Analysis - everything that you see and hear has been carefully selected to create meaning. An important part of media studies is exploring how this meaning is created. Mise-en-scène is a media term which means 'put in the frame', everything is in the frame for a reason, I am going to explore and analysis a short 4 minute clip from the BBC television show Peaky Blinders.
Setting: Where/when is it set? Is it filmed on set or location? Does the setting tell us anything about the genre?
- Birmingham, England - the year is 1919.
- The majority of the series was not filmed on location in Birmingham - Bradford, Dudley, Leeds and Liverpool were all used for filming, some scenes however were shot on location in the second city. Railway sequences were filmed between Keighley and Damems, carriages used were leant to the production from the railway trust, museums and other historical bodies.
- The clip features many of the stables of Birmingham life and culture such as back-to-back houses, heavy industry (Birmingham is known as the city of a thousand trades and the workshop of the world) including ship building specifically narrow boats to be used on Birmingham's vast network of canals.
- Other industries beside ship building are seen during the clip such as steel works and furnaces.
- The heavy industry found in Birmingham at this time is reflected by the smokey atmosphere, the chimneys bellowing smoke and gas into the streets as well as the combustion and flames seen taking place inside the furnaces and work regularly spilling out into the streets.
- The series also accurately includes the hustle and bustle of Birmingham's vibrant Chinatown district that still exists to this day.
- In preparation for the second series of the show auditions were held in the Digbeth area of Birmingham (near where parts of the series is set) for white and mixed race teenage male extras, resulting in lengthy queues.
- Much of the second series takes place in London and features the gang expanding their operations in the capital, this change of setting will warrant new sets and a variety of new filming locations.
Props: What props have been included? Do they tell you anything about the setting or genre? Connotative meaning?
- One of the most significant props seen in the short clip is the horse. Firstly the animal tells us much about the setting, we are immediately made aware of the times if the series was set in the present day you would not see a man riding a horse, except for recreation. It is immediately clear that Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) is riding a horse at a time when doing so was commonplace. The idea of a workhorse congers up images of industry once again. For centuries horses were one of the most important tools of industry they would be used to power machinery before electricity or diesel engines were available, they worked in agriculture pulling ploughs and also towed narrow boats like the ones we see being constructed in the clip.
- In addition to that the horse also informs us about the genre, this is a crime series where the gang in question use illegal gambling specifically fixing horse races. In the beginning of the clip we see Tommy Shelby exploiting the ignorance of the working class in order to trick them into betting on his horse that is destined to win, he convinces them by having a Chinese girl use mysticism and magic to bless the horse and enable it to win, in reality this is an elaborate con job where the horse is front a centre.
- The lack of technological progress and the post-war timeframe is not only represented through the use of the horse, but also through the setting (which I have already discussed) and costumes (which I will go onto talk about later in this piece)
- Main Cast:
- Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby
- Cillian Murphy is an Irish actor from County Cork, this is significant because it could point to the Shelby family having Irish roots, nevertheless Murphy performs the role with a Birmingham accent making it clear if his character is Irish it is merely ancestral as opposed to him being a first-generation Irish immigrant as incidentally many were in Birmingham at this time.
- Murphy has established himself as a presence in both British and American cinema ever since making his debut in his country of birth in the late 1990s.
- Murphy is not what is traditionally considered "Hollywood" mainly due to his rejection of being a celebrity actor. He does not have a stylist or publicist and travels without an entourage. He rarely attends premieres and when he does he is often alone, the same goes for chat shows, when he does make a rare appearance he doesn't talk about his personal life and is somewhat reserved. Nevertheless he is still an extraordinarily high-profile actor especially when it is considered that this is a small BBC series. His filmography includes extensive work with Christopher Nolan on the Batman trilogy were he plays Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow, he also worked on Inception and with Nolan's long-time cinematographer Wally Pfister on his directorial debut Transcendence. On the surface the array of critically acclaimed blockbusters, science-fiction thrillers and comic-book adaptations may not suit him to a role in a period crime-drama. However, work on "urban western" Perrier's Bounty, a crime-comedy thriller and Hippie Hippie Shake were he plays Richard Neville, editor of the Australian satirical magazine Oz, amidst the 1960s counterculture as well as his work with Ken Loach on The Wind That Shakes the Barley, a film set during the Irish War of Independence (1919-1922) and the Irish Civil War (1922-1923) have more than proved he is indeed suitable to play the role of gangster Tommy Shelby.
