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Feedback on our Waterloo Road blog

Don't use all bullet points

More detail 

Good images of Todorov
Covers the structures well 
More pictures of characters 

Bright and colourful and attractive
Detailed theories
More detail needed for character roles
Episode summary a bit text heavy
Really good pictures
Good working link

 Information laid out clearly
A little dull
Could do with a little humour (be more creative)
Covered a lot and given good examples
Could have gone into more detail in some respects

Bit brief
Could be laid out a bit better 

Good idea of fitting episode into descriptions of theories
Could go into more detail
Good use of terminology
Make more interesting? (videos/ gifs etc)  

waterloo road

Adam and I will be analysing the TV drama Waterloo Road to show the narrative structure, the roles of the characters and the representations of the characters.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01mmm83/Waterloo_Road_Series_8_Episode_4/

Here is the link to our presentation:
http://adamtroebuck.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/18th-september-2012-waterloo-road_19.html

Hillsborough disaster

The Hillsborough disatser, where a human crush occured during the FA cup semi- final between Liverpool and Nottingham, was a tragically devastating event which resulted in 96 deaths.

  What made the disaster arguably even more tragic was the representation of the media, which had significant consequences. The media were being told by the police "They were arriving tanked up on drink and the situation faced by the officers trying to control them was quite simply terrifying." This resulted in headlines in the newspapers such as the one shown putting the blame onto the fans saying they were drunk and sneaked in without tickets. This presented the fans as horrible people while the police are represented as the caring ones trying to help the injured. This would only have made the already devastated families who had lost loved ones more upset as they're family or friends who had lost their lives were being blamed for it. People who didn't have family and friends involved in the disaster would probably have read the headlines and believed them as it is the connotation of the stereotypes of the police and fans. Poloce being caring and helping while fans are drunk and uncaring.

It was only 23 years later when the real truth was revealed that the police were actually to blame and the media had got it wrong. This denotes what stereotypically the police would do, they would normally help and care for the injured instead of blaming them for it.

media questions

Why represent the police in this way?

• To give them a negative image so the audience will dislike them.
• To reverse the role of the police and present them as antagonists.
•  It is showing the brutality of reality that the police aren't always caring for people but they just do what they are told to do. 
• Avoids a narrative resolution- It isn't predictable and what you would expect to happen.

 Why represent the immigrant workers in this way?

• To give them an image of innocence and wellbeing.
• To gain sympathy from the viewers.
• The producers want us to identify with them to experience emotions such as panic, fear, injustice and loss.

What stereotypes are being adhered to or subverted?

• Police - Stereotypically the protectors of society but presented here as destroying people's lives. 
• The police are presented as nonchalant, uncaring and just "doing their jobs"    
• Immigrants - Usually seen as unclean, de-humanised, stealing jobs, large families, unskilled and violent. This clip attempts to deconstruct the stereotypes through different representations.
• Adam - Breaks the stereotypes of immigrants as he is a religious, caring, trained doctor.
• Ibrahim - Treated roughly without provocation.  

What is the purpose behind the mediation of this text?

• Entertainment - overall people will watch it purely for their entertainment.
• Inform people of the situation of society - it shows that the police aren't always what you stereotypically would think they're like. They are ruining the immigrants lives instead of protecting them like they should be. It also helps you to realise immigrants aren't always what they are stereotyped to be like but actually caring with skilled jobs.