How is Class Represented in the Shameless Clip

Shameless, is directed by Peter Lydon, written by Paul Abbott & Daniel Brockhurst. Its first broadcast was in January 2005.  It follows the lives of the residents of Chatsworth Estate in Manchester. The show is still airing on live TV 7 years later & are on the 9^th series.

The initial thought of shameless is highlighting that all working-class citizens are the same as the characters. However despite this first image, many of the characters show upper class values despite their life being working/under-class. The character Frank Gallagher portrays an image of self-destruction via alcohol and drugs, despite him nodding towards ‘political correctness’.  In contrast, they show the upper-class to be aspirational, privileged and legitimate.

Without looking too deeply into the characters of shameless, it portrays the characters as working/under-class people. For example the first impression of Frank would be that he is an alcoholic, who smokes and doesn’t care much for his own children. However when Frank is in the pub with his two children, he stubs out his cigarette when he says “Put your stamp on them” suggesting he is not that bothered about his children or maybe Frank resents them.

The conditions they live in are a classic case of anomie and polarisation. The programme is almost anarchic, in the best sense. It is out of the ordinary and highlights a contrast between different programmes and the diversity in target audiences. However, one aspect that goes un-noticed is that despite the poverty and material deprivation, they all seem to stick together and act as community and fight for what they believe in.

In the first shot we see a two shot of a couple discussing their fostered child. The camera at the end of the discussion zooms in on the woman to suggest that she feels emotionally closer and attached to the child.

In the last shot we see of the couple in a warehouse, is at first a medium close up of their faces and their reaction to the situation that the audience have not yet seen. The camera then cuts to a very long shot, establishing that the stolen car has gone. The depth and vastness of the shot could represent how much trouble the man is in, how he has fallen into such a huge hole that he will never get out of.

Another representational shot is when two women are having a chat about their children, when one of them gets out a bottle of Vodka and starts drinking. However it seems like the middle of the afternoon. The fact that they are drinking Vodka which is cheap and very strong, stereotypically, reckless things happen when people drink vodka and it is deemed as a dangerous drink. The difference between these two women in the working-class possibly the under-class is that middle/upper-class would stereotypically drink wine, or something along those lines.

However the fact that they are drinking in the afternoon suggests that they don’t have jobs and are fulfilling the stereotype of ‘the unemployed working-class, scrounging off the welfare state etc.’ Drinking in the afternoon (from a different perspective) also suggests that they like to have a bit of fun and they are not wound up tightly about their issues.