- Helen McCrory as Aunt Polly Elizabeth Gray, née Shelby.
- Helen McCrory is a seasoned English actress who has made regular appearances on television, film and stage since the early 1990s.
- McCrory is a familiar face in some of Britain's biggest film productions. She has appeared in the 2004 film Enduring Love, based on the novel of the same name by acclaimed writer Ian McEwan. In 2009 she played Narcissa Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, a role she went onto reprise twice in the final two installments of the series. More recently she played Clair Dowar MP in the most recent James Bond film Skyfall.
- McCrory is well versed when it comes to playing real people. She played barrister and wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the 2006 film The Queen and reprised the role again in 2010 for the television film The Special Relationship. In 2007 she played Ann Radcliffe an English author and pioneer of the Gothic novel in the historical biographical film Becoming Jane, which depicts the life of Jane Austen. Early in her career she played Freya von Moltke in the 1996 television movie Witness Against Hitler, Moltke was a German dissident and participant in the anti-Nazi resistance group, the Kreisau Circle.
- McCrory also has track record for appearing in historical dramas. In 2000 she played the titular character in the four-part BBC mini-series Anna Karenina based on Leo Tolstoy's novel of the same name. In 2003 she played Barbara Villiers, Countess of Castlemaine opposite her future Peaky Blinders co-star Charlie Creed-Miles in Charles II: The Power and The Passion. In 2011 McCrory appeared in Martin Scorsese's Hugo portraying Jeanne d'Alcy one of the earliest French film actresses and wife of cinema pioneer Georges Méliès portrayed in the film by Sir Ben Kingsley.
- When all of these factors are combined it becomes clear Helen McCrory is perfect for a role in the historical crime drama series the Peaky Blinders. She is seasoned British actress and thoroughly experienced when it comes to historical dramas portraying both real and fictional characters. Furthermore her experience on some of Britain's biggest film franchises (James Bond, Harry Potter) as well as notable BBC dramas such as Doctor Who mean McCrory is talented and recognizable, to this day she remains a prominent actress who continues to portray historical characters in period film and television such as Mary Kay in 2014's Tommy Cooper: Not Like That, Like This and Queen Elizabeth I in the upcoming film Bill. The casting of such an actress can only be good for the series as many of her fans will surely tune in to watch her on screen every week.
- Sam Neill as Chief Inspector C.I. Chester Campbell
- Sam Neill like Cillian Murphy is an Irish actor, Murphy is from the Republic of Ireland while Neill was born in Northern Ireland. However, Neill is an interesting case as he may have been born in County Tyrone, he was in fact raised in New Zealand, currently he holds British, Irish and New Zealand citizenship. He says he primarily identifies as a New Zealander having moved there from Northern Ireland in 1954. To this day he resides in Queenstown, New Zealand.
- Neill is an international actor active in New Zealand, British and South African productions. Over the last twenty years he worked extensively in the Australian film industry with such as Death in Brunswick, My Mother Frank and The Hunter. Perhaps his best known film produced outside of the United States is the joint New Zealand-Australian production The Piano, a film that won multiple Academy Awards.
- Despite his extensive work outside of the United States Neill is still considered a Hollywood leading-man and has been for sometime. In 1993, he starred as Dr. Alan Grant in what became the highest-grossing film of all time, Jurassic Park and went onto appear in Jurassic Park III, the third installment in 2001. Other high profile film roles include Omen III: The Final Conflict, Dead Calm and The Hunt for Red October.
- Throughout much of his career Neill has balanced his work on film with numerous television roles, his appearances on the small screen are regular and date back to the 1980s. Notable examples include 1983 mini-series Reilly, Ace of Spies, the 1998 mini-series Merlin and a ten-part role in the Tudors in 2007.
