Jamie on the other hand, in what can be said, a considerably short amount of time in the cooking industry, has bestowed an ever-growing chain of encouragement from his devoted viewers. Jamie’s mannerisms, use of language, dress code, attitude, personal looks, surroundings and even his opinions compile together what his audiences crave – Jamie’s complete individuality! Jamie youth and possession of his working class roots, enable him to relate to young working class people in urban communities. Jamie’s use of colloquial language and common phrases such as “pukka”, makes it even easier for working class people to relate to him, whilst empowering them at the same time. I suggest that perhaps Jamie is indiscreetly a “revolutionist” to the world of cookery. He being male empowers other males to consider or even take cookery up. Jamie also represents men in modern day society; positions are changing. Men are no longer seen to be “tough as boots” and unemotional. As little as 20 years ago, a man even setting foot into the kitchen was completely unheard of, it was seen as a women’s job. Surprisingly, Jamie appeals to older women, but not due to the same reasons as Delia’s. Older women may find Jamie “sexy”. The idea of a man being able to cook may appeal as seductive or romantic.
It comes as no surprise, Delia and Jamie appeal to contrasting audiences therefore they are both going to appeal to them in different ways.
Both Delia and Jamie’s love for cookery is presented inconsistently but in skilled ways. I believe their love for cooking is equal. Delia seems to take her job more seriously. She provides us with an extensive instructional yet informative programme, providing us with a step-by-step guide on how to cook her dishes. She consistently reassures the viewer and provides alternatives wherever possible. Due to this method the audience can sense Delia’s love for cooking, as it seems “she knows her stuff” and wants to portray this to the audience. Therefore everything in Delia’s programme must be right and accurate. However, Jamie tends to take his in his stride. He provides us with an inspirational programme, viewers watch him with an open mind, as it seems he gives more opinionated information allowing his viewers to make choices. Delia deals with her programme as what it actually is, a job - a task, which has to be completed. Whereas Jamie portrays to the viewer that cooking is like an experimental adventure that you “can’t go wrong with”.
Delia’s characteristics are to an extent completely the opposite of Jamie’s. Delia promotes seriousness and strictness. Whereas Jamie, is laid back and relaxed. I suggest this is because Delia feels as if she is required to live up to her high reputation of cooking. Jamie has entered the industry genuinely being himself. People respect Jamie for this. Delia only shows her viewers one side – the “always happy, bliss - nothing will go wrong” side. It seems as if Delia has little substance, her personality leaks less than Jamie’s. Of course, it is only natural to have more than one side to a person, as we are only human - including Delia herself. Jamie however, kindly lets the viewers into personal life. This is very clever, as it warms the viewers to him, making him even more favourable to a young modern and trendy audience.
Delia’s programme only has one main aspect to it. She speaks to her viewers instructing through the camera, providing them with a simple step-by-step guide. It is just she and the camera. Delia is the only person we see. Jamie has many different aspects to his programme. For one, Jamie has an interviewer who asks him crucial questions that the viewers want to know. So in a sense, the interviewer represents the audience. This means that Jamie doesn’t speak directly to the audience as Delia does. Delia’s programme may seem more personalised to the audience as she speaks directly to them. However, Jamie’s method seems more rewarding, as the interviewer is able to find out about the dish specifically by asking him desirable questions. Viewers are then able to jot this down. You aren’t given a chance to ask Delia any questions regarding her dishes. However, Delia is very precise and specific and she usually she covers everything you’ll need to know about the dish.
Another interesting aspect to Jamie’s programme is when he begins cooking; he has an important task in mind. Delia cooks for the benefit of her viewers, Jamie cooks for an event or specific person. With this in mind, there is always an element of emotion on the part of the viewers. Jamie provides his audience with a story whilst still informing them how to cook. Usually its gripping – ‘will he make it in time’ ‘where will he get the food from – everywhere is shut!’ As Jamie solves these problems, his audiences are able to judge him as a person and observe how he deals with these situations. Viewers are then able to warm to him, as he is seen as a human being who has problems equally as anyone else.
