Downton Abbey

The seven main representations of society in media are gender, age, physical ability/disability, class and status, ethnicity, regional identity, and love and romance.

In this clip from Downton Abbey we get a good representation of class and status. It is mourning time and the rich (upper class) are just waking up the poorer maids and servants (lower class) are already up and have started working. The news paper talks about the sinking of the Titanic, everyone is shocked. Robert Crawley (Lord) receives a telegraph stating that two of his friends were aboard the Titanic. He goes and talks to Lady Mary Crawley about it.

The mise-en-scène also shows the distinction in classes between the rich and the poor. the rich are shown in in silk and nice clothes, for instance Robert Crawley is wearing a nice suit and tie, they are also in grand and nice looking rooms. The poor servants are shown in quite rough looking clothing and are also quite dirty, "we wouldn't want his lordships hands to be as black as yours", they are also down in dark and cramped rooms. the servants also don't have as much choice. They have to wear a uniform and have a set breakfast. Whereas the Crawley's have a buffet breakfast so the have a choice of breakfast, and they can choose what to wear (nice clothes)

The diegetic sound in the kitchen of the utensils clashing and the servants cooking is used to represent the all the hard work they do. The the quietness in the rooms where the rich are represents their laid back nature. The accents also show their class. The rich speak with a slow and more proper English accent, while the poor servants speak with faster and more casual English accent (Cockney).
The camera also shows the difference in the representation between the rich and the poor. It follows the servants quickly and pans between them quickly showing that they work hard and fast to get the job done, and also how how busy they are. The camera tracks the rich quite slowly showing that they are not in such a hurry. The camera also does close up shots of the poor showing that they are quite confined , compared to the wider shots of the rich showing that the rich are more free than the poor servants. The camera also looks up on the rich with a low angle shot such as Robert Crawley, showing that he has more authority over the servants.

Editing also shows the representation of class and status in this clip. When we are watching the kitchen scene and following the movements of the servants, all the cuts are quick and the shots are short. This shows the how they work fast in order to get everything ready for the Crawley's. when we are around the Crawley's the shots are much longer. this shows that they are not in as much of a hurry and are a bit more laid back.