Capital: Representations blog task

1) Watch episodes two and three of Capital and write a 50-word summary of each. You can either do this in class after school using the Media department's DVD or buy the whole series on Amazon download for £3.99 (SD).
Episode two
Arabella comes back home from her trip to find that Roger has hired a nanny. There's a community update in the community centre which is lead by DC Mills. The campaign is still going on - this time the residents are receiving dead animals in the post. Petunias health worsens and her daughter and grandson come to stay - we find out her grandson is an artist and Petunia passes away. Just before her death, her daughter hires Bogdal to renovate the house but he finds a suitcase full of money. Roger and the Nanny go to a fundraiser together. Mohinka visits her lawyer. The mother of the Kumal boys arrives in London. Their flat gets raided and Shahid gets arrested. 

Episode three
Shahid is held in a cell and is interrogated. Roger loses his job after his boss becomes aware of his assistants fraud activity. Bogdal and the nanny go and take the kids on a picnic together and they start to fancy each other. Mayta isn't necessary for the family anymore so they get rid of her and she goes to stay with Bogdal. Quentina sees Mashinko and says she no longer wants to see him, she is last seen to be deported. Petunias grandson realises his assistant sent a few of the postcards. Bogdal returns the money to Petunias daughter - her son tells her that he's a famous anonymous millionaire artist. We later find out Usman started sending them in the first place, after Shahid gets released from prison. 

2) Write an analysis of the representation in each of the key scenes from episode 1 we studied in class:

Scene 1: opening sequence 00:30 – 4.49
Scene 2: work in the City 6.28 – 8.10
Scene 3: “Which of those isn’t absolutely essential?” 14.00 – 15.35
Scene 4: asylum 18.03 – 19.42 AND 31.10 – 32.40
Scene 5: “What use is 30 grand?” 36.40 – 39.00 
Scene 6: life at the corner shop 40.10 – 42.55

You can choose which aspects to focus on for each scene: London, family, gender, ethnicity, religion, immigration, asylum, inequality, wealth, aging etc.

3) How does Capital use stereotypes? Do the characters and issues represented in Capital reinforce or subvert the stereotypes we typically see in the media?
Capital uses some stereotypes with having certain characters playing typical roles. For example, the Pakistani family who own the corner shop, the vulnerable old woman and the rich, middle class white family. I think this has been done because audiences are familiar with these scenarios and it might be too confusing for an audience if you choose to change that. Despite these being typical stereotypes that we see regularly, there's also an element of subversion. With the Kamal family, there's a lot of London humour and they have a thick London accent, to some people that may be a surprise because you wouldn't put those two things together. Also, you'd expect the Yount family to be quite happy because they have a nice house and a lot of money but they aren't - there are a lot of marital problems.