Representation of London through 'Dirty Pretty Things' (2002)

Dirty Pretty things is a 2002 film that shows the story of a guy called Okwe who is a Nigerian doctor that has been falsely accused of a murder so he is forced to leave the country. Many of the characters that we see within the film are immigrants and people with important jobs that keep things running and these are the jobs that people tend to overlook such as taxi drivers and maids.

Ted Hovet describes this film as portraying a 'shady underworld of London' (Hovet, 2006) and this is true. The London that is represented within this film is dark and grimy. this film tries to show that there is a lot more to London that we tend not to see but it's to to say that the whole city is full of immigrants and drugs.

Okwe, the lead character remarks 'we are the people you do not see'. How true could this statement be? It gives some of the people we don't tend to see a voice. London is a background in a lot of films and it starts to get a bit repetitive. 'The city has been "over filmed ... so we were always trying to find bits of London that hadn't been in every other film"' (Hovet, 2006). The film takes us to the unknown and the unfamiliar, the places we know are there but tend not to see and this creates a very realistic representation of London.

Hovet, T. (2006). The invisible London of Dirty Pretty Things; or Dickens, Frears, and film today. Available: http://www.literarylondon.org/london-journal/september2006/hovet.html. last accessed 17th march 2015

Chloe O'Brien

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Representation of London through 'Diverse Cultures'

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london-is-capital-of-diverse-cultures-6981114.html

There are three particular boroughs in which white people are in the minority - Tower Hamlets, Newham and Brent. London is more diverse than any other parts of the country but this can make London seem more attractive to people because of this vast diverse culture.

The society is very diverse, with people from different classes and ethnic origins. There are more than 300 languages that are spoken by more than 8 million people that are currently living in London. You will certainly meet people of different races and faiths while being here. Although within class you will see that a lot of the time upper, middle and working class people don't tend to mix that much, although they could be living in the same area it is not seen as the 'norm' to be associated with other classes. London's young and diverse population can be seen a huge strength but some children are prevented from taking part in this success by the pressures of living in poverty.

Walking out your door and seeing so many different races, religions and nationalities just shows how London has come together and brought people from around the world together into one place. Yes some people have a lot of bad things to say about the multicultural London but i don't. London strives and gets its popularity from not only the amazing sites but the people within it.

Chloe O'Brien

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Cities and Urban Cultures

'When conceptualized as a text, it is possible to uncover the range of cultural values embedded in urban landscapes, buildings and monuments as well as in the many ways in which the city is represented.' (Roland Barthes).

Very often the city is represented through various objects, places or events. We may had not ever been to the place but we have an opinion about it and our own interpretation of it. Many cities as well as London has something we associate them with: famous bridges, buildings, famous places, streets, people. Our views and interpretations depend on what we see in the films, news, television and we truly believe that any media content can help us get to know and experience places better.

'Representations are pivotal in shaping the ways in which we know and imagine the city' (Deborah Stevenson).

Our trust in media text is extraordinary. We believe in what we see or hear. People shape their dreams and imaginations of the different places around the world on their experiences based on what was shown in the media and the way it was represented. 

London as many other famous cities can be called 'Imagined City' as people receive so many representations of this place through various media forms and contents that is hard for them to distinguish what is real and imagined. It applies to many other places around the world as well.

Ieva Kaleininkaite

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Representation of East London through 'Educating Walthamstow'

Last year there was a programme on channel 4 based in Yorkshire and from that came a third series, the cameras headed down to east London's Frederick Bremer School. Educating Walthamstow will follow the day-to-day goings on in the East End community school under the stewardship of ambitious head teacher, Jenny Smith.

"There is a bit of demonization of young people in London," says Ms Smith. "They are seen to be gangsters, they are seen to be wearing hoodies, and they're seen to be getting involved in crime. There's a real perception that young people are out of control." By channel 4 coming in the school can show that its not all like this in London. "Something like this will help shape that perception of a London teenager and a Walthamstow teenager." (Arrest,2014)

These children are normal London teenagers who don't normally get a voice and if they do it is often bad. this is why a programme like this will show that not every London student grows up to do drugs, be a criminal and have a stereotype of a 'Hoodie'. The pupils in Walthamstow have something so different to offer because of the diversity in London and the mix of cultures that are in this school. this programme just shows that having a mixture of cultures strives them to learn and be educated just as well as a same cultured school. London is one of the most diverse cities on earth. This show just proved the stereotype wrong within London, it proves that just because people grow up in lower class areas and go to a mixed school doesn't mean they are going to be something that the media has portrayed london youths to be.

