Critique of my Blog

• Good use of images
• Good use of Terminology
• Good links to the theories/binary opposites
• Make more attractive (GIFS, Videos)
• Could have used more on editing, mise-en-scene and music, but what is there is good.

• Could make it better presented and more interesting
• Should mention camera shots and sounds
• Nicely laid out
• Good use of pictures
• Good technical language

• Terminology is well used
• Need more on mise-en-scene

• Chunks of text need breaking up
• Needs a conclusion
• Needs to be more appealing

• More terminology but good reference to the theories
• Less heavy text

• Good analysis of characters and detailed
• Clear understanding of structure etc
• A bit text heavy, needs more pictures
• Flows well, a bit short. Needs more info.

Waterloo Road

Waterloo Road, Season 8 Episode 2 (Spirit Child)



Gerard Findlay (Antagonist)
Gerard Findlay is the Headteacher of Haverlock High. He has a feud against Michael Byrne, the Headteacher of Waterloo Road. In this episode he actually helps Mr Budgen respay his car after it has been vandalised by students of Haverlock and he doesn't want Grantley to get the police involved.

Lula (Neutral, but mainly a victim so we feel sympathy towards her)
This episode is the first time we see Lula. At first she is presented as coming from a stereotypical African family where her uncle doesn't speak English. She is a very mixed character who we gain sympathy for due to the way she is harshly treated by her Uncle and the pastor.

Mr Byrne (Protagonist)
Mr Byrne is very quiet in this episode. He doesn't do too much other than tell Grantley not to tell the police as he doesn't want to cause trouble between Waterloo Road and Haverlock High.

Lula's Uncle (Antagonist)
Lula's Uncle is immediatly shown as being a vicious figure. We see from the start that he scares Lula, and he won't listen to what she wants. He is very religious and doesn't believe in any other methods for trying to help Lula. He is also very vicious towards the teachers at the school.

Tom Clarkson (Protagonist)

Mr Clarkson is presented as a bit of a hero in this episode. Despite what happens to Lula he doesn't give up on trying to help her, and he manages to persuade Lula's Mum to come and rescue her from her Uncle and the Pastor.

Lula's Mum (Antagonist)
Lula's Mum is very quiet in this episode. At first she appears as being very ill, but we later see that Lula's Uncle is actually trying to control her, and that despite what we previously hear she can speak English and she helps Lula out and gets rid of Lula's Uncle.

Connor Mulgrew (Neutral)

Connor is a bit of a troublemaker. He tries to get his mum caught out after having Vodka in school, but then he owns up because he feels guilty. At the end of the episode he accidently sets the house on fire, and because his mum is recovering from drinking he tries to pin the blame onto her.

Christine Mulgrew (Neutral)

Christine is a teacher who has a drink problem. She is caught with alcohol in the school but her son takes the blame for her. At the end of the episode Connor sets the house on fire accidently and blames in on Christine.

In this episode we see the conflict between the binary opposites. According to Levi-Strauss most films and TV Dramas are based around conflict between binary opposites. Hero V Villain, Good v Evil and Love v Duty. In this episode Lula and her Uncle are the opposites and stand for Good v Evil. As is usually the case with most TV shows and films good eventually triumphs over evil, despite always looking like evil will come out on top. The story follows a linear structure, where it is all in chronological order. The clips all work as a chain, with something in between the seperate storylines which develop through the storyline. These include Connor and his Mum's drink problem, where Connor accidentally sets his house on fire and Gerard Findley and Michael Bryne's Feud over Waterloo Road and Haverlock High.

We see Love as a duty of care reversed. Normally we'd expect the uncle to be the one showing love towards his niece, but what we actually see happening is Tom loving Lula and showing her care and the Uncle not really being interested. This is a role reversal which helps Mr Clarkson look like a hero. This helps to provide the ending, when Tom managed to get Lula's Mum in just in time and manages to to prevent the exorcism and allow Lula and her Mum to restart their relationship with one another.

This episode manages to fit in with Todorov's theory of narrative equilibrium. We have an Equilibrium where Lula is starting at school, however this doesn't last long before she is already causing trouble by stepping out in front of Mr Clarkson's car. The disruption starts fully when other students try to interact with Lula, she reacts very badly to it and causes problems. Lula recognises this when she tells Mr Clarkson about her Uncle and how he plans on taking her to the pastor for her exorcism. The attempts to repair this start when, after being taken out of school by her uncle, Tom and Lula's mum stop the exorcism from happening, and the police are contacted, and for the main storyline we see the happy ending that was expected. To an extent it also conforms with Syd Field's 3 Act Structure, although nowhere near as well as with Todorov's theory.

