Capital case study

 Read the following review and feature on Capital:

Guardian review by Sam Wollaston
London Evening Standard: five things you need to know about Capital

1) What positive points does the review pick out about Capital? What criticisms are made - either of the TV drama or the original novel?

• the cast is good
• based on a novel
• based around real life events people will relate to
• set in present day

2) What references can you find in the reviews and feature to the idea Capital is a 'state-of-the-nation' drama? How does it capture modern-day London?

The Drama follows multiple people who live on the same street and shows the similarities and differences of their lives and their perspective of the 2008 financial crisis.

Trailer analysis

Watch the trailer for Capital:



1) How does the drama use camerawork to capture London life?

The fast paced cuts represent the urgency in a normal day in London, thus representing british culture subtly. The montage of the different people of different ages, race, religion and class represents the diversity in London, through various close up shots and medium shots.

2) How does the trailer introduce the different narrative strands suggesting tension or enigma in the 40-second running time?

The trailer shows all of the characters and small pieces about their stories, they are speaking about their love life, issues, family and financial lives all throughout the 40 trailer; focusing on one for each life. It makes the audience want to know more about them (thus creating an enigma code).

Capital in Media Magazine

Issue 83 of Media Magazine has a feature exploring Capital as a media product. Read ‘We Want What You Have’ in MM83  (p10). You'll find our Media Magazine archive here - remember you'll need your Greenford Google login to access. Answer the following questions:

1) What does the article suggest about the 'state of the nation' genre and how Capital is an example of this?

Capital (BBC 2015), is based on a ‘state- of-the-nation’ novel of the same name by John Lanchester. Such novels try to represent an entire country at a particular moment in time. As such, they

involve multiple storylines and a large cast.

2) What does the article suggest regarding the setting of Capital?

Setting the drama entirely in the capital city might enrage those who see the UK as being too London-centric, but it makes sense in the context of a multi-stranded production. Centring the action on a single street then helps bring some focus to the narrative.

3) What are the major themes in Capital and what does the article suggest regarding the impact of money on communities?

The street contains characters from all walks of life with different levels of economic security and income. Given the houses are unaffordable to large numbers of Londoners, some of the themes are tackled through people with links to the street.

4) What different representations in Capital are discussed in the article?

The banks are the bad guys, Banker Roger is a weak, feckless character. Almost all of the other characters are set against Roger and Arabella as ‘good’ people. The representations of good versus bad, rich versus poor and industrious versus feckless make for straightforward drama.

5) What does the final section of the article suggest regarding genre and overall message of the drama?  

The words ‘WE WANT WHAT YOU HAVE’ have been written in red along the entire length of the road. If the state-of-the-nation is in some ways unseen, perhaps the job of the artist is to make it clear. 

Capital Media Factsheet

Use our Media Factsheet archive on the M: drive Media Shared (M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets) or on Google Drive here (you'll need your Greenford Google login) to find Media Factsheet #194 on Capital (BBC TV Drama). 

Read the whole of Factsheet and answer the following questions:

1) What does the factsheet say about the characters on the first page?

Episode 1 focuses on Petunia Howe (no. 84) and Roger and Arabella Yount (no. 92). We are also introduced to

the Kamal family, who run the corner shop, and Quentina Mkfesi, a religious asylum seeker with a PhD working illegally as a traffic warden. The interactions between the characters reflect the tensions between different cultures and costume is used to quickly communicate the different character roles.

2) Focusing on the industrial contexts, how does Capital help the BBC meet its obligations as a public service broadcaster?

a) To provide impartial news and information to help people

understand and engage with the world around them. 

b) To support learning for people of all ages.

c) To show the most creative, highest quality and distinctive

output and services.

d) To reflect, represent and serve the diverse communities of

all of the United Kingdom’s nations and regions and, in

doing so, support the creative economy across the United

Kingdom. 

e) To reflect the United Kingdom, its culture and values to the

world.

3) What do we learn about the ownership structure for production company Kudos? 

Kudos is owned by Banijay Entertainment. It has joint managing directors 

4) How can David Hesmondhalgh's ideas in The Cultural Industries be linked to Capital and Kudos? 

