As referenced in my previous post, working class people are often on your tv screens. But is it in a positive or negative way?
Positive representation of the working classes
The Netflix show On My Block is a great example of showing how young people from a less privileged background cope with the chaos around them and are active members of their community within giving into addictions or violence. Whilst it is based in America, I think that it is still relevant as a reference because of its availability on a mainstream streaming platform. This show is also good because it shows how multicultural the working class is, which again, is very relevant to the UK.
In The Long Run is a show that is set in the 1980s, and documents life on a council estate in London. It is loosely based on Idris Elba’s childhood and I think paints a realistic picture of what life would have been like for him. I believe he co-wrote this series, and while there are probably some instances of dramatic licence, it rings very true to life.
The Simpsons are a working class family who go through some of the same struggles as real life working class families eg. Homer needing to get a second job to pay for Christmas when his main job doesn’t give Christmas bonuses to the semi skilled workers.
Bob’s Burgers features Bob Belcher buying his family’s clothes secondhand and being embarrassed when a bank manager shows him what a good savings account should look like instead of his. But despite this, his family are happy and functional.
Golden Girls is a series about four widowed and divorced women living together. When watching this show I’ve never thought about them being working class, and I’m not entirely sure they are but when Rose loses her husband’s pension she says this: “You know, every morning when I leave the house, I see this bag lady going through the baggage over on 135th Street. She has everything she owns piled up in one of those old shopping carts. But the other day, for the first time, I noticed, she’s about our age. Oh, you know, you always feel sorry for someone like that, but I wondered, ‘What did she do to get herself into a fix like that?’ I thought, well, she must be lazy, or she must be pretty stupid to let something like this happen to her. But, the truth is, she’s me! God! What am I going to do?” This quote was memorable because it showed a character changing their mind about social class and almost having an epiphany. I think this is rather powerful and shows self awareness that is often lacking in fictional characters.
Negative representation of the working classes
Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances. A woman who has married into a middle class family and who flaunts her rich sister to whoever is listening, telling everyone about her pony and her swimming pool. But on the flip side, she hides and avoids her working class sisters and brother in law, even going so far as to climb over walls to avoid them.
Shameless – The both the US and UK versions focus on poor dysfunctional, working class families where the father is addicted to drugs or alcohol, leaving the children to fend for themselves. The showrunner of the US series said “We have a comedic tradition of making fun of the people in those worlds… The reality is that these people aren’t ‘the other’—they’re people who live four blocks down from you and two blocks over.” However, Shameless is still classed as a comedy series so are they not still making fun of the working classes? And I would still argue that they are pushing stereotypes about working class people, having fathers who are addicts and kids taking care of themselves.
The Jeremy Kyle Show. A classic mainstay of British television for a long time. And a reason that so many people were wary of so called ‘chavs’ and thought that anyone who was on benefits was a deadbeat. Two people sitting across from each other, making wild accusations and Jeremy Kyle himself stirring up the drama. I would argue that in British society, this show is a huge reason that the working classes are demonised still. A similar show to this in America is Judge Judy, however I think that there are slightly more positive interactions to counteract the stories of working class criminals and morally wrong behaviour. Judge Judy while globally popular, has still attracted a lot of criticism for exploiting people who can’t afford to take their cases to an actual court of law or pay legal fees.
Benefits Street – a documentary about a street in Birmingham where apparently 90% of the residents claim benefits. The show documented the residents committing crimes, demonstrated how to shoplift and portrayed a situation where no one was committed to finding regular employment and instead depended on their benefits to survive. This show generated a lot of backlash, rightly so in my opinion. From personal experience, having grown up with a parent on benefits and who was desperate to find a job, Benefits Street painted an unrealistic picture. Again, I would say that it fed into a lot of stereotypes that are held about people on benefits. Channel 4 were accused of making ‘poverty porn’ and Ofcom received hundreds of complaints. Even the participants of the show claimed that they were misled about what the show was about and misrepresented on screen.
I am unsure where soap operas would fall – the things that happen to those people are very unrealistic but do they show working class people in a bad light? Not having watched any I don’t think I can speak to this. There are articles online arguing that they are bad for showing working class people but others disagree.
From looking at these tv shows, it is very clear to me that it’s so much easier for tv shows to portray the working class in a negative manner and that people will watch it. For example Benefits Street had record numbers of people watching it, and I highly doubt it was because they identified with the people who appeared on the show. The working class appear to be an easy target to make entertainment out of, and this just perpetuates the negative stereotypes about people who come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.