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Original poster

To think the working classes have been demonized in this country?

176 replies

AwkwardMary · 28/03/2012 23:15

I just read an article about it...lost the page though...so can't link sorry! It really resonated with me...it spoke of how their are no positive working class characters on TV anymore...the comedy shows that portray them make them the lowest of the low and shows like TOWIE are only illustrating how the working classed "done good" are only as tacky and badly informed as they "ever were"...and how Little Britain was written by two middle class men who'd been to private schools...so who the eff were THEY to take the piss out of working class girls like they did?

In the 80s we had good, positive and sympathetic worknig class characters like Yosser and it spoke of how Brookside was born of the Thatcher Years and showed a truer representation of the hard working working classes. Those with respect for themselves and a good work ethic. The 50s, 60s and 70s had lots of good literature such as Kes and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Poor Cow, Up the Junction etc

These days people are all about moving forward and away from being working class...nothing wrong with that you may think...why shouldn't people aspire to a better lifestyle? Well of course they should but not if it means that anyone who isn't striving for a bigger house and more "things" is looked down on and called a chav.

Is it all about respectability? Have the real working classes lost their self respect?

(I am working class right through and often feel confused about my past and my present)

OP posts:
griphook · 29/03/2012 00:16

I watched an interesting interview with the main character from shameless who was adamant that the term chav was racist and shouldn't be used.

jaquelinehyde · 29/03/2012 00:18

Shameless is an appaling programme that I have had the misfortune to watch on one occasion.

It is an appalling portrayal of mainly, the under classes with a good lick of working class characters thrown in. From what I have seen all of them are criminals or deviants of some kind, alcohol and drugs are the norm as well as a complete disregard for society.

MissKeithLemon · 29/03/2012 00:19

ooh Diane - now you have confused me! I consider myself working class as thats what I am - but I fit two of your criteria on each definition, so does that mean I'm not cut and dried working class?

**If it helps, I have A-levels & am an unmarried parent;but, I own my own house with a mortgage & extol the virtue of education to my children.

Actually I possibly fit three of each criteria as I do love a good binge drink cheeky vino every now & then and also am seen by many of my peers as 'lucky' as I work at home/flexibly (although I would argue that this is not luck but sheer dogged working class determination)

raffle · 29/03/2012 00:19

Pride is a funny thing, what one person is proud of may make someone else turn there nose up. I know a girl who is extraordinarily proud of her DVD collection...

DioneTheDiabolist · 29/03/2012 00:20

IMHO, Shameless has as many positive characters as any other TV programme. It does however pander to those who equate Working class with Under class.

Original poster
AwkwardMary · 29/03/2012 00:20

And are there any morals to the tales jaqueline? Or is it vicarious viewing of the "underclass" purely so people can feel superior?

OP posts:
MissKeithLemon · 29/03/2012 00:22

Monroe - that had some good working class characters in, but was axed after series one, so maybe no-one wants to watch shows depicting the working class??

jaquelinehyde · 29/03/2012 00:23

I didn't pick up on any morals but I was just so angry with the whole programme I probably wasn't able to, or maybe you had to watch a full series.

I just hate it. Grin

Original poster
AwkwardMary · 29/03/2012 00:23

MrsLemon I have broken fake uggs from Primark...and I eat Greggs now and then..but I also go to the theatre on a regular basis and enjoy good wine and food. I am a freakish hybrid...a monster.

raffle that made me laugh.

OP posts:
raffle · 29/03/2012 00:24

Shameless is a comedy/drama! It's charactures of what program makers think estate life is like. It's not comparable to real life.

Original poster
AwkwardMary · 29/03/2012 00:25

MissLemon Maybe so...again, I never watched it. I don't seem to have watched ANYTHING do I? Grin It's interesting to try and think them up though...

OP posts:
Original poster
AwkwardMary · 29/03/2012 00:26

Boys from the Black Stuff was comedy drama though...but it treated people with respect. Again with Bread...that never let people think the working classes were lower morally did it? The characters were loveable rogues who had good morals and work ethics.

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PurpleRomanesco · 29/03/2012 00:27

This thread is pathetic.

jaquelinehyde · 29/03/2012 00:28

You're right Raffle it is like someone complaining that Ab Fab is an unfair portrayal of the middle and upper classes.

I just hate Shameless but I know loads of people who love it.

jaquelinehyde · 29/03/2012 00:29

Pathetic how Purple? Please enlighten us.

MissKeithLemon · 29/03/2012 00:29

Roffling at Shameless being working class... is it really? I do a bit of extras work and did a day on shameless in 2010. Twas very funny as the actors looked like tramps while in costume but then they open their mouths and the most plummy of plummy accents came out! I've not watched it apart from that one episode where I was mostly concentrating on my fleeting image but I thought it was very definitely NOT working class? As in the characters DO NOT work, AT ALL, EVER!!

DioneTheDiabolist · 29/03/2012 00:31

But in Bread all the characters were on the dole. They weren't Working class. At least in Shameless some of the characters actually work. They are teachers, policemen, librarians, owners of small businesses.

Original poster
AwkwardMary · 29/03/2012 00:32

I think that my understanding/experience of "working class" must be different to others on this thread....I look at someone like whatshiname on Shameless and if I saw him in real life...I would think "working class" not "Underclass".

I don't use the term...not in my mind or out loud.

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MissKeithLemon · 29/03/2012 00:32

purpleromanesco how so? Are you saying that Mary is wrong and that good working class role models are in abundance on our screens??

jaquelinehyde · 29/03/2012 00:33

That was my point MissKeithLemon it is a dipiction of the under classes with a few working class characters thrown in (ie those who run the pub etc) all of whom are criminal and have no regard for society etc etc

It can in no way be considered a drama about the working classess and I also happen to fucking hate it. Have I made that clear enough Grin

Original poster
AwkwardMary · 29/03/2012 00:34

Were they all on the dole Diane? They all put their earnings into the teapot every episode I thought! I thought the girl wanted to be a model but was a hairdresser...one was a poet (read on the dole) and the older brother had money...he was some kind of entrepreneur...they were TRYING...that was the thing...and their self respect was intact.

OP posts:
PurpleRomanesco · 29/03/2012 00:35

Sorry, Class talk makes me itch. TV or not!

Ignore me, I'm mood swingy tonight and have to stay up until 3 am for work.

Original poster
AwkwardMary · 29/03/2012 00:36

I just cannot seperate the working classes who are in jobs to those who are of the same background but are not...they don't automatically become "underclass" because they are unemployed...isn't that term a bad one? Due to making the unemployed into a monsterous thing?

OP posts:
MissKeithLemon · 29/03/2012 00:36

Mary - I'm laughing at the thought of you turning up to the theatre in your broken primani uggs!! (Laughing with you NOT at you you understand!)
Maybe I am a strange hybrid like you too! I went to private/public school too just to really muck the class ishoo up!

jaquelinehyde · 29/03/2012 00:36

Aaah but that is the problem with this discussion Akward... The underclass does now exist. I hate it but it is there and when discussing these types of things we must discuss the stratifications within the class system.