June 2015 PPQ

In the opening of the clip, there is an establishing shot of what seems to be lower class housing. This may represent a lack of money, which is representative of the stereotype African American culture in America where there is a wage gap and economic injustice in regards to race. We can see two African-Americans walking down a street which appears to be very run down and not well looked after. This again complies with the stereotypes. 

As the clip cuts to the interior of the house, we can hear the diegetic sound of a trombone which is often associated with jazz and blues. It's generally accepted that the music evolved from African spirituals, African chants, work songs, field hollers, rural fife and drum music, revivalist hymns, and country dance music. The blues grew up in the Mississippi Delta just upriver from New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz. So, here, this culture is being reinforced and we can see the race and lifestyle of whoever lives in this house.

The dialogue in the first scene complies with the stereotype of African Americans. It is casual and free of “proper” grammar with words such as “ain’t” and “we gotta”. The man’s accent is typical of the New Orleans area and tone of address is friendly and comfortable, almost as if he is family with the other man - African American communities are often shown to be very tight-knit with their own accents and dialogue, which is shown here.

The two men are dressed quite roguishly and darkly, which may be representative of the hard work and labour they have been doing and the little money they have - this is typical of an African American community where there is the previously mentioned pay gap as opposed to their white counterparts.

The next scene is very different and cuts very suddenly. The sudden cut emphasises the change in lighting and scenery, which goes from a dimly lit and small room with limited luxury (which represents the stereotypical lack of money and the more difficult lifestyle of African Americans) to a brightly lit, spacious and well-furnished room. 

The scene opens with an insert of a newspaper front page with what seems to be a headline about a politician, who is part of the scene, running in some sort of political election. The person on the front cover is white and this shows the lack of representation of the African American community in politics and the media. 

In this room, we can see three white people who are very well dressed in bright colours, with one woman wearing large, flashy jewellery. This shows their wealth and the difference in class of this family and the family in the previous scene, which is often the case due to racism between African Americans and white people. This wealth is again re-emphasised with the mise en scene - the people are smoking cigarettes and drinking martinis, both of which are usually considered expensive and upper class.

The two person shot of the woman and the man shows their relationship stands in contrast to that of the two African American men who were very close. Unlike the African-American community, the Caucasian community is not as tightly knit and we can see this as they sit very far apart and rarely show body language to show that they are close. The dialogue between the characters also shows that they are Caucasian as the stereotype of speaking very properly and with a sense of upper class, for example when they use script such as “appalling” and “whom”. The dialogue continues on to speak about the “confederate president”. In American culture, the confederate flag and the governmental rule is often seen as anti-African American, and the fact that this scene includes a large and expensive painting of a president and they talk about him so highly is distinguishing that they are certainly not a part of the African American community.

This contrast between the white people and the African American people goes against the grain in the way of how media usually represents ethnic minorities (i.e. being involved in crime and anti-social behaviour). Here, the two African American men are abiding by what is being asked of them and are adding to the cultural value of New Orleans through their music whilst living innocent happy lives whereas the white people are scheming in their living room using casual racism and having a high level of tension as they are smoking and drinking.

As the hospital scene is being introduced, it starts with a shallow focus showing small figurines of men playing the trombone, which again reinforces the cultural value they are bringing. To introduce the scene, there is a pan shot of the doctors office. Through this, and other shots of the office, we can see that the majority of people there are people of ethnic minorities - this may be following the stereotype, where African Americans are reliant upon white people for medical aid etc. due to the education that African Americans were denied. 

In contrast to this, the next scene shows two African Americans making clothes which shows that they are the backbone of the community and pulls away from the stereotype of criminal activity, especially when it becomes apparent that it is a charitable act. We see many shot-reverse-shots of the two people, who seem to be content and happy with each other. This stands harshly against the frustration of the woman in the previous scene, where we see a long shot of her restaurant cutting to a close up of her face showing a high level of frustration. Between these two scenes it is apparent that the African American community are harder workers as an ode to their heritage.

This theme runs strongly throughout the extract, as we can see through parallel editing the different lives of different cultures. For example, we have the poorer lifestyle of the two men and the hard work of the African Americans shown right before and after the stress of both scenes of white people, who are doing very little work.