Women are represented as dumb and naive in this programme as they are dressed in pink and laugh at inane and unfunny things. They have large breasts, which of course appeals to a male audience as eye candy and they dress in pink, very feminine.
The whole show is narrated by a man, with an Irish accent, commonly associated and thus a convention of the stereotypical builder.
Narrative wise, the programme is shown through a multi strand narrative, following different people and therefore, easier for an audience to associate or empathise with the group that most reflects them.
The ellipsis of time allows a lot of time to be compressed into a brief amount of time as to follow the builders over a long period of time.
Todorov ideas of narrative are clearly noticeable in “We’ve got the builders in.” The equilibrium is seen from the opening credits as we see a high shot of a city landscape, which demonstrates normality. It then cuts to showing various people and couples talking of their plans to develop their homes or property. The disruption comes when the builders move in and the general problems that come with them. For example, the problems with the drainage. The following scenes show how the people deal with the disturbance, in this case the builders, where the man asks what is happening and questions the builder’s work in relation to the drainpipe and the problems of it.
“Brat Camp” establishes its audience from the outset, firstly as it is on Channel 4, commonly associated with defiant and irregular TV and due to the start of the programme announcing that this show will contain “strong language,” which suggests that this programme is going to be rebellious, bold and dangerous, exactly what the audience wants.
It appeals to the audience of teenagers, as they are able to associate with the characters involved. The montage of the teenagers as sweet, innocent children appeals to parents as they can also relate to the parents of the children who have watched their children gradually separate away from them. This is demonstrated when the child pleads for forgiveness, which is emotional blackmail, something parents can relate to and thus empathise with.
To show this change from innocent child to angry, rebellious teenager also aids the narrative as it gives firstly a sense of time and to show the disruption, in the example of “Brat Camp” the change in their personality and behaviour which is to be straightened out.
The start of the programme shows all the children in their normal lives which allows the teenage audience to associate with all or one, which most befits their character.
The teenagers in the program are represented very stereotypically. In the first scenes, when they are shown in their normal lives they are shown as rebels to society or ‘different’. Many are either ‘chavs’ or ‘grungers’, which teenagers can relate to. Josh, the 15 year old with an angered drug rage, is shown to be smoking and drinking, however the background music is American rap, which connotes rebelliousness and unruliness.
Throughout the first part of the programme representation is questioned and manipulated. The girls are shown to be working in a pack and sticking together when questioned about who brought the cigarettes into the camp, which is common. However, the hard boy, is later shown to be crying which is quite surprising and shocking. When the blonde girl makes a stupid comment and looks gazingly into the camera, a southern guitar style banjo song comes on, which represents the girl as dumb, and thus blondes as dumb as well.
In “We’ve got the builders in” the men who are having an extension built are represented as quite moronic and pushy and nosey, which represents most people having building work done. Later, a cross cutting sequence between a man knocking down a wall from the top, and the builder saying he would bet he would just start whacking away at the wall presents people who do their own DIY as stupid and this also reflects the thoughts of the builder, who represents all other builders.
The actual camp takes on a very generic narrative through the western theme. It is situated in the desert, all the elders wear cowboy hats, they sit around campfires, and high noon. This makes the whole event a lot more interesting, rather than the camp being in a building or city and makes it more appealing to the audience.
The head elder, Wayne Stimpson, is an ex – cop, and the conventions of this can be seen in him. He has a beard and he is a hardliner, coming out with lines such as “I hate being lied to.”
The narrative is like that of “We’ve got the builders in” as in some respect it is divided into a multi strand narrative as we follow different people in the same situation.
In both programmes, types of people are manipulated by the camera and director as to appeal more to the audience. In “Brat Camp”, the camera focuses more on the teenager who does wrong rather than the one that is learning to be good. This is evident in “We’ve got the builders in” when the camera only shows the woman when they say something dumb, when the builder does or says something stupid or when a disaster happens.