. This shows, again, their willingness and acceptance of new experiences. Furthermore, they are quick to shut down the door man who tries to prevent them from entering as it is a 'men only venue'. Heffina responds to this man and the others laugh at her response and follow her into the club, this offers an alternative representation to older women as they are generally perceived as being overly nice and accepting of societal rules, whereas here they are disobeying rules and creating their own. The camera pans around the club and shows what each woman is doing, some of their actions may be shocking to the audience as they go against the traditional stereotype. For example; it may seem unusual that one of the eldest women is drinking a pint of beer – which is traditionally a more masculine drink, they would expect her to be drinking a more 'feminine' drink. Ending the sequence, two of the women – including Gwen, the eldest member of the group – are talking with the bar tender, questioning how he got into a leather leotard. Supporting the traditional stereotype of old people, Gwen cannot hear him when he responds and the other woman has to speak close to her ear – old people are often associated with having hearing and visual impairments, both of which Gwen appears to have. The man explains that he uses talcum powder to 'get into' his leotard, Gwen responds by saying 'lily of the valley I use' suggesting that she also wears tight leotards – which will be comedic and somewhat shocking for the audience as they expect older women to wear lose, conservative clothing, which the man's leotard is the complete opposite to. Overall, this scene offers an alternative representation of old people; the women do not conform to the traditional stereotype. Often this is seen through their attitudes, they do not shy away from new experiences and rather enjoy activities that they are believed not to through the audience's preconceptions created by this traditional stereotype.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk0kn28jotA  

In Pride the older people are represented in an unconventional way as actors such as Maureen and Gwen challenge the representation of old people and their lack of life and enthusiasm to try new thing.  

 They start off dancing quite reserved and very unprovocative as you would expect from someone of their age, however there is then a shift in mood and atmosphere where jonathan gets up and struts centre stage and invites them up to dance with him. A series of close up shots reveal Heffina and Gwen screaming and laughing as Jonathan is dancing provocatively with then which completely goes against what a stereotypical old women represent and they are breaking boundaries with their enjoyment of the dancing. this is followed by panning of their bodies and the camera comes in to focus with Heffina and her chest, this is a section that adopts the male gaze and sexualizes the old women which is unusual as film usually adopts this gaze on young, attractive women but instead the director as chosen to do this on the older women. this reinforces the ideology that they are all young at heart and they are going against the typical stereotype of old people, giving their characters more personality and life to support the realism of the film to reflect their real life characters.  

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBn3gTMD-yg 

The older people in Pride are represented in an unconventional way. It is clear throughout that the older people are not stereotyped, as they do not adhere to what typical old people are seen as. Gwen and Heffina in particular are very accepting of LGSM, for example letting them stay in their homes when they visited Wales and they actively want to help LGSM. The audience are positioned to see the older people as comical and we therefore enjoy and like them. However, not all the older people are represented in this way. Maureen for example is one of the older people who represent the older traditional views that people have regarding the LGBT+ community. 

The sense of togetherness that the older community possess is clear throughout. One scene in particular is the final scene when the miners arrive on buses to London. There is a wide shot of a red mini bus approaching LGSM through a field, as people run towards it cheering with banners. The use of a handheld style shot positions the audience as a member of the crowed who is running towards the mini bus. Close-up's of LGSM and the older community embracing highlight that these people don't hold traditional views like Maureen does. 

 Following this, Gwen says "Where are my lesbians?" and the use of this line creates comedy as it is unexpected to come from an elderly person. Despite wearing stereotypical elderly peoples clothes, her personality doesn't match this. Her outward demeanour of being frail and old is juxtaposed by her 'one liners' within the film. The close-up shot of Gwen, stood in the middle of two lesbians with their hands on her shoulders is significant in this scene. It makes Gwen look like she is just one of their friends and part of the group. The use of this shot highlights that Gwen doesn't see them as anything other than her friends and this is unconventional, because the older and younger community don't normally mix in day to day life. When LGSM and the miners lead the march, there is on overhead shot of Cliff. He is stood still, soaking in his surroundings while others march on with banners, they are out of focus and Cliff is clearly in focus. Here, we see him admiring what is going on around him and the smile on his face shows that he is proud to be there. He then joins in the march and there is a close-up of his smiling face, this suggests a sense of solidarity and how he is part of both LGSM and the miners.  

A slow motion wide shot of everyone marching past Big Ben positions the audience to see how everyone is marching together and at the front and this is due to the older people. This shot reminds the audience that without the help from the older miners, they wouldn't have brought buses full of people with them so they could all lead the march through the streets and it therefore connotes that the elderly in this film (apart from Maureen) are very accepting and open minded. The framing and slow motion of this shot emphasises the cohesion of the two groups. By them travelling down from Wales to London, it shows their dedication to want to help LGSM and repay what they did for the miners. It also highlights how they are willing to try new experiences. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrrBKTvGQKw  

The miners - strikes, scabs and conflict with the police.

The miners - strikes, scabs and conflict with the police.

The miners' strike took place from 1984-5, it was a major industrial action to shut down the British coal industry as an attempt to prevent colliery closures.