The roles of the characters don't conform with Propp's Character Types Theory. We have Tom who is the hero in this episode, Lula's Uncle who plays the role of the villain, Lula's Mum as the helper and Lula as the princess. But we don't have anyone who acts as a donor, dispatcher or false hero. In Waterloo Road many of the characters are based on Stereotypes. Lula and her family are based strongly on a typical Western African family with the way they speak French and being very religious. Whenever Lula's Uncle is on the screen the camera is always looking up at him to try and make him seem as big as possible, while with her Mum we always see her from a long way and dressed as being very ill, almost the opposite of Lula's Uncle.

Elliott Walsh and Brad Matthews

Portrayal

Why represent the police in this way?

The police are represented as being the villains in this, despite the fact that whenever we see the police we usually associate them with being the heroes. The police are portrayed as being faceless and not caring about the immigrants. This manages to show the brutality of real life, that trying to do the right thing can ruin people's lives

Why represent the immigrants in this way?

The immigrants are shown as being very sensitive, and straight away we know that they are the ones who we need to have sympathy. We are also shown that workers who migrate from other countries can't get decent jobs. We see this when Adam looks after the diabetic woman and knows exactly what to do and indeed tells us "I wasn't always a cleaner you know".

What stereotypes are being adhered to or subverted in this clip?
Immigrants having poorly paid jobs is definitely which is being adhered to in this clip, but apart from that all other stereotypes are being de-constructed. Immigrants are often de-humanised and many people think of them as people who steal jobs while being unskilled. But we know that isn't true in this clip as Adam is actually a doctor. The police who are often shown as being the heroes in film and television are shown as being antagonists in this clip. They are shown as being the destroyers of peoples lives and then refer to it as "Just a game".

Can you hypotheses the behind the mediation of this text
This text has been produced to entertain. That is the main purpose of this text is to entertain, as that is why the film has been produced however it has a secondary purpose which is to educated people that our preconceptions aren't necessarily the truth about immigrants. 

Stereotypes, Signs and Schwarzenegger

Ok. So maybe not all Germans put their towels on their sun beds and perhaps not all blondes are actually dumb. But these stereotypes must come from somewhere, and when we see someone in a film who looks like you think they should we automatically assume it is true. But how many time do you go round Halifax or Huddersfield and see someone wearing a flat cap? Very rarely, in the same way that Germans don't all wear Lederhosen and eat sausages. The way we see things completely influences our judgement. For example a red traffic light. The Denotation of a red traffic light is the red light, and the connotation is that the drivers of a car should wait. Being from the western side of the world we know to associate red with danger, and therefore we know to stop. But in China red is almost always shown to be a Lucky colour. If a Chinese person visited the UK and drove through a red light it wouldn't be very lucky at all.

Red for danger? Or Red for luck?

It isn't just colours that we think about differently, it is items and photographs. For example when you see a picture of a sunrise or sunset you immediately think of relaxation, peacefulness and a very happy place. And when you see a rose you think of love and romance. When you see the picture of Arnold Schwarzengger in Conan The Barbarian you think of masculinity, a strong sense of pride and he fact that he is a hero. But when you think about it closer, 'Arnie' uses steroids in order to make himself look more masculine, however steroids actually make the genitalia smaller, which by many men is seen as a big thing about masculinity.

Learning? How do you do that?

The first media lesson of the year. Despite being in education for 12 years, doing a new subject is always very strange. Will it live up to your expectations? Will you like the teacher? Will you be able to achieve everything that you expected from the subject? It is very early days at the moment, and from the initial lesson it is impossible to tell. One thing that is for certain is that the lesson very thought provoking. When you like to think you're clever it is usually viewed as a positive sign, yet when asked 'what makes someone clever' it is very difficult to answer. You could almost say that you have to be very clever to answer it, as there are many different things that can make someone clever, but can you explain it?

Its not as easy as it sounds, trust me.

Then you have the learning techniques. Would you like to be the Itchy of the class? The one who enjoys the work, learns how to use the techniques in their real life and interacts with real people to try and improve their standard of work and their thought processes? Or the Scratchy? The one who has to be 'Spoon-Fed' information, the person who simply copies things don off the board and doesn't know how to do the work for themselves. Scratchy might not be the brightest person in the world, but he passes his exams due to the teacher doing his work for him. The pair could get the same grades as one another, and so on paper they are exactly the same. But once it comes to having to impress a potential employer or learn a new skill then Scratchy will struggle. Teachers won't be able to help him be successful at an interview, and he will almost appear to be reading from a script. The script that was seemingly used in his lessons, the script that is all of a sudden taken away and he cannot show his individuality because he has been taught to be just like everyone else, and not use his brain to connect to situations when it really matters. It all sounds very familiar, and that is because it is the way teaching is through school. You aren't taught to share your ideas with the class, and lessons become quiet. The world needs more Itchys to come through and be themselves.

Who knew that they would become such a big part of a discussion on learning?