Full Monty

The Full Monty is a 1997 British comedy film. It tells the story of six unemployed men, four of them former steel workers, who decide to form a male striptease act (Chippendale dancers) in order to gather enough money to get somewhere else and for main character Gaz to be able to see his son. Gaz declares that their show will be better than the Chippendales dancers because they will go "the full monty" — strip all the way — hence the film's title. Despite being a comedy, the film also touches on serious subjects such as unemployment, fathers' rights, depression, impotence, homosexuality, working class culture and suicide. The film was rated a 15 in Britain for frequent strong language. The Full Monty is set in Sheffield, England and was directed by Peter Cattaneo.

‘Iconography refers to visual motifs that allows audiences to identify certain films as belonging to certain genre’ – the casual clothing, smoking, swearing all link to the working class

US & UK Collaboration which achieved 7th all time on the Box Office including the Blockbusters

Nil By Mouth

Nil by Mouth

Audience

Won a bafta
Kathy Burke – Best actress, cannes film festival
Edinburgh film festival award
People walked out of the cinema because the film had such a violent nature throughout the film but also a fight scene where character misscarries is also hardhitting.




Representation

Based on the environment Oldman witnessed growing up on a council estate in South East London. Pubs and estates in Deptford and New Cross.
Throughout the film the lighting stays dark, reflecting the mood of the film
Set in a rundown area in south London.



Institution

Released in 1997
Distributed by Sony pictures classics
Generally well received by critics
Film experts have voted it the most foul mouthed movie of all time, second in the list was the film casino
‘I wanted the film to represent the culture and neighbourhood I came from, which is why I breathed a sigh of relief when it went down so well with the british people who’ve seen it’ – Gary Oldman.

The video below is an interview with Gary Oldman talking about his film Nil by Mouth.

Only Fools & Horses

Audience
After a relatively slow start the show went on to achieve consistently high ratings, and the 1996 episode "Time On Our Hands" holds the record for the highest UK audience for a sitcom episode, attracting 24.3 million viewers (over a third of the population). Critically and popularly acclaimed, the series received numerous awards, including recognition from BAFTA, the National Television Awards and the Royal Television Society, as well as winning individual accolades for both Sullivan and Jason. It was voted Britain's Best Sitcom in a 2004 BBC poll. It also had an impact on British culture, contributing several words and phrases to the English language and boosting the popularity of the Reliant Regal van. became one of the UK's most popular sit-coms. It was among the ten most-watched television shows of the year in the UK in 1986, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 2001, 2002 and 2003. The 1996 Christmas trilogy of "Heroes and Villains", "Modern Men" and "Time On Our Hands" saw the show's peak. The first two attracted 21.3 million viewers, while the third episode – at the time believed to be the final one – got 24.3 million, a record audience for a British sit-com. Repeat episodes also attract millions of viewers, and the BBC has received criticism for repeating the show too often. Del Boy was voted the most popular British television character of all time in a survey by ‘Open...’. and came fourth in a Channel 4 list of Britain's best-loved television characters. A Onepoll survey found that Only Fools and Horses was the television series Britons would most like to see return. The show regularly features in polls to find the most popular comedy series, moments and characters. Having two characters, Rodney and Del Boy, also invites a wider audience to watch the sit com. Because they're quite contrasting characters the audience can also be more varied as there is something in each character that attracts different audience members.