- Neill enlisted the help of Northern Irish actors James Nesbitt and Liam Neeson to help him perfect a Northern Irish accent for the role of C.I. Campbell. In the end, he had to tone the accent down since the series is being marketed in the United States.
- Charlie Creed-Miles as Billy Kimber
- Creed-Miles is an English actor who primarily appears in British films in supporting roles, unlike Murphy or Neill he does not enjoy the same level of international prestige.
- In comparison to the other actors and actresses I have talked about previously Creed-Miles' filmography is limited - he has made extensive appearances on television, many times appearing for just one episode.
- Creed-Miles is recognized for appearing in a series of British gangster films such as Essex Boys, Nil By Mouth, Harry Brown and Wild Bill.
- Creed-Miles extensive work in the crime genre make him suitable for a role in the Peaky Blinders, a series that revolves around organized crime and contains scenes of strong blooded and highly stylized violence.
- Paul Anderson as Arthur Shelby Jr.
- Paul Anderson is a English actor and much like Creed-Miles is relatively unknown to the general public, he has made a number of appearances in British film and on television.
- It can be said that it is his past roles that have made him an appropriate casting choice for the Peaky Blinders. His television roles include playing Gordon Goody a member of the gang that pulled of the Great Train Robbery, in the two-part BBC television film of the same name. Anderson's roles as criminals are not consigned to historical crime dramas but rather extend across the board, in the same year he appeared in Channel 4's drama Top Boy. Set on the fictional Summerhouse estate in Hackney, the series follows the lives of a group of people involved in drug dealing and street gangs.
- In regard to film appearances Anderson has worked extensively with director Nick Love who is well known for producing gritty urban crime films such as The Football Factory, The Business and Outlaw. Anderson has appeared in Love's last two films The Firm and The Sweeney. The former which came out in 2009 is a film based around football hooliganism and is a remake of the original 1989 version. The latter which came out in 2012 was inspired by the 1970s British police drama series of the same name. Besides playing hooligans and criminals in Nick Love films Anderson has gone onto appear in more high-profile films such as Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows in 2011, where he plays one of Professor Moriarty's henchmen.
- Anderson on the whole is known for playing dangerous, charismatic and often psychotic criminals meaning he is well suited for a role in the Peaky Blinders.
- Tommy Flanagan as Arthur Shelby Sr. (Recurring)
- Tommy Flanagan is a Scottish actor originally from Glasgow. He is a star of both television and film, although primarily known for appearing in small British films, in recent years he has become better known internationally appearing regularly in American drama series.
- Flanagan began his career in a similar way to other Scottish actors namely Robert Carlyle, Ewen Bremner and Peter Mullan by appearing on detective/police procedural drama series Taggart.
- Some of Flanagan's famous roles in British films include Plunkett & Macleane opposite Robert Carlyle, Alan Cumming and Michael Gambon in 1999 and in the same year Ratcatcher by Lynne Ramsay. In 2001 he was directed by Peter Capaldi in Strictly Sinatra.
- Flanagan's breakout role was 1995's Braveheart and since that time he gone onto appear in many major Hollywood movies, albeit often in small bit-parts. Such as, Face/Off, Gladiator and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. In recent years his profile in Hollywood has been raised somewhat and he has been appearing more prominently in big-budget productions such as 2004's science fiction action film Alien vs. Predator, 2005's neo-noir action thriller anthology Sin City and 2006's crime drama Smokin' Aces, returning for the 2010 prequel Smokin' Aces 2: Assassin's Ball.
- Flanagan's U.S. television work is what has him notable over the last decade or so, he has appeared in a series of high-profile dramas. Transitioning away from British television shows like Taggart, Rebus and Rab C. Nesbitt before appearing in 24, Lie to Me, Detroit 1-8-7 and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.
- Overall his best known role began in 2008 on the FX television drama series Sons of Anarchy, a show that centers around the members of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club. Flanagan plays Filip "Chibs" Telford. He is nicknamed "Chibs" because of his facial scars. ("chib" is Scots slang for a knife or blade). The distinctive facial scars that Flanagan sports in Sons of Anarchy are real and are known as a Glasgow Smile. They are the result of a knife attack outside a nightclub where he had been working as a disc jockey.
