Representation of Class and Status

The representation of people from different classes has changed massively over the years. Up until the 1950’s, the upper classes were the class mainly shown on TV and in film. This is because they were some of the only people able to afford to go to the cinema and own a television. As more and more people from working class background watch TV, more and more TV programmes feature working class characters.

Having said that, there are still some stereotypes associated with different classes:

• Upper Classes (eg Made in Chelsea) – often shown as rich, clever, snobby, very posh
• Middle Classes (eg My Family)– often shown as “normal”, good family values, well behaved
• Working Classes (eg Coronation Street) – often shown as poorer, less happy, less intelligent, but with strong community links
• Lower / Under Classes (eg Shameless) – often shown as being criminals, no family values, no community links, bad parents etc

People have often noticed that in many TV shows, people of different classes, don’t mix. And when they are shown together, they are often shown as clashing and being very different.

If you get “class” as an issue in the exam, you should be thinking about the following things when watching the clip:

• Can I identify what class/status characters are?
• Are people from different classes / statuses shown as having different interests, personalities, attitudes, behaviours? If so, how?
• Is their class / status represented as being important in their life?
• Are people from particular classes / statuses portrayed as being better, more powerful, than others?
• Are people from particular classes / statuses portrayed as being abnormal /weaker/ more pathetic than others?
• How do other characters in the clip treat the characters from different classes / statuses?
• What is the message the clip is trying to portray about class / status?

Here are some great clips featuring class and status to watch so you can practise for the exam: