How is the disability represented in the start of after Thomas?

The mise on scene makes us believe that the mother and boy are from a normal, middle class background. We can first see this through the clothes they are wearing. The boy is wearing a school uniform and a dark coat and his mother is wearing a coat and other winter wear. This also tells us its a normal cold winters day in England. At first we see the mother and child in a slow motion shot in the middle of the road. We instantly feel danger and sadness for the pair as they look in a lot of distress with cars running past them. This instantly challenges Todorovs theory as there is no sense of balance to the pairs lives from the start. The main light is coming from the car lights behind the pair, this and the use of putting them in the centre of the shot tells the viewer that they are the main characters to focus on. The cars that drive past give us a feeling that everyone elses lives are going on, but the pairs lives are stuck and going nowhere. The red car and bus that go right across the screen and block the viewers sight of the pair are used to connote danger for the pair, enforcing the feelings we already feel for them. The close ups used in this scene help to show us how distressed the pair are, it also allows us to see the scratches on the mothers cheek, making us think that the boy has been poorly behaved. This is all used to make us judge the boy like the public did before we know the full story about him. However, all the sound in this scene is manipulated, we can still work out that there are cars flying past and screams, but it again makes us feel like time has basically stopped for the pair and they are stuck in a point in their lives. Also, the use of the violin music adds an enigma code to the scene as the violin is usually thought to be a calm instrument, however this screams being non diegetic sound give us a sense of mystery. Then the sound and the screen dissolve out into a white screen with black writing telling us that this story that is about to be shown is a true one. The use of white connotes innocence making us believe that the events that are about to occur are true. This is also helped by the fact the one part drama was published on the BBC, a very credible company who are known for making true to life, heart feeling dramas. After this we are taken to the real time narrative, with the mother and the boy looking normal walking towards a shoe shop. The

narrative theory of Levi-Strauss and binary opposites is used here with the use of the boy and his mother portrayed against the young girl and her mum. We enter the shoe shop and the boy starts to scream and kick and argue, while the girl and her mum are quietly and nicely waiting to pay for their shoes. This makes us feel bad for the pair that they have to wait for a poorly behaved child. All this is done to make us judge the boy before knowing about his disability, like what happens to many people in real life. This is re enforced with the over the shoulder shot of the shop assistant as they struggle to calm the boy. At this point we spot that the boy is wearing a nappy, this instantly makes the audience wonder about the boy as its not normal for a boy of his age, but we still view him as just a poorly behaved baby. At this point the normal pair spot it too and try to look away, while also judging the boy to be a spoilt baby, again replicating what we feel. All the way throughout this the mother is trying to calm her son, but having no luck what so ever. This seems to make her slightly distressed too but also very embarrassed at his poor behaviour. All of this so far is making us judge the boy in a very negative light before we know the whole story. Then we see the now calm boy being given a lollipop from his mother, who still seems fairly uptight and frustrated after the events. This act of poor behaviour the treat seems to be some sort of routine for the boy; this makes us wonder if the mother is just a poor mother who brought her son up badly. We then come back to the road scene, just before it happens we see another red car drive by, again connoting towards danger. We then see the incident again and the huge level of stress on the pairs faces, we also see the public standing on the road, judging and laughing at the very misbehaved boy. When the boy is dragged of the road by his mother she seems furious with the people who have stood round judging them unfairly. The binary opposites are then used again as we see the normal pair there again, judging like everyone else. The women then angrily defends her son, at this point we discover that the boy has a disability and we feel so sorry for the mother who has to go through this sort of routine on a regular basis, re enforcing the thoughts of their lives being stuck while everyone else moves on. To conclude, disability is represented as true to life as it could be. Many people who have disabilities are just poorly behaved or weird to the general public, as we see through the part with many people just surrounding the pair, laughing and judging them before actually knowing how hard it is for him and his mother to cope with. This drama would be seen as a real shock to the public as they all instantly feel sorry for the boy after being told about it, but find

him just different beforehand, making them just as bad as the normal pair used in the scene.