I was given the task to research British television dramas in order to find a drama that represented British culture in an interesting way. I watched several clips of television dramas including; Hollyoaks and eastenders both of which are soap operas, a sub genre of British television drama. I then watched an episode of coronation street which was broad casted on Christmas day 2009, i think that this represented British culture best out of them all.
Above is the link to the particular episode of coronation street, that i think represents British culture well.
Firstly the location is typical of British culture because of the terraced houses with the back alleyways, this suggests it is set in the north of England, this is later confirmed by the northern accent of the characters,that we are introduced to. We are firstly introduced to families opening their presents in their homes which represents the British culture as being very family orientated, which is how the culture is portrayed, this also shows the togetherness of british families. Another aspect of the drama, that strikes me as being very typical of the British culture was the emphasis on the date; being Christmas, which is the most celebrated date in Britain. The timing of the drama; Christmas day shows even more of the British culture because of the meaning of Christmas and the religion behind it. Religion plays a big part in showing the British culture in this episode although it is not directly mentioned at all through the episode the meaning is still present because of the religious link to Christmas being Christianity which is predominately the main religion in Britain, meaning it is a large part of British culture.
Being christmas food and drink play a large part in british christmas`s, in all the different families homes that we see during the episode they are all centered around the cooking and eating of the christmas dinner.Another part of british culture that we see and that is talked alot about during the episode is the pub; which in many british towns and villages the pub is the heart of the community and most villages and towns have at least one pub. Later on in the episode we are introduced to the corner shop, which is also typically british which most villages and towns have in the cntre of them. All these aspects represent togetherness because they bring the community together.
The main storyline in this episode is that of the two characters who are having an affair and plan to tell their families on chrsitmas day, however when kevins wife reveals that she has cancer everything changes, he then tells molly that everything is over, affairs are now very typical in british culture and becoming very common for couples to divorce over an affair in britain, this part of the episode showed modern british culture. We also see family feuds, which is very common at christmas time and we hear alot about it on the news in the running up to christmas about family feuds causing stress in families. In a particular scene the reuniting of the platt family with nick the eldest child, is also a factor of british culture and christmas, many people emphasise to importance of being with your family and reuniting, the importance of this is mainly stressed at christmas.
In the episode secrets,lies ands guilt play a large part of the episode; with kevin and molly lying about their affiar, sally keeping a secret about having cancer. This factor shows british culture in a modern way and perhaps represents the working class. The whole episode does not focus on one particular story, it cuts from house to house showing the different families christmas days. This makes the whole episode more realistic because we can familiarise with an aspect of each families day in some form. The episode also shows families breaking down; this represents the extended family going home and the breaking down in faith and the breaking down in realationships, however at the end of the episode all the problems seem to have been resolved. The sound is mainly natural for example the movement of the characters and dialouge, however at the end when all the problems presented in the programme are resolved a well known christmas song is introduced. The music that is used has been produced by british artists, which relates to the british culture and music play a large part is our culture.
Overall coranation street shows british culture in the way of; the location, food, drink and the storyline, however although it represents britain as a whole it also represents parts of britian for the example this programme has a strong emphasis on the northern culture of england, becuase of its location in manchester.
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