Delia is incredibly easy to understand. Her tone of voice adds to the simplicity of her instructions and methods. Her soft, mellow, gentle, slow voice comforts the viewer. She makes her programme easy for older and elderly people to understand due to the slow pace she speaks at. Delia speaks in Standard English, which makes it soothing and plain for all to understand whether middle classed or working class. She constantly reassures the viewer filling in any doubts. She comes across as caring, kind and motherly – a warming and trustworthy character. Jamie is more so portrayed as your “big brother”. He delivers useful cooking advice to his viewers and is funny and friendly. A great attribution to his programme is that is seen Jamie to “gel” with anyone and everyone. This is why people respect him and his methods. However, people may be held back by Jamie, as he may seem a little too erratic. His show doesn’t seem rehearsed. Therefore thought of as “not properly done”. Nevertheless, this is one of the many reasons why Jamie’s audience are attracted to his programme. They favour the fact that he is so spontaneous. Delia’s programme comes across as rehearsed as everything is in its correct place. For instance the utensils she uses are laid out for her. Due to this I suggest that people feel safer following Delia’s methods. Her methods seem trustworthier as they are traditional, tried and tested and have worked successfully in the past.
Jamie speaks in colloquial language and uses modern phrases and slang. He speaks fast and seems somewhat “careless”. For instance, Jamie may say an offensive joke, however it is inoffensive to him. Compared to Delia, it may be difficult for a non-Londoner to understand some of the words and phrases he uses, as he uses London slang. There’s no doubt that Jamie is confident in his profession, comparatively confident to what Delia portrays. This is most likely due to the fact that he enjoys it so much, and views cooking as fun. Jamie is fearless of cooking blunders, as ‘cooking is about experimenting’. Whereas Delia equally enjoys cooking, but as mentioned earlier, views it as – “a task that has to be successfully fulfilled”. People believe that its not ‘acceptable’ for Delia to go wrong, as she has such a high status, and can always be relied on to get her recipes and methods accurate consistently.
Whilst watching both programmes, I have observed while each are in the kitchen, they both have distinctive surroundings. Delia’s kitchen is very neat and organised. Everything is in its right place, ready to be used. The main colour scheme in her kitchen is white. It is perhaps ironic as I associate white with ‘pure’. This coincides perfectly with my idea of which I believe Delia represents - “the pure essential English woman” who everyone respects. I doubt this effect was purposely created. On the other hand, Jamie’s kitchen is overflowing with cooking utensils. His kitchen is busy and to some extent unorganised. However, it is only unorganised to the viewer, as only he knows where everything is in his kitchen. Jamie’s kitchen is filled with various colours. Creating a fun & happy place to work in. Delia prepares her dishes on a raised table in the middle of her kitchen. This is the focus of scene. She has lots of space on it; all utensils are arranged neatly waiting to be used. Jamie has a table for preparing the food however; it looked as if he had simply creating it by making some space. When Jamie finishes with his bowls, plates and cutlery he simply ‘chucks’ them in the sink. However, when Delia finishes using her bowls and dishes they are left on the table, and then sorted off camera. When Delia decides to use her hands, for instance when kneading dough, we don’t see her washing her hands afterwards. This is done off camera. Whereas Jamie, turns on the tap, quickly dashes his hands under the water, wipes his hands on a tea towel and commences with his dish. I think that Delia may believe that these conventions needn’t be shown on TV, as they take the focus off the aim of the programme and waste time. I feel that viewers don’t need to see Delia washing her hands as they assume that she is clean and hygienic anyway. Delia is seen as the perfect housewife, which leads the viewer to believe that the washing up will be seen to once she has finished cooking. Jamie however, shows that leaving the dishes and washing his hands is a normal part of the cooking process. Perhaps because we don’t have the same ‘ultra’ clean and hygienic view on Jamie as we have on Delia, it is a good thing that we see Jamie washing his hands.