It connects through capitalism, commodification, labor conditions, and the balance between creativity and profit. They booth explore how economic power and industry control shape cultural production.

5) How does the factsheet suggest Capital meets the genre conventions of crime and social realism?

It represents the london culture and police force, it accurately represented how different family and ethnic groups react to being threatened or crimes and how the police force reacts to it initially- with no urgency. Capital has a good balance of British culture as well as crime genre.

6) How does the factsheet analyse the DVD packaging and what this communicates to the audience?

The DVD cover uses promotional images from the media pack, website, and press to create a recognizable brand. The London skyline with geographical markers highlights the setting and reinforces themes of British culture and financial issues. This suggests to the audience of the type of show Capital will be like and draws in particular target audience such as British people and people who are fans of the brand/ production company.

7) Look at page 5 of the factsheet. Choose one of the audience theories in the table and apply it to Capital.

Uses and Gratifications theory

• Entertainment: people may just enjoy suspense and crime filled shows that require something to be solved
• Personal identity: People may find that they relate to the different people or ethnic groups or family dynamics that occur in the show and it gives them some form of idnetification.
• Information/ surveillance: There is features of  the global economic crisis so a person could watch it to learn about what it was like living through the crisis and the stress that it may cause.
• Social interaction: The show creates valuable and interesting conversation topics and a person may be watching to be able to have these converations.

8) What does the factsheet suggest regarding binary oppositions in Capital?  

The multi-stranded narrative uses binary oppositions to highlight inequality in Pepys Road and raise broader questions about inequality in London. Roger Yount’s character development shows these oppositions within himself.

Representations: close-textual analysis

Capital offers a range of fascinating representations - from London and asylum seekers to capitalism and inequality. You need to be able to confidently discuss these issues in the context of 2015 London - with reference to key scenes from episode 1. Representations include: London, family, gender, ethnicity, religion, immigration, asylum, inequality, wealth, capitalism, aging and more.

These notes from a lesson analysing these clips will help with this element of the case study. You'll need your Greenford Google login to access the document.

1) Write an analysis of the representations in each of the key scenes from episode 1 we studied in the lesson:

Scene 1: opening sequence 00:30 – 4.49

• Place: Diversity of London - importance of immigration to London’s recent history, Price of houses making Londoners “millionaires”, £2.75m - crazy price for one house in Pepys Road. “Doctors and bankers”,  Gentrification of London. 

• Family, gender, ethnicity, religion: Conventional representation of a British family life - working class / lower-middle class, Flashback sequence example of montage editing - nostalgia, Kamal family presented as contrast to Petunia’s British family - they are very close-knit, all live together, “Volunteering for Syria” - presents Islamic extremism in opening scene. Reinforces stereotypes of Muslims in British media although arguably warmth and closeness of Kamal family subverts the negative stereotypes we usually see.

• Capitalism, work, inequality, wealth: “Not real millionaires” - does house value actually = wealth? Gentrification of London. 

• Immigration, asylum, aging, etc: Loneliness of ageing - lack of family around Petunia, “Albert didn’t much care for change”, Flashback montage sequence - contains nostalgia but also sadness, Importance of immigration in London, Eastern European immigration is shown in the opening scene when the builders walk past (also represented by the skip outside house for funeral).

Scene 2: work in the City 6.28 – 8.10

• Place: Over crowded, busy, dirty, serious, workaholics, unfriendly, close-up shots, diegetic sound, fast pace, shots between people, birds eye view on city.
• Ethnicity & gender: Everyone white working high class jobs, men were higher level in work place, male boss
• Capitalism, work, inequality, wealth: Serious faces, only happy when money is the topic, materialistic, competition for work (old vs young), building is very modern and wealthy.
• Aging, etc: Old white men high positions at work, swiss bank, Rich immigrant boss (german) 

Scene 3: “Which of those isn’t absolutely essential?” 14.00 – 15.35

• Place: Money oriented
• Family & Gender: Wife is excited for riches, Subvert and reinforce wife stereotype roles- wife holds the power (sex) & wife is vein (loves her looks) 
• Capitalism, work, inequality, wealth: Upper middle class problems, dialogue on costs, thinks all those are essentials, happiness is based on work, materialistic, negative middle class representation.
• Immigration: German boss