- Putting Flanagan's sinister appearance aside he is known onscreen for playing dangerous criminals, over the years he has appeared as hit-men, arms dealers and henchmen making him a suitable choice for a role on the historical crime drama series the Peaky Blinders. The seventh and final series of Sons of Anarchy has already premiered, once it concludes it would be advisable to upgrade Flanagan's character Arthur Shelby Sr. to a regular cast member, seeing as his career is going from strength to strength it is better to snap him up sooner rather than later.
- Tom Hardy as Alfie Solomons (Season 2)
- Tom Hardy is an English actor, appearing in both film and television. He is by far and away the most significant actor to appear in the Peaky Blinders. Hardy is what can be described the cream of the Hollywood crop. His A-list status trumps that of Sam Neill and even the series lead actor, Cillian Murphy.
- Hardy like his co-star Murphy is a seasoned actor, having worked with Christopher Nolan on two occasions, in 2010 on Inception and again in 2012 when he played supervillian and main antagonist Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, Bane is considered one of Batman's most physically and intellectually powerful foes. He is often credited for being the only villain to have "Broken the Bat."
- Hardy's career itself began with him playing though characters in physically demanding roles; his first film was 2001's Black Hawk Down, a film that chronicled the events of the 1993 raid on Mogadishu by the U.S. military aimed at capturing faction leader Mohamed Farrah Aidid and the battle that ensued.
- Hardy went onto establish himself as leading-man material. In 2004 he starred opposite Daniel Craig in the British crime thriller Layer Cake. He has since gone onto appear in other British gangster films such as the 2008 crime film RocknRolla that written and directed by Guy Ritchie. The same year he made memorable turn in the film Bronson. The film, a fictionalized biographical psychological drama film co-written and directed by Nicholas Winding Refn and starring Tom Hardy as the titular character. The plot surrounds the life of notorious prisoner Michael Gordon Peterson, who was renamed Charles Bronson, star of the Death Wish film series, by his fight promoter. Born into a respectable middle-class family, Peterson would nevertheless become one of the United Kingdom's most dangerous criminals and is known for having spent almost his entire adult life in solitary confinement. In 2012 he starred in Lawless, a film that explores the lives of the Bondurant brothers: Forrest (Tom Hardy), Howard (Jason Clarke) and Jack (Shia LaBeouf), who made and sold moonshine in Franklin County, Virginia during the Prohibition era. This year he starred in American crime film The Drop, the film marked the late James Gandolfini's final appearance in a feature film. Singled out in particular for considerable praise were the performances of Hardy and Gandolfini.
- Hardy continues to appear in high-profile blockbusters outside of the crime genre, in 2011 he starred opposite Joel Edgerton in the sports drama film Warrior, about two estranged brothers whose entrance into a mixed martial arts tournament forces them to come to terms with
their past and each other. The same year he appeared as Ricki Tarr in the Cold
War espionage film Tinker Tailor Solider Spy, based on the 1974 novel of the
same name by John le Carré. He appeared alongside other heavyweight Brit actors such as Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, Stephen Graham, Toby Jones, John Hurt, Roger Lloyd-Pack and Kathy Burke.
- A versatile actor and never one to be typecast Hardy appeared in the 2012 romantic comedy spy film This Means War, opposite Chris Pine and Reese Witherspoon. This continues a trend he began early in his career, examples include appearances in the 2006 historical drama film Marie Antoinette and the 2007 disaster film Flood.
