Social representation of class in soaps

social representation of class in soaps

Top boy

In top boy we see a lot of characters with different personalities who are all living in the same estate. We witness a lot of conflict from teenagers to grown adults aged between 13 through up to 20 years old. All the characters are represented in different ways to show how class is significant to their hierarchy status within their estate. On a whole, people from top boy are shown as upper working class; some don’t have jobs at all and may be living off the welfare system. This is shown in the trailer of top boys as they start off with the block of flats located in south London which is notorious for having a poor population. The camera works start from a lower point of the block looking up, making the viewer feel insignificant as if there is no escape from this life, the same way the characters feel.
Point of view is also significant as it makes the audience more engaged with the programme on a personal scale.
 The fast cuts from London’s iconic sky scrapers to the London’s 'slums' are very powerful because it allows the audience to see how close the wealthy and the poor actually are no matter how hard people try to deny it, poverty is everywhere.
The non diegetic sound also helps create a more young, lower class atmosphere as the beat is very continuous which shows a never ending hell. It is also of an R&B genre and we usually link R&B with things like crime, drugs, dirty money etc. This shows the class being lower as in r&b and rap people tend to express their feelings towards the life they used to live in the slums and ghettos but now they're making money. However they are making money the 'dirty' way which is through selling drugs and living the criminal life.This shows lower class as people in higher class seem to have degrees and diplomas which allow them to continue to get a higher occupation where as these people are living off others bad, unbreakable habits. The scene where the camera works is zoomed in to the drugs is significant as it basically represents survival to these lower class citizens. Although there is a huge minority of lower working class people that manage to make a living there are also characters such as Jason, an 11 year old boy, who literally lives in a sort of modern day favella with his mother who abuses narcotics and alcohol and her abusive boyfriend. This represents the lower class as not very intelligent, therefore not being able to live a normal functional life. This whole drama is following the typical conventions that come with filming in the estates.
In 16;26 of series 2 episode One we can see a huge contrast between a boy from the slums in south london and a grown man with a family in a more wealthier part, perhaps north/west london. The camera work while the boy is in the taxi is significant because their are fast cuts all the way through from where he started to his destination and you can see clearly how his surroundings change from small parks in massive estates to lovley houses with big green parks surrounding the area. The irony of this is that the young boy went to deliver a bag of weed to a "client" who in fact is a high middle class father with a teenage son and a wife. In our society we generally stereotype weed or drug users as uneducated people but in fact some one of that status actually uses it. Also when the young boy enters the house he is told to go to another room. When he enters this room the lighting instantly shines on his face as he sees a lot of books. This lets the audience interpret some sort of innocence within all this criminal and horrid behavior because you wouldn't expect a boy of his age to be doing that but as he comes from a lower class he has to do all he can to be able to afford things any normal kid would desire.
The fact that the boy mentions he recieved a level 5 in his sats makes us think he can go far but sadly becuase of his background and the way he composes him self we must think again if this is even possible. Its saddening becuase its the sad truth that in reality so many kids are bright and talented but the only thing that will always play a big role is there status and there social background.
Another way in which class is shown is the scene where deshayn is being in the police station. The lighting is very dim with him in the spot light which shows the audience they are questioning him about gangs and his role. His solicitor is a female of a Caribbean descent possibly with the same up bringing and education as the man in question only she has moved forward in order to break those barriers within society of who can make it and who cant whereas this man Is still in the same place he was 10 years ago, not making the most of the opportunities given to him. The camera shot is in a close up mode to allow the audience to digest every emotion within the mode. The most intreguing part within the scene is when a police officer asks is sully a mate of yours the camera as at a birds eye angle slowly moving down to show us how hes feeling but also to put us in a more superior place so it gives us the right to some how judge him. She then continues with are you the leader of the summer house 'gang'. he replies with "you lot are obbsessed with gangs init. their is no gangs" she asks "what is there then" he replies "what their is everywhere else, families"
In different eyes their are different interpretations of what family really is. In a world of struggle and hardship in lower classes the family they have are the people they hustle with to get through day by day where as in what should be a far society no one should have to struggle like that. In an upper class society the families of people from estates are in fact gangs because the way they earn money is completely different to that of lets say a doctor or a lawyer. They earn it from drugs but its just the way people were raised and their beliefs that play a huge role in how they compose themselves.

Tracking is extremely used in this drama to be able to let the audience in hail the exact actions and movements in the drama. A part that is still embedded in my mind is when the tracking was following a boy in a hoody who was cycling transporting drugs from one end of the line to another. The fact that while the camera was tracking the boy cycling, it was tracking him behind bars which the audience may interpret as foreshadowing his destiny which is eventually ending up behind the bars of a prison cell if he doesn't stop the way hes going down. It also shows that people in the lower class are still imprisoned because they are not as free to do what they want to do due to the fact that they have certain restrictions money wise hence the reason why they call places like summerhouse estate the ghetto. No one can get out.


The costumes through out this episode allows us to judge where these people rank and how they manage to afford such items. For example at the beginning you have the scene where all the teens are on the stair case having a rap session. Automatically the eyes of the target audience, who would be ranged between 16-20 year olds, attracted to the beanie on one of the older boys in the scene. The brand is called stone island but in slang terms we'd refer to it as 'stoney'. This brand is found in shops such as Selfridges and many other shops in the westend. The westend is notoriously known for its high class, its luxurious shops and lifestyles. Only people who work hard for a living or who come from a high class background could afford such things. Although seeing this brand makes us wander how he managed to afford such an expensive hat, which is obviously from drug dealing, we can see that even certain brands that may cost £100's will still belong to a certain class. In a sense you could actually say low class is the new high class.

On a general the clothes of the actors range depending and who they are and what each character represents. It's ironic because most of them are poor but there is still a hierachy even in the poorest of classes for example Jason is portrayed as the poorest out of all the characters, especially youths, because hes there to represent the maltreated people due to less educated adults in society.He is seen wearing a bomber jacket, which we associate with youths as most are seen wearing this, dirty traksuits because its cheap available cloth , and a pair of worn out trainers. The clothes look like they have been stolen from a homeless person.This creates an ironic atmosphere as the place he lives in is no home.