Chloe O'Brien

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Reference:

Aroesti, R. (2014). Educating the East End: ‘This will change the perception of London teenagers’. Available: http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/aug/29/educating-the-east-end-educating-yorkshire-educating-essex. Last accessed 22nd march 2015

Representation of London Through the Public Transport

   Millions of Londoners use public transport everyday and it plays a major role in their day to day travel experiences in such an enormous city. No doubt, the commuters of this major city are dependent on the public transport as it provides them with the quickest or cheapest ways of getting from A to B. Particularly when it comes to traveling to work or school and in order to be punctual they have to plan their journey well and in advance, think of all alternative routes and calculate the time carefully as many unexpected situations happen in London underground and buses every day: from traffic on the road to traffic light failure in the tube.  
   Unfortunately, unsatisfied staff members of the public transport go on strike from time to time causing a great disruptions in Londoners daily routines. Video footage and images of the crowded bus stops and underground stations shown on the news proved how someone's ordinary day can easily turn into the most chaotic and stressful part of their travel experience in London. Everything gets affected: people spend hours queuing for the train or the bus, they are late to work, school etc, or have to miss it and stay at home as there are almost no alternatives. These incidents show how important public transport is to the commuters of this city and how quick and calm journey can turn into the worst nightmare for every travelling Londoner.
   In conclusion, we can now say that public transportation is a vital resource of which us as commuters need in order to reach our destinations.

Ieva Kaleininkaite

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265 words.

David Harvey’s The Condition Of Postmodernity Chapter 18 – Time and Space In The Postmodern Cinema Summary.

In this chapter Harvey (1990) explores the way time and space is represented in postmodern cinema by examining two different films that address the matter. To begin the chapter Harvey tells us that cinema is an art form that developed in cultural modernism and that cinema as a medium can handle space and time in an ‘instructive’ way. He explains that both films were chosen for further analysis because they both illustrate and address the flux of time and space in the postmodern era.

The first film that Harvey analyses is the film Blade Runner by Ridely Scott. Harvey describes the film as a 'Pop art' piece of film. In his analysis Harvey raises some key points about the film's comments on the postmodern world.

The first point Hravey makes is that the film comment on the schizophrenia of space and time that is integral to the idea of postmodernity through the lives of the replicants.  He explains to us that in the film the replicants have much shorter life spans that the humans. This, as he describes latter on in his analysis shows that the characters in the world of Blade Runner live on different time scales much like the people in the postmodern world.

A second point Harvey makes is that Blade Runner also addressed the theme of fragmentation of society in the postmodern world. He explains to us that at street level the city is full of chaos. Ruin and decay among the city has been used to show how society is falling apart due to the fragmentation that had occurred within postmodernism. The images of decay everywhere in the landscape reinforce exactly that same structure of feeling. “The sense of shattering and fragmentation in social life is highlighted in an incredible sequence in which Deckard pursues one of the women replicants, Zhora through the crowded, incoherent, and labyrinth-like spaces of the city” (1990:311)

Another point Harvey makes is that the film addresses key issues of dominant social orders and hierarchies in postmodern society. He explains that the blade runner is sent to kill the repellants by a higher power; the repellants are also owned by a corporation and interacted on what to do. This higher power that controls the repellants and the blade runner, as pointed out by Harvey, are used to symbolize the control that higher powers have over other people in the postmodern era.

A forth point that Harvey points out that the characters are on a content search for home and identity. The characters need search for a home and identity is, as previously explained by Harvey, an integral aspect to the way space and place is felt with in the postmodern world. With the blurring of borders and travel becoming easier it is harder Harvey believes it is harder for people of find a pace to which they truly identify with as home.

The second film that Harvey analyses is Wings Of Desire by Wim Wenders. Harvey describes this film as a 'high brow' example of cinema. This film, like Blade Runner explores key issues of space and time in the postmodern world.

One point that Harvey makes is the way Wings Of Desire addresses The issue of fragmentation in in the post modern world. Harvey explains that in the film that there are two groups of actors, the angels who have the ability to move across space and time easily and the humans who can only experience space and time in specific ways. This results in the angels seeing the world differently to the humans. This represents the fragmentation of society in the postmodern world as different people see the world differently depending on where they live and the cultures that participate in.

A second point Harvey makes is the issues of 'the real' that are addressed in the film. He explains to us that there is a conflict between the representation of 'the real' in terms of the image in real time and 'the real' being represented in the photograph which can be manipulated. This, explains Harvey, is central to film.“The problem of image, particularly that implied by the photograph, versus the telling of a story in real time, is central to the construction of the film”. (1990:314)

Another point Harvey makes is that Wings of Desire, similar to Blade Runner, addresses the issues of identity that is a fundamental aspect of postmodernism. In the chapter Harvey explains to us that the time and space framework of an individual affects their individual identity. Because the angels and the hum as have different time and space frame works they have separate identities to each other

In conclusion we can see from this summery of Harvey's work that a both these films are integral to the way space time and place are experienced in postmodernism. Both films address the same issues in different ways where Blade Runner takes a more indirect approach at commenting on postmodernist issues, Wings Of Desire addressed them in a more direct way.

Harvey, D. (1990) ‘Time and Space In The Post Modern Cinema’ in The Condition of Postmodernity. Oxford:Blackwell

Alice Davies

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