Instiution
Only Fools and Horses was written and created by John Sullivan. It ran for seven series, meaning sixty three episodes. John Sullivan grew up in Balham, South London. He failed his eleven-plus and left school at 15 with no qualifications; he’s from a working-class background. Much of Sullivan's material for Only Fools and Horses scripts came from his real-life experiences: falling through a raised bar flap, the chandelier falling, his father's poker sessions, his niece working in the police force, and his grandfather falling down holes to claim money. It is arguable that the economic insecurity experienced by the Trotter family, and their eventual rise to wealth is based on Sullivan's own personal background, who grew up in a poor household and noted in an interview that he and his friends seemingly had no other opportunities after leaving school apart from low-paid factory work. The success of Only Fools and Horses, however, made him rich.
Sullivan also created a spin-off series called “Green Green Grass” and a prequel to Only Fools called “Rock & Chips.
Overnight figures estimated Rock & Chips was seen by 7.4 million viewers with a 28% audience share, winning the slot against ITV1's Wild at Heart and the Dancing on Ice results show. It was the second most-watched programme of the day, behind the first Dancing on Ice programme of the evening.

Representation

· Set on a council estate in Peckham (Nelson Mandela Flats)
· Working Class Family
· “Dodgy” dealings, Del sells knock of goods
· Both Del and Rodney aspire to better themselves (class mobility) however Rodney remains moral when trying to do so. For example he attends a computer course whereas Del sells stolen , knock off goods. Del wants to be a social climber but never quite gets there.
· Slang
· Incorrect use of French language, eg. “Mange tout” and “Bonjour” to say goodbye. Establishes the genre as comedy. The french langauge is seen as a superior language used by upper/middle class citizens so by Del attempting to use french, highlights his aspiration to be middle class.
· Tacky gold jewellery – what Del considers middle class, wearing lots of jewellery, is in actual fact the opposite because it’s fake.
· They don’t pay tax
· Despite their immoral doings, due to the comedy elements, we like the characters, we warm to them. (Full Monty)
· Tacky, clashing décor. Bar in living room. Just seeing the flat establishes the working class family living there.

Media Theory

Marxist Theory : "The class, which is the dominant material force in society, is at the same time its dominant intellectual force"
"According to Marx, the capitalist class- the burgeoisie- control the 'production and distributive of ideas' because of their control of the 'means of material production'.
This does not apply to John Sullivan as he grew up from a working class background, and left school with no qualifications.

Room At The Top

Opening Sequence to Room At The Top:

Representation

We analysed the representation of the working class men through the protagonist Joe Lampton focusing on:

Mise scene – lighting, settings, composition ect
Characterisation – Facial expression and body language
Costume – suits, shoes, socks ect
Props – drink, cigarettes ect

The character of Joe Lampton is working class from Dufton an industrial town trying to move up in class by moving to Warnley an a office job. In 1959 the class system was very clear cut and this film connects to the Marxist theory ‘the dominant material force’ is also the ‘dominant intellectual force’ basing the film on the views of middle class and how they view them.

Joe Lampton's costume shows how he is trying to become a higher class from working class to middle class. During the opening of the film we see him riding the train with his feet up, he is wearing a sock with a hole in it representing hiw as working class but then over the top he wears new shiny, squeaky shoes which is what he wants to become middle class.

Audience

Room at the Top won several awards:

1 Golden Globe
3 BAFTAs – Best British Film, Best Film from any Source, Best Actress in a Leading Role {Simone Signoret}
Cannes Film Festival
Room at the Top did however receive an ‘X’ rating, due to ‘strong sexual content’. It was issued by the British Board of Film Censors in the United Kingdom. This was “suitable for those aged 16 and over” from 1951 to 1970, which was within the time when the film was released {1959}. From 1970 – 1982, it became “suitable for those aged 18 and over”.

Institution

Room at the Top was directed by Jack Clayton. The film also gained commercial success and marked the beginning of Jack Clayton’s career as a director. It was produced by British Lion Films, a film production and distribution company since 1919, and was considered first British New Wave Film.

Room at the Top is a kitchen sink drama which expresses social realism, showing a frank view of life. Social realism aims to depict the cruel realities faced by the working class and could arguably be a representative of the working class Writers can approach texts as realist. In genre theory, “iconography refers to visual motifs that allow audiences to identify certain films as belonging to certain genre”, means that the genre is shown through what the film is made up of.

