The Disney Channel

It's been over a week into the easter holidays now, and although I've been doing plenty of revision (honestly!), I've also been fairly susceptible to what I call 'holiday boredom'. This has meant succumbing to the evils of the Disney Channel, a habit i've been trying to kick for the past few years, to no avail. I don't know what it is that makes it so addictive, but for some reason i'll happily sit there and watch an episode of something that i've seen at least five times, when I couldn't bear to watch an episode of any of my favourite 'proper' programs for any more than three times.

Anyway, while watching an episode of Wizards of Waverley Place the other day, something occurred to me. In this episode there was a character in a wheelchair, a topic that in any British drama would have used as most of the storyline for the episode. However, in this instance the fact that the character was in a wheelchair was completely inconsequential to the storyline. In fact, it wasn't even mentioned. This man was treated as a normal person, and even managed to help the protagonists escape a 'dangerous fate'. I've looked up the actor playing the character, Daryl Mitchell, and he is actually a wheelchair user, and not just stuck in one to make the cast seem more diverse.

This made me think of more ways in which programs on the Disney Channel actually shows real life better than British dramas, for example the casts in most of the shows are usually ethnically diverse, including Caucasian, Black and Asian actors. The casts are often also mixed in gender, for example there are many shows with male (The Suite Life of Zach and Cody, Zeke and Luther, Pair of Kings) and female (Hannah Montana, Sonny With a Chance, Shake It Up) protagonists. The portrayal of older characters is sometimes mocking, but there was an entire storyline in an episode of Sonny With A Chance in which the main characters are shown by an older character that they are just as capable as them, and should not be discriminated against because of their age.

However, the channel isn't completely diverse. For example, all the characters are shown to be heterosexual, and while there is the occasional 'effeminate' character, the audience will never be shown that they are anything other than straight. As the channel is shown in America, this is hardly surprising, as in many states it is usually a taboo subject, and people are often discriminated against because of their sexuality, and if the channel decided to introduce any story lines on the subject they would probably lose a good 30% of their audience due to parents of the children watching the channel. As for regional identity, there is a good deal of stereotyping, mostly to do with British people. The character Mason in Wizards of Waverley Place is one of the few Brits in any of the programs, and is heavily stereotyped as tea loving and eccentric, and used words like 'jiffy' in normal conversation and has a very posh accent. There was also a Scottish character in a Canadian show, 'Overruled' on the channel called Rusty, who was also stereotyped, wearing kilts and playing bagpipes at least one an episode, with a fairly light, understandable accent for the Americans.

In conclusion, although the Disney Channel still has a long way to go before it reflects reality in a non stereotypical way, it is better than many British dramas, as it is better at being racially diverse and showing disabled people to be normal. So there's my attempt at justifying a colossal amount of time wasting.

Killing Bono

Yesterday I went to see the film Killing Bono, which is a sort-of biopic/comedy movie adapted from the memoir Killing Bono: I was Bono's Doppelgänger by Neil McCormick. The basic synopsis is the tale of Neil, played by Ben Barnes and his brother Ivan, Played by Robert Sheehan, who fail at becoming famous musicians while their classmates in U2 go on to become a huge success. I thought the storyline was quite funny, and I thought all the actors were very good, but the main reason I decided to review it here was because the beginning of the film was very well done.

The film starts with the end, which is quite a popular method of storytelling in many movies, but it was only from one character's perspective, while at the end the clips are shown from a normal viewpoint, so you know who Neil is talking to. It's difficult to describe fully without screenshots, but I thought it was an unusual way of starting the film, and certainly draws the viewer in, adding mystery and intrigue. Overall, I found it was a very good film, and you don't really have to be much of a U2 fan to enjoy it. Here are some of the posters and promotional images from the film.

Something else notable about the film, was that it features the late Pete Postlethwaite, in his final role, playing the boys' homosexual landlord.