Scene 4: asylum 18.03 – 19.42 AND 31.10 – 32.40

• Place: Corrupt, dark sides, diverse, marginalised
• Gender, religion, ethnicity: Man is exploiting woman, subverting sterotypes (men just standing there not working), Female lawyers cares (reinforces gender stereotypes) and male guy doesn't care, Religion pushing her through her problems (happy at church) 
• Inequality: Exploited by man- financially, sexually, small over crowded home, 
• Immigration, asylum: Working illegally, running away from bad life- possible rape and murder, positive representation.

Scene 5: “What use is 30 grand?” 36.40 – 39.00 

• Place:  Drone shots of London - financial district, Editing - sped up commute to show Roger’s disorientation and losing touch with reality
• Gender, religion, ethnicity: Roger completely destroyed by 30 grand bonus shows his white privilege laid bare, “This isn’t how it works”
• Inequality, work, wealth: “There is a context to this… Swiss subsidiary” - shows global nature of finance industry / global capitalism, Contrast with Quentina: “This is fundamentally not fair”.

Scene 6: life at the corner shop 40.10 – 42.55

• Place: Western world values influencing son. not knowing neighbours
• Family & Gender: Asian families are collectivists- eat together, reinforce stereotypes, critiscising grandma, dad is provider- Good sense of community (helped white lady he didn't know), Asian family run corner shop (reinforce stereotypes).
• Inequality, work, wealth: Asian dad working hard to provide, son is acting privileged.

You can choose which aspects to focus on for each scene: e.g. London, family, gender, ethnicity, religion, immigration, asylum, inequality, wealth, aging etc. Feel free to use bullet points for each scene - a summary of your notes is fine.

2) How does Capital use stereotypes? Do the characters and issues represented in Capital reinforce or subvert the stereotypes we typically see in the media?

It definitely reinforces the majority of the stereotypes such as: 

• gender stereotypes: Male bosses, male more important jobs, woman is gold digging, woman takes care of kids, woman is vein interested in looks, man provides for family., man exploiting woman for his desires.
• Ethnic stereotypes: Asian family runs corner shops, Asian family eats together, white family is more separate, white family is richer, white family couples separate.
• Age: Grandparents live alone wishing to see grand kids and kids
• Race: minority are asylum seekers, brown character upset about racism in police force, people stay within their race. 
• London: Individualist, workaholic, dirty, city, rich, busy

However, it also subverts a few stereotypes: 

• Gender: wife decides what goes and doesn't go (with sex), females are less gentle and caring, Boy cares about fashion and looks.

Industries and production context

Capital was produced by independent production company Kudos for the BBC. Look at the Kudos website and also read the Kudos Wikipedia page.

1) Who is the parent company for Kudos? What changes of ownership have there been for Kudos? This is an example of conglomerate ownership.

• Kudos, part of Banijay UK, is one of the world’s leading television production companies, specialising in scripted content. In late 2006, the company was sold to Shine Limited for around £35m.
•  In 2015, it was included in a 50–50% joint venture between 21st Century Fox and Apollo Global Management's Endemol and CORE Media Group, as Endemol Shine Group. 
• In November 2015, Endemol Shine Group announced that their two labels Shine Pictures and Lovely Day would officially become part of Endemol Shine UK's Kudos label by absorbing the two labels together as part of their restructure.

2) Watch the showreel on the Kudos website. What other TV dramas have Kudos produced and for which channels? What awards have they won?

• This town: BBC one, [Best director, best writer, best supporting acting performance]
• Grandchester: ITV, PBS masterpiece, [Broadcasting press guild award, breakthrough award]
• Then you run: SKY, [ Royal television society]
• Code 404:  SKY
• Two weeks to live:  SKY [Venice TV award]

etc..

3) How does Capital help the BBC to fulfil its remit as a public service broadcaster? You may want to look back at our work on public service broadcasting last term. 

Capital supports the BBC by creating a competitive media environment that encourages high standards and diverse content. While separate, Capital complements the BBC’s programming and helps maintain the public funding model that allows the BBC to focus on public service goals.