how is age represented in waterloo road
TRANSCRIPT
How is age represented in Waterloo Road
Done by Eman Shah
• Waterloo Road shows the stereotypes of youth very well, representing them as rebellious and attracting disapproval. The uniform symbolises their rebellious nature by not wearing it properly and not looking smart and sophisticated, quite the opposite in fact.
• Within TV drama age is often very stereotyped, with teenagers often being portrayed as disrespectful people who walk around wearing hoodies, causing problems. A conformation of the young people’s age is the fact they are dressed in school uniform with short ties and short skirts representing teenagers as being rebellious and disobedient. A typical action of the young desperate to stand out as individuals whilst breaking the rules, and contrasting with the appearance of the adults dressed smartly and boringly. For example Grantly in his brown suit shows his old age through the stereotypical use of the dull colours and the symbolism that he is now dull and stubborn and boring. In contrast one of the younger female teachers, Miss Chaudery presents youth with the contrast of smart formal trousers and then a vibrant pink top.
In the first scene we see a mid shot of the two teenage school boys. Costume is used well here to show us that they are in a secondary school uniform and secondly, they are wearing it very scruffy and untidily, showing us that they are not wanting to be there. This reflects the age of teenage society. This scene also contains some diegetic sound that is the dialogue between the two characters, One of the pieces of speech is ‘chill out man’ said with a stereotypical ‘cool boy’ tone and another simple ‘yep’. This slang helps the audience establish the boys age(s) immediately as it is associated commonly with that age group. In the first scene we see that the boys are attempting to hide the fact that they have broken the schools video camera. The audience is shown a mid shot of one of the boys putting the camera inside his top so that a teacher does not see it.
This is the mid shot of the boys talking to each other.
In this scene the audience also sees an older looking teacher. Costume is used once again to represent his age. We notice he is wearing what looks like a very old brown suit. This suit is not generally have been worn by a younger man but someone of an older generation. He also uses a very demanding tone when he says "give it" regarding the video camera that the boys have broken, showing the audience that he is the one who is in control in the situation, as the audience would expect as he is the teacher. We are then shown a mid shot of the camera that has been broken very badly.
• However in the scene we are also shown another teacher (Miss Chaudery) who looks younger, we can tell she is young because she is wearing modern clothes.
• Firstly the use of editing, after Grantly says to her ‘you did take out insurance’ we cut to the reaction of Miss Chauderys face. This is done to suggest that she has not taken out insurance for the video camera that the two teenagers boys have broken. This shows her as a irresponsible person. When we see this in the clip we also see the two teenagers faces when they were being told off. The mise en scene is used to represent stereotypes of age. The teenage boys are both very unpreventable with their uniform not done properly which makes them appear immature. The director also used camera work to represent age. As we see the shot of Miss Chaudery’s reaction when being asked about insurance shoes a bit of the side of Grantly’s face as he is laughing at her. This shows the stereotype that are old people are mean and harsh, taking pleasure in making the younger people feel bad about themselves.
This is a close up of Miss Chaudery’s face, when Grantly says to her ‘you did take out insurance’. Her facial expression indicates that she did not take out insurance, as she is looking worried.
In a later scene the audience is shown another mid shot of a typical teenage boy leaning against a door. His costume is important as it shows him wearing his hoodie over his uniform and shirt undone showing he has no pride for it. The constant showing of the boy (Kyle) showing off his buttons undone shows very normal behaviour shown by the rebellious students in schools throughout the UK. Part of this is that they are challenging the rules of the school uniforms by trying to show their identity.
We also see another teacher with a pen behind his ear, this use of prop is good because it associates an age range around mid thirties to early forties with the teacher as no teacher would be see with a pen behind their ear as it is ‘uncool’.
• In another scene we see a long shot which shows the whole costume of two more characters as they are walking towards the character. We hear some ambient sound of other random conversations and students walking around the corridors, as you would do in any school. The volume of the ambient sound is very loud giving another good representation of age as stereotypically we imagine teenagers are very loud. We hear some dialogue between the two characters and we soon find out they are talking about someone's family, (Amy’s family). When Amy hears her friends talking about her family she gets upset and says ‘more people chatting about my family’. This use of dialogue is effective because in this clip it allows the audience to understand what the children at Waterloo road are like. The statement suggests that young people are highly effected by others talking about their lives where adults may be less affected. The word ‘chatting’ is a slang word which is stereotypical for young people. This language may not be used by an older character and therefore portrays young people not to care about how they speak and their education.
• In the end scene we hear non diegetic music playing quietly in the background. This music is very fast paced and accompanies the confrontation well. The music and action that the girl has chosen to take once again aid in representing the age of the characters. We also see a tilt long shot showing an older looking teacher dressed in what his age group stereotypically think is fashionable. This represents his age in a comedic way as it highlights that many adults don't know what is in fashion, stereotypically anyway. Another stereotype is the rap music also played in the background as this too is seen as what teenagers listen to. The use of this shot highlights how out of place the teacher is in his outfit, simply because of his age, and suggest there are socially acceptable differences between age groups.
• Waterloo Road is a TV drama which is based around teenagers in secondary schools. It is shown on BBC one which suggests that the representation of teenagers are going to be negative since BBC one is the main television channels which represents the views and beliefs of the dominant ideology in the UK.