- The addition of his character to the Peaky Blinders is not a new turn for Hardy, over the past decade or so he has made regular appearances on television, this began in 2001 the same year he made his first film; appearing on the ten-part World War II miniseries produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. In 2007 he appeared as Bill Sikes in the BBC miniseries Oliver Twist, a television adaptation of the Charles Dickens' novel of the same name. In 2009 he appeared as Heathcliff in the ITV two-part television serial adaptation of the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. These roles are particularly significant for a number of reasons, firstly both are well known historical texts, the latter being published in 1847. Working with texts of this nature, especially in a lead role like Heathcliff should have more than prepared him for a role in the Peaky Blinders which albeit historical is set much later, getting on for a century in fact meaning difficulties or differences with the English used would be minimal but nevertheless something he was well accustomed to dealing with. Another reason these roles are significant is the types of characters he played, take the former Bill Sikes - he is one of Dickens' most vicious characters. He is a violent and aggressive career criminal prone to sudden outbursts of rage, culminating in the brutal murder of his prostitute girlfriend Nancy. There is without equivocation similarities that can be drawn between Hardy's portrayal of Bill Sikes some years ago and his current role as a violent criminal on the Peaky Blinders. In fact Oliver Twist itself is comparable to the Peaky Blinders as both are notable for their unromantic portrayal of criminals and their sordid lives.
- In fact Dickens' book is an early example of a social novel, calling the public's attention to various contemporary evils, including child labour, the recruitment of children as criminals and the presence of street children. Dickens mocks the hypocrisies of his time by surrounding the novel's serious themes with sarcasm and dark humour. In a way the Peaky Blinders does a similar thing letting us see Birmingham in all its filthy glory, the cities criminal underbelly is in no way concealed. Moreover, the writers regularly juxtapose different themes such as showing a bustling and vibrant industrial city that is nonetheless home to those who live in crippling poverty and destitution. Highlighting the problems of the time such as inequality, corruption as well as declining living standards and the flaws in the capitalist system the writers of the Peaky Blinders could be said to be making a comment on modern Britain as these problems have not only failed to disappear but are arguably getting worse.
- It is worth mentioning that Hardy's decision to return to television means in no way that his star is dimming, in fact he has got some his most exciting work yet lined up to be released in the next year or so. Currently in post-production is the crime-drama/thriller film Child 44, based on the 2008 novel of the same by Tom Rob Smith, the plot surrounds MGB Agent Leo Demidov, who investigates a series of gruesome child murders in Stalinist Russia. Tom Hardy is set to star opposite Gary Oldman, Joel Kinnaman,Vincent Cassel, Noomi Rapace, Jason Clarke and Paddy Considine. Another Hardy film is the upcoming British crime thriller Legend, which deals with the rise and fall of the Krays. Hardy is to take on a dual role, portraying both Ronald and Reginald Kray, twin brothers and gangsters who were the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in the East End of London during the 1950s and 1960s. Currently Hardy is filming western thriller The Revenant. Set in the 19th century, Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) a fur trapper and frontiersman is mauled by a bear while hunting. His companions (Will Poulter, Domhnall Gleeson and Tom Hardy) rob him and leave him to die, but he survives and sets out to get revenge on the men who betrayed him. In recent times this is one of the first supporting roles Hardy has taken on. Finally, he will star as Max Rockatansky in Mad Max: Fury Road, the fourth installment of the Mad Max franchise, scheduled for release in 2015.
- Benjamin Zephaniah as Jeremiah Jesus (Recurring)
- If Tom Hardy is the most significant actor to appear in the Peaky Blinders then Benjamin Zephaniah is the most unique, or perhaps unusual actor to feature during the programs run.
- Unlike all of the previous people I have mentioned Zephaniah bucks the trend, not only because he is primarily known for other things but rather because he acts so infrequently many do not realise he does it at all, his role on the Peaky Blinders is the first in its kind for him.
- Zephaniah is notably a writer, dub poet, lyricist, musician and Rastafari.
- Another notable fact about Zephaniah is the fact he is a Brummie. None of the actors I have mentioned previously are from Birmingham but Zephaniah on the other was born and raised in Handsworth, an inner-city, urban area. When talking about Handsworth he called it the "Jamaican capital of Europe".
- Zephaniah writes poetry that is strongly influenced by the music and poetry of Jamaica and what he calls "street politics". His first performance was in a church when he was eleven and by the age of fifteen, his poetry was already known among Handsworth's Afro-Caribbean and Asian communities. He received a criminal record with the police as a young man and served a prison sentence for burglary. Tired of the limitations of being a black poet communicating with black people only, he decided to expand his audience and headed to London at the age of twenty-two.
