Cuffs Exam Practice

Cuffs Exam Practice
Why was the pre watershed scheduling of 8pm significant in terms of he representations they could offer?
suicide, nudity, racial attack

The pre watershed scheduling of 8pm is significant to the audience as well as the TV programme because of what the first episode contains extreme explicit content such as nudity, suicide and racial hate crimes. The reason why this is so significant is because the episode was broadcasted pre watershed therefore showing that this programme was aimed at families however this can be quite controversial as people may not agree with families being shown graphic content like suicide, however some people may think it is suitable for families to watch as mental health is a rising and it is a serious issue in teenagers.

In the first episode the racial attack can be quite controversial to the audience as some people think that it may have a negative impact on children and the way they think about race and culture however some families may think that their children need to watch this so that they are aware of how people act around people of different race and culture and so they can have their own opinion on this topic. This is makes the pre watershed scheduling significant as the first episode contains very explicit content.

The pre watershed scheduling is significant in terms of nudity shown at the start of the programme. This can be controversial in ways as the majority of families may not want their children watching adult nudity however some families may want to expose their children to nudity, this may be because of their beliefs.

How were the following areas represented in the episode: ethnicity, gender, sexuality.

Ethnicity was represented in the episode as a more open and equal topic this is due to the multi cultural police officers featured in the show. Race in the 1970's and 80's was a very serious issue as black people were portrayed as criminals in TV dramas as well as real life, however in Cuffs, it features PC Ryan Draper who is a middle aged black man who is a single father, this shows positive attitudes to race and how people have changed over the past decades as before they were not viewed as law abiding citizens who had families, so in the episode ethnicity was represented as a more positive and equal topic due to the fact that the show features mixed race police officers.

In the episode gender is represented as more open and accepting and equal as Cuffs features a big number of female roles for example female police officers, and female detectives. This shows that people have changed and are more accepting to females having stereotypical male roles since the 1960's for example The Avengers shows that there weren't any female police officers and women were very stereotypical in the 60's so they would wear a dress along with a handbag and high heels, however they were viewed as very sexual since the pill came out in the 60's therefore allowing women to be more sexual, so female police officers in Cuffs shows women can have stereotypical male jobs and can still be very sexual if they choose to be.

Sexuality is less of a controversial topic now that people are accepting homosexuals and the fact that David Cameron legalised gay marriage in 2010. In the episode, PC Jake Vickers was out as homosexual and was confident about it as he told his colleague the first day they met, this shows that society is more accepting these days rather then the 1960's for example The Avengers would not have featured a gay character that had such big role, but this shows that more people are coming out as gay and it is sending a positive image to kids and adults to come out.