Cuffs Exam Practice Question

How has sound been used to create meaning?

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.

Cuffs Review

BBC ONE Cuffs Review
BBC ONE have created a crime drama series set in Brighton, the gay capital of the UK, called Cuffs.

The characters in the series are played by actors that are quite sheltered in the UK and are only known for being in British productions, they are based in the UK. No major actors were employed so there are no major, dramatic scenes or plots. Main character PC Jake Vickers, is played by uprising actor Jacob Ifan. Jake Vickers is a young police officer who happens to be gay and single therefore representing homosexuality. His partner, PC Ryan Draper played by Ashley Walters is a typical police officer, has a joke and loves his family. Ryan Draper is a single dad.

The performance of the show is very natural and fluid, the actors play the characters as if they were the characters so the dialogue between characters and the emotions between characters are very natural. The way each scene is filmed and set, it makes the viewer feel like they are actually in that scene watching the characters. The camera angles in each scene

Cuffs case study

Cuffs Series 1 Episode 1 notes

• Main characters
• Storylines
• Setting
• Overall tone/appeal

Main characters

• Ashley Walters as PC Ryan Draper - single father, alpha male, black 
• Jacob Ifan as PC Jake Vickers - single, young, gay, weak
• Amanda Abbington as DS Jo Moffat - single, high authority
• Peter Sullivan as Chief Superintendent Robert Vickers - married, PC Vickers father, higher authority, having an affair, wife suffering from cancer 
• Shaun Dooley as DC Carl Hawkins - recently married, father, fun, medium authority
• Paul Ready as DI Felix Kane - introverted and secretive, single, lonely, high authority
• Alex Carter as PC Lino Moretti - universally liked by his colleagues, 
• Eleanor Matsuura as PC Donna Prager - Dependable and capable, she loves her job and working with her best mate Lino.

Storylines

Televison in the 2010's

Major events in 2014 and 2015

• Barack Obama was president of the USA in 2014 and 2015. 
• David Cameron was the prime minister of the UK in 2014 and 2015. 
• Amtrak train crash in 2015. 
• David Cameron legalised gay marriage in 2015. 
• European Refugee Crisis in 2015. 
• November 2015 Paris attacks.
• Immigration levels increase.
• UKIP gained a lot of traction because they promised to get rid of immigrants.
• Wars in Syria.
• 3 protests - Austerity (the conservatives increased their pay by 11%)
• Terror attacks in the UK
• ISIS
• Afghanistan war
• Korean nuclear capability 
• Brexit 
• Trump election
• iPhone, social media, drug culture, knife crime, rap music.

These events have created a negative impact on the previous decade due to terrorism, politics, and drug and knife gangs. However movie franchises such as Harry Potter and Marvel films are more fantasy due to events in this decade, where as films like transporting were popular.

The differences that would be expected from Cuffs to The Avengers would be a lot more diversity between gender roles, sexuality, religions, age and class. In the 1960's homosexuality wouldn't have been a popular thing back then as it wasn't treated the same way it is now. Females wouldn't be treated like they are now so there would be a big difference between Cuffs and The Avengers.

Avengers Britishness

Stereotypes of Britain

• Tea and biscuits
• Posh and polite 
• Royalty
• BBC, Doctor Who, Eastenders 

Avengers Characters

Mrs Peel Representation

Mrs Peel is represented as wealthy, upper first class and posh. This is represented through her clothes, she wears very clean, tidy and smart clothes that look as though only wealthier women in the 60's could have worn these. Her clothes stereotypically represent how women would have acted in the 60's. The settings that Mrs Peel was in shows that she is a very wealthy woman. She is normally seen in the places that only wealthier women would be, for example the train carriage, the carriage was very first class. The props Mrs Peel uses are the stereotypical items that wealthier women in the 60's would have used for example her handbag, she walks around with her handbag wherever she goes.

Steed Representation

•  Costume: He wears a very tidy, neat suit. Stereotypically wealthier men in the 60's would have worn the same type of suits to show status, he also wears a bowler hat. 
• Settings: Steed is found to be in places that are quite violent or that are quite fist upper class.
• Props: The props used by Mr Steed are very stereotypical as to what men in the 60's would have used such as the umbrella and the bowler hat. 
• Action: Mr Steed is often found flirting with Mrs Peel in a number of occasions. He uses action for when he is in situations in which he is fighting. 
• Dialogue: Mr Steed's dialogue is very posh and sophisticated as a wealthy man in the 60's would have spoken, he is very formal towards Emma Peel, however isn't so formal when he is speaking to other men. 
• Stereotypes: Mr Steed follows typical stereotypes that a man would have in the 60's. He is very posh and formal, very polite however will use violence to defend himself and others.

1960's stereotypes

What stereotypes were used in Episode 1?

• Nationalities: In episode 1, there were strictly white British men and women, there were no other races in this episode.
• Gender: Genders in episode 1 were separated into stereotypes for example, the more physical leading roles were male characters apart from Emma Peel who had a big female role in the physical side. 
• Job role: Job roles in episode 1 were stereotypical, Emma Peel pretended to be a primary school teacher and discover more about the village whereas Steed was doing more physical jobs like walking around talking to people and getting into fights. 
• Places: The places in the episode were upper class London and the small seaside village. These are very stereotypical places the UK as other countries would have thought of London or small seaside villages when they thought about the UK.