Representation of Social Class and Status of Power in "Upstairs Downstairs".

I have chosen a clip from the old series of the television programme "Upstairs Downstairs" to represent social class and status of power.

Within the programme, the servants of the house live downstairs in cramped, fairly poor living conditions whilst the owners of the house (who are extremely well off) live a life of luxury upstairs.

The mise en scene within this extract clearly portrays the fact that the people living upstairs are of a much higher social class than the people living downstairs are. For example, the living/main room upstairs has a huge fireplace and lush leather couches, whereas the living quarter downstairs is very simple with hard wooden chairs and small square tables with no pictures on the walls. This is due to a lack of money. In addition to this, the whole extract begins with one of the servants cleaning and holding a duster in her hand. Cleaning is a job which requires little intelligence and not a very high level of education. Cleaners are stereotypically associated with being of a lower class, so this is what provides the idea that the servants are of a lower class. This is also shown due to the fact that the family living upstairs can wear anything they like but the servants have to wear a uniform to ensure that they are smartly presented and respectable-looking when they are around people with more authority than them.

The sound within this extract of the television programme consists of only dialogue, which is a type of diegetic sound because it comes from the characters within the scene. The dialogue still gives the audience an idea of the different levels of social class though, because the owners of the house are very well spoken and sound fairly posh, which suggests they have had an excellent education and have good elocution. On the other hand, the servants have a slightly cockney accent and are no where near as well spoken as the house owners because they are not very likely to have been corrected by parents for not speaking in the correct manner, and they probably didn't have much of an education.

The camera angles and shots within the servants' quarters are fairly simple, perhaps to reflect the layout of the room or possibly even the intelligence and personality of the lower class servants. A lot of mid shots and two shots are used, which clearly show the surroundings and each of the characters. Although, the majority of shots within this scene are not very exciting or interesting, there is a point of view shot from the 2 servant girls and the butler over to where Mrs Bridge (the cook) is standing. Mrs Bridge is a woman who is a lot older than the rest of the servants and has probably been working at the house for longer and so they are likely to have more respect for her, which is why a point of view shot has been used - they perhaps all look to her for advice and help because she is the most superior servant. Of course, she is still not on a level anywhere near as authoritative a one as the house owners are, but she has a higher status of power than the young servant girls do. In the scene upstairs with the rich house owners, an over the shoulder shot has been employed over the shoulder of Mrs Bellamy towards the guest, Miss Hamilton. This helps to show that Miss Hamilton may be from a well-off family background, but she is still inferior to Mrs Bellamy. This is shown by how far away Miss Hamilton is from the actual camera lens, causing her to look smaller and less significant.

Parallel editing has been used within the extract. This happens when the scene in the servant's quarters suddenly cuts to the scene upstairs when Mrs Bellamy meets Miss Hamilton. This sudden cut is trying to show that both halves of the house are experiencing totally different things at the same time, but neither of the halves are aware of what the other is doing. Another editing technique used is an eyeline match between the servants when they are in their living quarters. The match cuts between the 2 young servant girls, the butler and the butler. It allows the audience to view the close proximity in which the servants live, and it also shows how they have nothing very interesting to look at due to them being fairly poor and lower class.

Overall, the difference in social class and status of power is most obviously shown through the use of mise en scene. The camera angles and editing have to be studied much more closely to find the reasons for them being used to represent the opposite classes accurately.