- Zephaniah has said his mission is to fight the dead image of poetry in academia, he aims to take poetry everywhere, to people who do not read books even turning poetry readings into concert-like performances utilizing his skills as a showman, performance artist and musician to communicate his ideas especially to young people.
- His inclusion in the Peaky Blinders and his character can on some level be described as comic relief, a stock-character found in all sorts of productions and used to lighten the mood, however when you dig a little deeper you begin to realise he has a much more significant role to play than that. He is included because he is a personification of Birmingham, a celebrity nationwide but inside Birmingham he is something else, held in high regard especially among disenfranchised minorities. He is to put it simply one of the cities favorite sons and therefore his inclusion in a series that rests so heavily on Birmingham and its districts from Digbeth to Small Heath, is not only unsurprising but difficult to imagine without.
- When you look at the extensive filmography of the likes of Cillian Murphy or Tom Hardy you are hard stretched to imagine why such A-list actors would be interested in a small BBC series set in Birmingham, in contrast when you look at Benjamin Zephaniah's filmography (without being familiar with his writing, poetry and Birmingham background) you are pushed to understand why he was cast in such a prominent role.
- His first appearance on television was in 1988 on an episode of The Comic Strip Presents..., the show itself was a series of self-contained TV films starring performers from London's "Comic Strip" comedy club and their friends. The show was noted for its parodies of prominent films and literature. The series was labelled as a pioneering example of the alternate comedy scene and starred an array of British comedians who came to prominence in the 1980s. The core members of the Comic Strip are Adrian Edmondson, Dawn French, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer, Peter Richardson, Jennifer Saunders and Alexi Sayle, with frequent appearances by Keith Allen, Robbie Coltrane and others.
- He didn't make another acting appearance for a further two years; eventually in 1990 he reappeared in the obscure French drama film Farendj, opposite Tim Roth.
- His next role wasn't until four years after that, in an episode of The Bill. In the 1994 episode King of the Hill Zephaniah was credited as Vagrant.
- Two after that he appeared in one episode of the 1996 television mini-series Crucial Tales. That was the last acting appearance Zephaniah made until his role on the Peaky Blinders in 2013, a total of seventeen years elapsed between roles and the Peaky Blinders is the first time Zephaniah has appeared on the same show for more than one episode.
- Despite his limited acting appearances Zephaniah makes regular appearances on television, he has appeared on Question Time six times over the past thirteen years. He has appeared on This Week, Mastermind and Democracy Now! In 2005 he wrote and starred in a one-off documentary entitled A Picture of Birmingham.
- Many of his poetry readings and performances are recorded and available online, he makes regular appearances at Poetry Live! for GCSE.
- Once again I will mention the fact that Zephaniah's presence on the Peaky Blinders seems strange and somewhat out of the blue, but it can nevertheless be accounted for. Essentially he is playing a semi-fictionalized version of himself, only in a different era. Without him quintessential aspects of this Brummie series would be lost.
Costume and Make-up: What are the characters wearing? Does this tell us anything about the characters, relationships between them, the setting? Is one colour more prevalent than others? What effect does this have?
Movement: What does body language and movement tell us about characters' emotions? What kind of atmosphere is created?
- In the beginning of the clip before have established anything about the titular Peaky Blinders or the Shelby family, we see a variety of Chinese immigrants frantically making their way through the cities bustling Chinatown district; when her father tells another elderly Chinese man that "They have asked for her." The look on his face is that of sheer incredulity. The frantic movements the father saying "Hurry up. Or they will kill us all." clearly demonstrates how fraught the situation is, the sense of turmoil and impending doom is profound. Who has summoned them? Why must they leave in such a hurry? All we know is the atmosphere is tense; these people are clearly intimidated but it is also made clear that this is something the pair must do, the young girl hands the baby she is holding to another young Chinese girl this is clearly an altruistic act as she must protect the child from the undesirables with whom she is about to meet.