Gavin & Stacey

Gavin & Stacey



Representation

Gavin: - Semi-detached house in Billericay, reasonably sized.
- Billericay is populated town
- Socialises down the pub
- Lives with his Mum & Dad, Pam & Mick.

Stacey: - Small, terraced house in Wales.
- Barry, Wales is a very small populated town, with few attractions
- Lives with her widowed Mother, Gwen.
- Hunts for bargains, clothes shop from TK Maxx

Nessa: - Represented as a butch women
- Wears provocative clothing
- Comes across as intimidating
- Stacey’s best friend

Smithy: - Gavin’s best friend
- Time is spent socialising down the pub

Pam: - Gavin’s house proud and doting mother

Mick: - Gavin’s down to earth father

Working class behaviour such as smoking and drinking occurs, but is however contrasted with the occasional middle class activities such as Gavin’s father, Mick, playing golf.

Occupations: Gavin and Stacey both work in offices, however Stacey later becomes unemployed. Smithy is a builder, Nessa works for a few hours in an arcade by the seafront.

Series 1, Episode 1, Part 1:

Audience

Gavin & Stacey started on BBC 3 as part of a new campaign for more British comedy. Originally conceived as a one off special, there was room for 6 weekly episode series and so they were commissioned to fill it. Series 1 gained roughly 0.5 million viewers per episode. Due to this a second series was granted, viewing figures climbed to 1.5 million. After this the first and second series were re run on BBC1. Series 3 premiered on BBC1 due to high popularity and the penultimate episode of the series on Christmas day 2009 was the fourth most watched show of the day. With the series finale on news year’s eve being the 5th most popular of the day gaining over 10 million viewers. The programme won a BAFTA Audience Award and Best TV Comedy Award at the British Comedy Awards. It gained many positive reviews. The first series was met very warmly by critics when it was transmitted in May 2007 - The Radio Times called it 'one of the best comedies of the year'.



Institution

Ruth Jones and James Corden wrote the series. Having come from middle class background they portrayed a mix of characters instead of sticking solely to representing their own class and backgrounds. It was produced by Baby Cow Production a BBC comedy production company. It ran for a total 20 episodes, broadcast between 13th May 2007 – 1st January 2010.


Media Theory

“Genres are not fixed and timeless; they are open to historical change.” James Cordon is from a middle class lifestyle but hasn’t allowed his experiences to take over the show, as there is elements of both middle class and working class representations. For example, Gavin is seen to be a middle class citizen where as his wife, Stacey comes across as working class.

The Likely Lads & Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads

Representation

Comic language eg. Sarcasm, cheeky
Smartly dressed in early episodes
Terry is proud british, not willing to try anything new
Womaniser
WC activities: Drinking Alcohol, Smoking, Likes football
Works in factory
Posh accent, common words














Audience

The Likely Lads was watched by some 27 million people – half the population of Britain at the time – the 1960s sitcom made actors James Bolam and Rodney Bewes household names, giving them a level of success they have not matched since.
When shown in 2010 on channel 5 it got 893k viewers
It stretches across all classes



Institution

Created and written by Dick Clement and Ian LaFrenais
Produced by Dick Clement
BBC first sitcom
Run From 16th December 1964 – 23rd July 1966 21 shows (3 series)
Sequel: Whatever happened to the likely lads? 1973-1974 27 shows (2 series)
Feature film

Media Theory and Language

Mise-En-Scene
Costume, prop, lighting, setting, body language, language/voice
Genre
Text
Demographic
Chiara Scuro
Kitchen Sink

“The class which is the dominate material force in society, is at the same time is the dominate intellectual force” Marx and Engles
The creator, Dick Clement, was raised by a middle class family. Coming from a posh state school is he really in the position to portray how the working class are?

"Iconography refers to the visual motifs that allow audiences to identify certain films as belonging to certain genre" Maltby and Craven
Smoking and drinking has become iconic to the working class. Audiences have come to expect these things to these types of characters.