Peaky Blinders-Media language & Representation

Question 1

Visual codes-Clothing

Answer 1

Shelby brothers – tailored suits & pocket watches = power, ambition

Contrast with labourers’ simple, worn clothes

Question 2

Visual codes-Iconography and setting

Answer 2

Opening scene: Tommy riding through Small Heath like a cowboy= reputation established

Western genre references - Strong Intertextuality

Industrial poverty but filled with energy, not despair

Question 3

Audio codes-Music

Answer 3

Punk/rock songs (from 60 years later) give a modern twist to the period setting

Shows timeless emotions & aspirations

Punk’s energy mirrors Tommy’s controlled rage

Question 4

A ‘Secret History’ of England

Answer 4

Unlike traditional dramas, Peaky Blinders focuses on the working class & industrial Birmingham

Not about royalty or the rich, but the lower classes & women

Represent ambition & success despite their working-class roots

Grittier, more violent

Question 5

Strong & Empowered Women

Answer 5

Polly – The matriarch, leads the family, not just a mother figure, but a flawed, nuanced leader

Grace – Tracking shots to introduce her through the gritty streets, initially dismissed as “too pretty, but discovered as the cunning undercover agent

Reflects WW1’s impact: women took over running the country

Question 6

Representations of Gender-Tommy

Answer 6

The ‘Tough Guy with a Heart of Gold’

Emotionally restrained but capable of extreme violence

Protective over his family & community

Kind to children & the elderly