- When Tommy Shelby first rolls up on his horse the atmosphere is similar to what we have already seen in Chinatown, only here the people are less frantic and more subdued. The way they scatter behind walls, into houses and down alleyways when Shelby arrives is indication that this is a regular occurrence, if everybody does as they are supposed to then everything will be okay we assume. Nevertheless the body language and movements of the people on the street tell us a lot, they are impoverished and broken down. The way they skulk away when Shelby arrives indicates they are not looking to complicate their already miserable lives, nobody can really imagine the hardship these people have had to endure and the trouble they've seen.
- Certainly when Shelby arrives via horseback the atmosphere changes and becomes more tense but the general sense of melancholy in the air is to be expected, the peasantry are miserable and this understandable, they are downtrodden, victims of gangsterism, police brutality, corruption and the unconscionable capitalist machine that works them to death and keeps them poor.
- Perhaps the sharpest contrast in the entire clip is that between gangland boss Shelby and the great array of panic immigrants and the huddled unwashed masses. You see, when Shelby comes riding in he is the equivalent of the Lone Ranger, an outlaw, a bandit. The horse he rides symbolises power, but the way the horse moves when he is riding it is indicative of his character, it's commanding but at the same time controlled, calm and measured.
- The idea that Shelby is able to control the movements of his horse without a saddle and with such ease just reinforces the power that he wields, in parts he only has one hand on the reigns this in particular highlights what a dominant force he is, not even the horse - a powerful and unpredictable creature - is willing to step out of line.
- His overall body language is relaxed, he knows where he's going, he knows the neighborhood, he commands respect no matter where he is.
- When Shelby shouts regarding his tip for the horse the movement of the streets dwellers changes, they can be seen stiffening up, if only for a second. This is because they do not know what is going happen next, what is Shelby planning, what is he going to announce? He is in total control of this situation and is keeping them in the dark; hence why they flinch when Shelby raises his voice. Their is a sense of dread, a fear of the unknown.
- Later as Shelby rides off from his meet with the Chinese and proceeds down past the industrial heartlands we see the movements of the people change once again, people move out of the way of his horse and others begin tipping their hats to Shelby; a cultural expression well understood as a sign of respect, recognition and gratitude.
- At this point we also see Shelby's movements change; he leans down off the side of his horse to put some spare change into the tin of a group of blind men, this is particularly interesting; this is something he didn't have todo, in fact he went out of his way to give the men money and the reason for this is because Shelby is probably trying to foster a sort of Al Capone like image for himself. In his day Capone reveled in the attention, such as the cheers he got when he appeared at ball games, he also made donations to various charities and was viewed by many to be a "modern-day Robin Hood." Shelby is clearly going for a similar image and this is further reinforced moments later when the two policemen tip their helmets and say; "Morning Mr Shelby." The idea of protection and alliances when engaging in blatant gangsterism and criminality is key, as violence and intimidation can only take you so far. Capone received political protection through the Unione Siciliana. The organisation later renamed the Italian-American National Union was a Sicilian-American (and after generally Italian-American) fraternal organisation which was rumored to have controlled much of the Italian-American vote in the United States during the early twentieth century. He also enjoyed mutually profitable relationships with Mayor William Hale Thompson and the city's police. We can assume Shelby has made similar alliances with law enforcement, but the way they address him also implies respect, something that cannot be attained merely through bribes, it's clearly Shelby manages his criminal empire by finding a balance between reward and punishment. Make the people scared of you naturally even make the police aware of your violent ways if you have too but all the while remembering that when you buy people off they have something to lose themselves if you are brought down. This not only incentivises people not to talk but actually makes Shelby's survival as a crime boss advantageous for all.
- During the opening scene in Chinatown we see and hear Chinese characters speaking what is most likely Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin, Putonghua and Guoyu, it is the sole official language of both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China on Taiwan, although it is possible they are speaking another foreign language. Nevertheless, this is an important instance of Diegetic sound; it reinforces the idea that these people are first-generation immigrants. This contributes a lot to the series as it presents a more realistic portrait of Birmingham in the early 20th century, having the Chinese actors speak English would of been too simplistic and taken away from the atmosphere, after all the writers and directors are trying to present Birmingham accurately and it was indeed a buzzing metropolis teaming with Afro-Caribbeans, Irish immigrants and everything in between. This means the different languages we hear throughout the series gives weight to the idea that this is an authentic historical drama.
