British Urban Dramas.
In this summer project I am looking at how British urban dramas have made it okay for people to represent working class youths a certain way. I am also looking at how valid this representation is.
Top Boy
Top Boy is a British television drama which was first broadcast on channel 4 in Novermber 2011. It was set in Hackney, East London in an estate called Summerhouse. It is about drugs, violence and gangs, which is what most of these British dramas are about. This drama contains alot of actors who are muscians which have come from working classed backgrounds. The cast includes:-
Ashley Walters (Dushane)
Ashley was a graduate of The Sylvia Young Theatre School, and already a teen actor in
Grange Hill when he shot to fame as Asher D in So Solid Crew. His lead role in
Bullet Boy won him Best Newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards. He also appeared in
Get Rich or Die Tryin' alongside rapper 50 Cent and
House of 9 alongside Dennis Hopper. TV credits include the long-running BBC series
Hustle, 2009’s TV adaptation of
Small Island, BBC 1’s
Inside Men and
True Love, BBC 2’s
Family Tree with Chris O’Dowd and Dr Who. Ashley has just finished filming
The Musketeers and
Truckers for BBC.
Kane Robinson (Sully)
A promising youth footballer, Kane Robinson, 26, also made a name for
himself as a rapper on the UK grime scene as Kano or Kane-O from East
London’s N.A.S.T.Y. crew. In 2005, Kano was nominated for 4 MOBO
Awards, winning the award for Best Newcomer, and nominated for a BRIT Award
for Best Urban Act in January 2006. He was named as one of "London's Heroes of 2005" by then Mayor of London Ken Livingstone
. Since then, Kane has begun to make a transition into acting. He appeared in
Rollin’ with the Nines in 2006, a British film about a rap group who turned drug dealers, and in 2007 was in the short
Point Blank.
Top Boy was Kane’s first major acting role and he has just completed filming season two of the drama.
Lorraine Burroughs (Rhianna)
Since graduating from RADA Lorraine has
showcased her talent across a variety of television, film and theatre
projects. In 2010 she was nominated for an Olivier award for Best
Actress for her role in
The Mountain Top, and played Juliet in
Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare’s Globe. TV credits include
Spooks,
New Tricks and
The Shadow Line. Lorraine was last seen on TV screens in ITV drama
The Ice Cream Girls and on the big screen starring as Trix Warren in the British film
Fast Girls alongside Noel Clarke and Lenora Crichlow.
Shone Romulus (Dris)
Shone Romulus grew up in Hackney and appeared in the first series of
Top Boy
via the street casting process. In the second series, Dris replaces
Sully as Dushane’s right hand man, and is feeling the pressure of his
new role. As well as keeping the gang in check, he has sole
responsibility for his young daughter Erin – how will he manage,
especially now the police are closing in?
Sharon Duncan-Brewster (Lisa)
Sharon has a wide range of TV credits, including an eight-month stint in
EastEnders and the first four series of the ITV prison drama
Bad Girls. She has also appeared in
Dr. Who,
Casualty and
Waking the Dead. She recently appeared in the British independent horror film
Blooded and in the short
A Blues for Nia. On stage she has featured in
Tiger Country at the Hampstead Theatre and
There is a War and
The Swan at the National Theatre. She is currently performing in
A Season in the Congo, directed by Joe Wright, at the Young Vic.
Paul Anderson (Mike)
Paul Anderson’s feature film credits include Nick Lowe’s
The Firm, Guy Ritchie’s
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, The Sweeney and Brian De Palma’s
Passion. On television he has appeared in Peter Kosminsky’s
The Promise, as well as
Lewis, Midsomer Murders, Ashes to Ashes and
Doctor Who. He has recently completed filming on
Peaky Blinders for the BBC, alongside Cillian Murphy and Sam Neill.
Theatre credits include
Major Barbara and
Market Boy at the National Theatre, and
On Tour at the Royal Court.
David Hayman (Joe)
David Hayman is an acclaimed television and film actor, best known for
his role as Detective Chief Superintendent Mike Walker in Lynda La
Plante’s
Trial and Retribution on ITV. Other TV credits include
Henry IV Part I,
Robin Hood and
The Paradise. On the big screen he has appeared in
The Jackal alongside Bruce Willis,
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and 2012’s
The Domino Effect. He is a regular contributor to BBC 2’s Review Show.
