The Sweeney Flashcards
(14 cards)
Media Language
- stereotypical portrayals
- muted colour palette - gritty realism and serious tones
- varied camera shots - transgressive for the time
Audience
primary audience - 18-30 year old men
secondary audience - the elderly
Representation
- heightened masculinity
- patriarchal society
- women have greater power with the new wave of feminism in the 80s, but still in need of rescuing, and it works for appealing to the heterosexual male audience to have damsels in distress.
- the police are represented as morally grey.
Social Context:
- a time of increased racism within the police.
- feminist movements gaining momentum.
- crime in London.
Cultural context
- a divisive time between younger and older generations
- emphasis on a close-knit family unit - Reagan challenges this.
Dress Codes - Reagan
- Formal Dress codes but well-known with muted colours - he seems unconcerned with his appearance, as expected of men of the time, yet preserves his professionalism.
Dress Codes - Kemble
- viewed with high class suits
- suggests a level of wealth and he purposefully flaunts this as well as his command and power.
- so far, a stereotypical, patriarchal representation.
Dress codes - Brooker - Kemble’s helper with accent
- Stereotypical Londoner, accentuated by the flat cap - a stereotype - symbolises his role as the “grafter”
- his clothing is less restrictive than a suit perhaps, highlighting his lower class role whilst hinting that he must retain an ordinary image so that he can organise the crime.
Dress codes - Billy and Stupid
youthful and stereotypical portrayal of teens. Leather jacket could imply that he is trying to show of and prove status, given his brother’s reputation.
clumsy, untucked shirt - his jeans, like Billy’s are rolled up but so far that they look clownish - making a fool out of himself whilst trying to follow Billy.
Dress codes - Jenny
Jenny’s clothes are quite ordinary - allows more women to relate to her - also she’s supposed to be subordinate to Reagan.
Settings: Jenny’s apartment
Cluttered and a mess - immediately portray’s Regan’s Maverick personality.
Settings: Garage
The garage is typical of a gritty urban setting but also emphasises the message of the show against crime - it could provide Billy and Stupid with a legit business but instead they use it for criminal activity.
Technical Codes
The shots and edting attempt to enhance that feeling of realism. However, most of the editing relies on continuity editing, which is a reflection of the simpler cinematography of the time.
Audio
Limited use of music = realism - use of silence was innovative.
- music employed during action sequences to emphasise the climactic effect and juxtapose the silences.
- the non-diagetic title sequence becomes iconic.
- ACCENTS - employed to connote heirarchy e.g. villains = criminals = lower class = cockney
detectives = RP accent.