Channel 4's The Promise

A program that I've been watching recently is 'The Promise', written and directed by Peter Kosminsky and starring Claire Foy, playing Erin, and Christian Cooke, playing Len. One thing that struck me as I watched the first episode was how cinematic the titles are, and I think that was what drew me in. Also, the subject of the program is something that isn't often talked about, and i've found it incredibly interesting (if horrible, too). I did history for GCSE, and we learned a lot about before the Second World War, and a bit during, but one thing that isn't often taught is the aftermath for the Jews, and I had no idea that they faced any kind of hardship post-war.

As well as being informative, the Promise is also beautifully shot. The opening sequence has the titles going to black screens with white writing. The titles have things like 'Daybreak Pictures' as well as the actors, which is unusual for a TV series.

Although the visuals for the program in general are very well done, and the research is in depth, I find that i'm not sure about the storyline. The program is set in two different times, and keeps hopping back and forth between them, which is never confusing, but it seems quite badly done. I think that all the parts set in 2005 are a bit unnecessary, although I understand that the point is to show that Israel is still in conflict. I find that although I liked Claire Foy in Little Dorrit, her character is just a bit too sulky to sympathise with, and a bit too bland to find her worth being a protagonist. There are also a lot of pointless scenes, for example the scene in a nightclub where we learn that Erin has epilepsy doesn't make sense. Surely if she was epileptic that would be the last place she'd choose to go? And the fact she has it doesn't actually add anything to the story, unless it becomes important in a later episode. Finally, the use of 'cliffhanger' style endings of each episode just seem to make it a bit too cheesy for the subject matter, turning what should be a highbrow drama into a bit of a soap. Also they just seem to be at random, rather than built up to during the episode. With an hour and a half's worth of TV to play with per episode, you'd think there would be something that would keep you watching for that long, but there isn't.

Although the 2005 parts seem somewhat flawed, I do enjoy the 1946 bits, where we follow Erin's grandfather Len as she reads his diary from the time. Christian Cooke is probably better suited to his role and has a far more interesting character to play. Overall, I will carry on watching The Promise, but I always feel just a tiny bit disappointed when we go back to Erin's part of the story.

Reviews for 'The Promise':
The Guardian
The Telegraph

Misfits

Misfits is a comedy/drama show on E4, and is one of my favorite TV programs. It's about five teenagers doing their community service after committing various offenses, who then get struck by lightening and develop superpowers. Although the synopsis sounds awful, the show is incredibly well written, and one of its main strengths is that the protagonists are so flawed, yet are somehow more lovable for it. It also portrays young offenders as people who can show compassion and are just people, something that I think strikes a chord with the youth today after we get such bad press.

The first episode of the second series started the other night, and part of the advertising was done on Twitter, with all the main character in the show given their own fake accounts. During the episode, the characters discussed parts of the plot with their followers, and the day after their followers were allowed to ask them questions. This was a really fascinating way of getting the viewers more involved with the show, and was targeted perfectly at its core audience, as E4 as a channel is generally aimed at teenagers to twentysomethings, people who are also likely to be on Twitter.

Se7en

On Friday's lesson we watched the film Se7en, starring Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt. It was a very good film , and gave us a lot to think about when editing our own movies as it has some fantastic shots and use of sound. Although we as a group are not doing a horror/thriller film, it was still good to see, as it showed us what could be achieved.

I don't think that films really need to use plenty of gore and violence to make the film last in people's memories. Although I didn't get particularly scared by it (which is a miracle considering I get nightmares after Shaun of the Dead), I still found that I kept thinking about it even when I was trying to get to sleep that night, especially the ending.

Downton Abbey

Downton Abbey is a period drama on ITV set in the 1910's. The storyline begins when the upper class Grantham family find out that their cousin and presumptive heir has died in the Titanic sinking. As the family have three girls they have to find the next male heir to the house and fortune, much to the annoyance of the eldest daughter, Mary. The series is brilliant for showing typical stereotypes, for example gender, disability, class and age, as the storyline is quite old fashioned. Here are some promotional images from the show:

 

As you can see, there is lots done with the mise en scene to represent the era, as well as the character's class, status and gender.