Mini Analyse 3 - Cranford

Cranford (class)

Mise en scene

The settling and the costumes in this clip really helps to emphasis the differences in class between two families and how in the late 19^th century to early 20^th century there was a big split in society with the poor and the rich.

The clip starts of with a young boy in ragged clothes that looks dirty and old, which instantly gives the impression that he does not come from a wealthy background. He is walking through the woods with a bag and vegetables which implies again that he is a from a non wealthy family as in these times families with money often has servants and people to gather their food for them. The boy get given a pair of shoes for his birthday, which he makes a rather big deal out of which suggests to the viewer that he is grateful for every little thing he gets as he doesn’t often get given a lot from his parents. However suddenly when the boy signifies to his parents that he can read a little bit suddenly changes the mood of the scene and his dad does not seem happy with him, as he believes that ‘learning’s not for everyone’. The lighting is low key, which highlights the mood of the characters in the scene, as the boy looks sad that his dad is un-happy with him.

However when the boy finds a mansion house he enters a green house on the land and gets caught. It gives the viewer a chance to see how the other side of society lived in this era. The scene with the lady in full white dress instantly signifies to the audience that she is wealthy as she is the owner of the property and she speaks very well and correctly. The bright white flowers highlights and conotates the lives of the people living at the mansion as happy, easy and enjoyable.

The next scene with the large family getting into horse carriages signifies that they are the opposite to the young boys family and are wealthy people as only the people with money in these eras had horse and carriages. Also the costumes of the characters are all very elegant pieces that look expensive and well made, this again indicates to the audience that this family is wealthy; also the fact that it is a rather large family again suggests to the viewer that they have a lot of money as, wealthy families in the early 20^th century had large families.