Thursday 2 December 2010

Regional Identity

Britain is usually seperated into three regional stereotypes; the north, the south and the 'country people'. These are the stereotypes we associate with Northerners and Country people;
The North Stereotypes

  • Flat cap wearing
  • Pigeon racers
  • Friendly but 'bloody-minded'
  • Stubborn and argumentative
  • Whippet owning
  • Menial Manual (hard) jobs
  • Little education
  • sexist
  • Thick accent
  • Bitter Drinkers
  • Hot Pot
  • Miserable weather
  • Cobbled Streets

Country Stereotypes

  • West Country - scrumpy addled yokels
  • Inbred
  • Stupid
  • Happy 
  • 'Livestock bothering'
  • Farm hand yokel

OR

  • Lord of the manor
  • Hunting toff
  • Slow pace of life
  • Land Rovers
  • Tractors

In this clip these men, especially two of them, fit into the Northern Stereotype.

This clip begins with a close up of a typical pub meal with a pint of beer, this indicates to the audience it is more likely to be a group of men eating the meal, as women aren't typically paired with drinking pints with meals. Immediatley this is a cultural code, highlighting the men involved aren't particually well off. The extreme close up then continues to show another pint, at this point the audience would continue to assume that all of the men are consuming lager. It becomes apparant that there is a class divide as the man with the white beard says 'Managment and Workers', a close up shot is used of the managers, who appear to be well groomed and clean, then of the workers whose appearance is more scruffy. 
The manager continues to talk in what would be a yorkshire accent, he says ' not in this day and age ' which relates back to the 4 Yorkshire men sketch, that life used to be harder and they enjoy boasting about who was the most hard done by.
It is evident that the two 'workers' fall into the Northern stereotype of being sexist when one of the workers say ' can I have some sauce bab, not that you're not saucy enough yourself '.The fact that none of the other men take any notice of the comment made, re-enforces the stereotypical idea that Northern men are sexist.
The conversation continues, with the camera angles being predominantly mid-angle shots, and shot reverse shot creates the idea that we are watching what they are saying from realistic points of view. The worker who made the comment at the waitress asks his colleague if his son  goes to 'that poncy toff academy' which creates an even bigger distinction of classes. This enforces the stereotype of Northeners having little education.
The men then start to make 'gay jokes' towards the manager whose son is called 'Ben Trotter - Bent Rotter', which reflects that the workers have the higher status, as they are walking all over the boss', that they have no inception of the status of the men they are with. 
Throughout there is only diagetic sound used, and no sound added in for effect, this creates social realism which makes the scene more realistic and relatable.
In my opinion, contrasting to society's view on disability/impairments, the steotype of Northern people is more about actions rather than appearance. Their accent is possibly the most recognisable sign of their regional identity, yet these characters conform to a few of the other stereotypes.

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