- When it becomes to Diegetic sound you can't discuss foreign languages in detail without getting drawn into the issues of accents, this issue is especially important when it comes to the Peaky Blinders. When I discussed the casting choices I clearly established that very few of those who appear in the series are actually from Birmingham this means that many of the characters put on Birmingham accents, you can hear this when Shelby speaks from his horse in the clip above but it is a relatively steady principle that is maintained throughout much of the show; by this I mean much of Shelby family and many of Tommy's criminal associates perform accents for their roles on the show.
- This fact was relatively steadfast for season one but has changed slightly as a considerable amount of the action of season two takes place outside of Birmingham, specifically moving down south to London necessitating new actors with new accents.
- It's worth noting that the reception to the accents used in the show especially the Birmingham ones have been mixed to say the least:
- http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/peaky-blinders-creator-steven-knight-7808392
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29307916
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/event/article-2394813/BBCs-Peaky-Blinders-The-good-bad-Brummie-Cillian-Murphy-heads-starry-cast-dark-new-BBC-drama-But-real-star-Take-bow-Birmingham.html
- http://www.spectator.co.uk/arts/television/9025461/brummie-james-delingpole-rubbishes-the-bbcs-acclaimed-peaky-blinders/
- As I mentioned before Sam Neill is one of the better-known New Zealand actors, needed help when it came to perfecting his Northern Irish accent for series; to help him with the role of C.I. Campbell Neill enlisted the help of Northern Irish actors and friends James Nesbitt and Liam Neeson. In the end, he had to tone the accent down considerably since the series was being marketed in the United States.
- After the opening scene which takes place in Chinatown there is a cut; then we fade in from black, before we see Shelby or the horse on which he rides we can hear the sound of the horses hoofs, clip-clopping against the ground. This is a significant sound within the frame and adds meaning to the scene. In fact, it reinforces an idea I discussed earlier that Shelby is the Lone Ranger; the lawless and corrupt times in which he lives are comparable to the Wild West and he is in this highly stylized and sometimes cartoonist world a 20-century cowboy. The stylish cinematography, charismatic performances and film star leads are all compounded in this fast-paced tale of criminality, it doesn't really matter whether or not the real Peaky Blinders rode around on horses that stomped their hoofs, what matters is symbolism and the horse itself combined with the small touches like the Diegetic sound of the horses hoofs immediately symbolize for us who Shelby is and that's whats important.
- Another small instance of Diegetic sound adding meaning to the scene is when the breathing of a small child can be heard after the residences of the street scatter and hide from Shelby, this simply aims to raise the tension - we the viewer at this point have next to know idea what is going on, who is this feared and respected man and what is he doing on this squalid street, is there going to be a fight? A deal? The point is we know as little as the characters on the street and the reason the small boys breathing in particular is raised and emphasized is because he is frightened and we the viewer should be too.
- Moving away from languages, accents and the general description regarding the voices of the characters, I am now going to discuss some of the Diegetic sounds within the clip that come not from humans but rather inanimate objects.
- When Shelby rides into the street and its residents quickly move out of sight there is a few moments of silence before the Chinese pair arrive; the tension is raised once in this as a almost ghoulish icy wind can be heard in the background, not howling, not overdone and only audible for a few seconds but nevertheless significant. It simply seeks to reinforce the tension, heighten the mood and set the tone for some kind of potential showdown.
- When the young Chinese girl blows the reddish-orange powder/potion from her hand so that it floats through the air toward the horse there is almost the exact same sound created by her exhaling as there is when the silence was interrupted by a brief gust of wind. This is all part of the shows highly stylized format. What with the fleeing residents, a cold wind blowing in and an eerie silence we the viewer were set for a showdown, a confrontation at best and violence at worst but this is turned on its head, the blowing of the powder and the casting of the spell is shown to be the real event so it is book-ended by the same sound effect, in a sense this should relieve the viewer as nothing else untoward is going to transpire but nevertheless the current events unfolding onscreen are peculiar to say the least.
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