Xavien Russell (Michael)
Xavien has appeared in the BBC comedy
Me and Mrs Jones, and the short film
What If, produced as part of the Cultural Olympiad 2012. He featured in Plan B’s music video
for
Ill Manors. He featured in the
Through the Ages ad campaign for John Lewis and has made multiple stage appearances at the Hackney Empire. Xavien continues his role in
Top Boy as Michael, though in the second series he is moving up through the ranks, becoming one of Dushane’s most trusted crew members.
Malcolm Kamulete (Ra’Nell)
Malcolm’s first professional acting appearance was in the first series of
Top Boy
as Ra’Nell. In this series Ra'Nell is determined to keep his head down
and practise every day for trials for the upcoming football youth squad.
But when best friend Gem just can’t seem to stay out of trouble,
Ra’Nell is drawn in with him.
Giacomo Mancini (Gem)
After being given his first taste of acting when he appeared as Gem in the first series of
Top Boy, Giacomo has gone on to feature in the BBC TV series
Ripper Street. He has also appeared in the short films
Cocoons and
Orthodox –
Orthodox was turned into a feature film which he shot earlier this year. In the second series of
Top Boy,
luckless Gem has found himself on the bad side of local dealer Vincent,
and as he sinks deeper into danger, he must turn to best friend Malcolm
for help.
Ashley Thomas (Jermaine)
Ashley Thomas is a London based recording artist and actor, also known by his stage name Bashy. His first studio album,
Catch Me If You Can, was released in 2009. As an actor, he has appeared in films including
Shank,
Cockneys vs. Zombies and
My Brother the Devil. He played the lead role in the 2012 film
The Man Inside. On television he appeared in C4’s
Black Mirror. He was one of Screen International's Stars of Tomorrow 2012.
Reviews:-
Guardian
Grime Report
Independent
Telegraph
Mirror
IMDB
Who is being represented?
Youths in the UK and US are being represented as "Chavs" and "Ghetto." They have been represented like that by news companies, which leaks onto middle classed people who watch the news and read newspapers and gives then an invalid representation of youth in the UK and US. The representation is not true to all types of youth in those two countries, however, it could be seen that way, because all you see in the news is mainly black boys causing trouble in the streets of London, or any other city. However, I dont just think it is the news that gives such a representation of youth like this, it is also movies and music videos that do so. Music videos in the UK and US are seen by many people in the world, which can give a negative stereotype of youth. Examples of this includes:-
Chief Keef
Bobby Shmurda
Media Language and forms
The show top boy is connontated as a gloryfication of real life on the streets,causing kids to want to do so. It is also connotated as an enlightenment to middle classed people, a little look of how it is to struggle.
People who have no idea about the roads, just take Top Boy as a shorthand, and they think is everything is turth, which makes youth look bad.
There are many gesturges that make Top Boy seem like trrth, for instance, the handshakes the greetings, also, the costumes plays a big big part in what viewers think, they think, everyone who wears baggy jeans hats, hoodies and gucci shoes are drug dealers. Alot of props are used, such as guns, drugs and money. Also I think women could be seen as props, as they are objectified in Top Boy.
The costumes again play a big part in portraying a particular image of Top Boy to viewers. Also the lighting is very dull, showing that there is no happiness on the estates, which shows to viewers, people that live on council estates are not happy.
Narrative
The narrative is a multi layered narrative, because there is more that one story in the series also, there is never really an equilibruim for both parties, it always leaves someone in trouble. There were alot of heros and villans created in the series, some characters were at times both heroes and villains. The main character opitimises this as he starts off the hero, but becomes a villain due to the mistakes he made. He remains a villian at the end of series 2.
The estate is allienated, as it looks like there is nothing else to do but stay on the estate, apart from the few times Ran'ell gone to football, but later he doesnt get a place, again showing there is no way out.
Sound and music play a massive part, because if there was no sound or music, we would no understand when the tension is building up because Top Boy is normally quite fast paced, so the music and the sound allow us to identeify when there is a problem. The themes of Top Boy are Drugs, Money and Freedom.
Genre
This text belongs to British Urban Drama. There is low lighting, fast paced music and narrative, alot of tension. Costume, clothes, the way they talk and speak is generic to this genre. The generic themes of this genre are also shown in Top Boy, the themes: Money Drugs, Power and Freedom. The characters are very generic, they talk, dress and look like they are from the ghetto. They don't have their head screwed on book wise, but they are very street wise. This is a typical genre for this type of programe.
Institutions
It is on Channel 4, directed by Ronan Berret, and is not on a public service broadcaster, which wouldn't have made a difference, because Kidulthood and adulthood we created on BBC but still had the main aspects of a drama like Top Boy.