Arthur Scargill and the National Union of Mineworkers against the National Coal Board - government agency - led this strike. When Margaret Thatcher came into power, the conservative government wanted to move Britain forward, which involved ridding the country of industries that were not efficient and making much money. This included; car manufacturing, ship building and coal mining.

In 1984, the National Coal Board announced that 20 coal mines would close, this would lead to an excess of 20,000 jobs being lost. As many times were built around mines and this was the main source of employment for the town; if the mine closes then the entire town would be affected and every business within the town would be affected, too. Miners worried about possible closures in the areas that went on strike - over 187,000 miners went on strike in an attempt to prevent this.

Scargill declared that the strikes in various coal fields were to be a national strike and called for strike action from National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) members in all coal fields on 12th March 1984. 

Scabs were workers who do not go on strike with their colleagues, this was because when workers go on strike they are not paid. Therefore, scabs decided to stay in work and not strike in order to continue receiving an income. This resulted in violence as it angered those of the miners who were striking, they felt as though the scabs were betraying them to a certain degree. The scabs were helping to destroy the mining industry, they did not fully understand what the strikers were trying to achieve. 

The Battle of Orgreave - 18 June 1984 - involved striking miners attempting to blockade the Orgreave Coking Plant near Rotherham. Approximately 5,000 miners and 5,000 police broke into violence, after police on horseback charged with truncheons drawn 51 pickets and 72 policemen were injured. other less well known, but blood, battles between pickets and police took place. For example, in Maltby, south Yorkshire.

During the strike, 11291 people were arrested, mostly for breach of the peace or obstructing roads whilst picketing, of whom 8,392 were charged and between 150-200 were imprisoned. At least 9,000 mineworkers were dismissed after being arrested whilst picketing even when no charges were brought.

The strike ended on 3 March 1985, nearly a year after it had begun. The South Wales area called for a return to work on condition that men sacked during the strike would be reinstated, but the NCB rejected the proposal when its bargaining position was improved by miners returning to work. Only the Yorkshire and Kent regions voted against ending the strike. One of the few concessions made by the NCB was to postpone the closure of the five pits: Cortonwood, Bullcliffe Wood, Herrington, Polmaise and Snowdown.

Representation of poverty in Slumdog Millionaire

Representation of poverty in Slumdog Millionaire.

Slumdog Millionaire explores the rags-to-riches story of Jamal Malik; he rises from the slums of Mumbai to wealth overnight by winning 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' Throughout the entirety of the film, poverty is a key theme. Jamal is an uneducated orphan, making the fact he won the show more shocking when, in reality, if he had not become an orphan, he would not have won the show; his journey through life is how he learns the answers to each question.

The film is heavily focused on the slums. To Western society, 'slum' has connotations of dirt, overpopulation, poverty and deprivation; which is definitely explored within the film. Following the opening sequence, the camera zooms out and more and more rooftops can be seen, showing the unbelievable amount of people living within the slums - the level of overpopulation is shocking to the audience and sets the scene for the slums, they have an awareness of just how many people live there and the environment they live in. Alongside this, the film explores new connotations of the word 'slum'. The slums are shown as a place that is thriving and bustling, which is how they are viewed in India.

Poverty is instantly shown in the opening scene of the film, Jamal, his brother Salim and their friends are running from the police after being found illegally playing cricket on a landing strip. Despite the alleys of the slums being maze-like, the children navigate through them with ease and manage to escape the police chase. This indicates that this is a regular occurrence in children's life when living in the slums; linking poverty to crime. This is supported by the lack of care for the consequences they will face shown by the children; they do not seem to be bothered by the police, or what would happen to them if they were caught. This shows that to them, police have different connotations to what they would have to children living in Western society - who would express more worry to being in trouble with the police. Similarly, this scene can be viewed as an exploration of the attitudes that people have towards children who live in poverty; the police show no sympathy towards them and show no regard for their age, they seem to treat them as young adults rather than children around the age of eight. This is shown when the children bump into the drug dealer's car, the police take no action against them and, instead, are apologetic towards them for bumping into their car - their focus remains on chasing the children. Furthermore, this scene shows that the children have limited resources and not many things to do for fun through the mise-en-scene. The children seem as though they enjoy the chase from the police, showing the lack of activities they have to do. As well as this, their game of cricket was played with makeshift bats, showing their need and ability to make use of any materials they can due to the lack of money. Elaborating on this, they are wearing dirty clothes and no shoes, showing the limited amount of money they have and the way they place less importance on material goods - they have no desire for expensive clothes. Therefore, one way in which the film represents poverty is that it is hard on children, they live very different lives to children living in Western society.

The children move from the slums only to become abused child laborers in the orphanage they believed was their escape route. They were found by the people on a landfill, further exploring the level of deprivation and poverty they were living in. They escaped the awful conditions of the landfill to an orphanage filled with children; all of whom slept on the floor together. They traded in one poor living condition for another which was only slightly better. This explores the hardships of poverty on children - particularly orphans - they are continually moving around without their living conditions improving; they have no way of escaping or improving.

Seemingly, the only way for 'slumdogs' to escape poverty is through a miracle or death; Jamal only found wealth through the chance of winning the game show, he did not work his way to being rich, Salim escaped through his sacrificial death. This represents poverty in India as being something of permanency, it can not be escaped easily and will never be overcome. This can be viewed as the film exploring the social issues within India.