25 marker question

To what extent do the representations in Capital reflect the concerns of modern 21st century London life? [25 marks]

The representations in Capital reflect the concerns of modern 21st century London life to a large extent. This is because Capital uses narrative realism to portray London life and its diversity by including characters of different class/social status, race, ethnicity and family structure. In particular, the explicit reference to recent events and social dilemmas, such as the financial crash, house prices inflation, terrorism and immigration reflects the concerns that modern societies in London have nowadays.

One representation in Capital that reflects the concerns of modern 21st century London life is London's increasing diverse population. In Capital we can see how the residents of Pepys Road are of different race, religion and class. Firstly we have Petunia, the old lady who has lived on this road her whole life and seen it change. Another residents on Pepys Road is Roger and Arabella. They are a white upper-middle class family with only 2 children and are very wealthy. There is also the Kamal family. They are the Asian Pakistani family and live together on top of the off license they own. Additionally, other people that are working on Pepys Road are Bogdan, the polish builder and Quentina, an African asylum seeker. This can be seen as a concern of modern 21st century London life because we can see how this reflects the idea of immigration. This is because since January 2015, more than 487,000 migrants arrived in European shores, which caused a lot of chaos. 78% of immigrants to the UK locate in cities, 43% of those live in London. Due to this there is a strain in some areas on infrastructure and jobs. Similarly, we can see this with Quentina. Additionally, we are exposed to the perspectives of asylum seekers in London. An example of this is Quentina. She is being exploited by the man who looks after her and the only thing he cares about is her appearance, this shows the harsh reality of immigrants who live in London. Also, a report from Oxford press in 2011 regarding migration said "Some of the most deprived migrants in the country reside in London, and some of the most privileged too... vulnerable migrants in London include asylum seekers with subsistence -only support." This is clearly portrayed in Capital through the characters of Quentina and Roger.

Capital portrays the concern of modern London life extremely well as it highlights key point of society and makes there daily problems more prominent, an example of this is in the opening scene where there is a flashback to show the females protagonists past and how it had carried out over the years to the current stage.The use of a time lapse shows the audience the change in society over the years and how the increase in immigration in London has introduced many different cultures which build our society today. Another mise-en-scene aspect which is the filtered editing during the flashback which creates a more vibrant and happier look for the audience which suggests how times may have been better in the past then they are now. Towards the end of the flashback the scene ends with a slow motion edit of the main protagonist leaving her house after her husband died in the modern day which symbolizes the change in the protagonists life as well as the society’s problems as it reaches the present day. During the opening sequence the protagonist makes references to immigrants and mistakes the man for his ethnicity. This shuttle mistake by the protagonist is references and reminders that concerns such as racism are still a problem in today’s age. However typical stereotypes shown in this show such as the mistake in ethnicity are not necessary negative but help to build a personal identity for a character. This could be linked to Medhurst’s theory on stereotypes and how they are short hands for identification to tell audiences a lot in a short space of time, which is seen before the reveal of the man’s ethnicity. Another theory which can also be applied to this is Perkin’s theory on stereotypes which suggest that some stereotypes can be positive and often true. An example as to when this is shown in Capital is during the dinner scene between the Pakistani man’s family where they are seen eating around a table whilst on a video call with family back in Pakistan. This links to Perkin’s theory as this typical Asian stereotype is positive and the protagonist is shown to have good and strong family values.