Delia gives well-detailed structured information on her recipes and dishes. Jamie on the other hand gives us more rushed opinionated views. Delia uses rich food when cooking, bought from the best quality stores like “Harrods”. From this we can also suggest that she appeals to a high society audience. Working class people wouldn’t be able to afford to spend money on foods, which could easily be bought from a supermarket for a considerably cheaper amount. Jamie buy’s his food from Deli’s. In this case, Jamie went to a Deli and bought some fresh Italian produce. However, both Delia and Jamie provide their viewers with an alternative they say “you can get this from any local supermarket”. Both audiences know, that the quality of the food Delia and Jamie have used will never compare with the local supermarkets quality. Delia’s preparation and cooking is done slowly and carefully. This is due to her older audience; she talks and prepares everything slowly so they can understand. Delia never cuts corners, she tells it as it is, never taking short cuts and explains every step particularly for the benefit of her older audience. Also, it reflects Delia’s lifestyle, ‘things should be done properly or it’s not worth doing’. Jamie’s preparation and cooking is done more careless and unorganised. Its not because he doesn’t care, it’s due to him wanting to appeal to the young student and busy working family. He is confident and loves what he does. Jamie doesn’t measure where possible. He urges his viewers to guess how much of an ingredient to include. He tips ingredients straight from their packet. This is more relevant to his audience. It reflects his and other young people’s lifestyle in today’s modern society - rushed and ‘no time to spare’. For instance, university students haven’t got time to accurately measure ingredients. Delia uses scales to precisely measure her food. Then they are each put in small bowls ready to be used. Delia gently and softly kneads her dough and carefully sifts her flour whilst Jamie grabs, rips and tosses his ingredients. When using cutlery, Jamie ‘drops’ them down when he has finished with them. Delia carefully places them down. Neither of them purposely do this; it is just in their characteristics & nature.
Both Delia and Jamie present their programmes in ways in which reflect their own personal lifestyle and characteristics. Delia bases her programme on the theme of tradition. As the title sequence of the programme begins, we are shown an image of a traditional country house. Whilst being shown this, traditional classical music is played in the background. Due the festive season Delia takes the chance to emphasise on Christmas tradition. As we go on in the programme we can see that her clothing and cutlery used are very traditional. She uses old-fashioned computer effects to create Christmassy borders and festive text and lettering styles. However the computer images on screen are minimal and poor quality compared to Jamie’s more modern approach. Jamie programme is called “Reunion”. In his programme he has a task to create a dinner for the reunion of himself and his friends(s). In his programme he introduces us to his friend. Again, letting us into his private life. When Jamie collects some meat from the local Continental Deli he travels on his scooter. I suggest that the scooter reflects his hasty lifestyle. The “cool” scooter represents his lavish lifestyle that people envy and that his viewers aspire to have. While Jamie rides his scooter, up-tempo soft rock music is played throughout. This is effective as it also emphasises the fast lifestyle he has, and creates a ‘rushed’ effect on the audience. Jamie uses modern fonts and images created by HI-Tec computer equipment. This appeal to today’s modern and “hi-Tec” young people.
The camera movements used add effectiveness to both of their programmes. Delia speaks directly to the audience. The cameraman shows a variety of close ups on the food Delia creates. This is to enable the audience a closer view of what the food should look like e.g. texture and colour. This is particularly useful for Delia’s older viewers. Many of them wear glasses and have difficulty seeing. When Delia kneads dough, the cameraman slowly ‘zoom’ in on that, to let her viewers see the technique she is using to knead it. There is always a steady camera on Delia. I feel this puts the main focus on her and keeps the viewer relaxed (as they haven’t got to keep moving due to the fast shots) therefore increasing their concentration. At the start of Jamie’s programme, there is a still camera to introduce what he is going to be creating and why. I think this is one of the very few still camera shots there are in the programme. Throughout the programme Jamie’s cameraman creates a lot of edgy fast shots creating a fast atmosphere. This also makes the viewer edgy. The jerky shots created portray Jamie’s energy and adventurous attitude towards cooking. There are many different shots used in Jamie’s programme. There is even the use of a hand held camera, which enables quick shots while Jamie is constantly on the go. We view Jamie in many places, not just in the kitchen like Delia. We see him in the Internet café with friends, on his scooter going to the Deli, in his kitchen and finally at the dinner party with his friends. Viewers no longer end up watching Jamie for his expertise in cooking, but to view the story he provides about his roller coaster personal life.