Discuss ways waterloo road constructs the representation of teenagers.

Discuss ways waterloo road constructs the representation of teenagers.

Waterloo Road is a UK, school-based drama that focuses on teenagers’ lives while they’re attending a secondary comprehensive school in Rochdale, Manchester. The characters are represented in many different ways, for examples they’re represented by their class status, physical abilities/disabilities, age and gender.

The representation is shown through the mis-en-scene, as the different characters have different traits such as the music, lighting and camera angles that are used throughout their scenes. There is also a contrast between characters. You can tell that the school has a hierarchy of students, the ones at the top pick on and bully the ones nearer the bottom.

A character at the top of this hierarchy would be Lewis Seddon. He is the archetypical evil character and is feared by many of his fellow students. In one of the first scenes I had watched of Seddon it was easy to recognise his traits, for example, a loud rowdy, energetic song was played non-diegetically over the scenes. He’s seen in a fellow students’ house, taking beers from his fridge and threatening Donte Charles, whose house it is. He is then seen climbing on the furniture and the music become diegetic, he and Helms, his partner in crime, are both wrecking the house and having pillow fights. These scenes are edited so that they are very edgy and have a rough feel to them because the students are rough. Even Donte’s house looks rough, it looks like it was decorated in the nighties and hadn’t been changed for many years.

Lewis is seen the morning after and he’s sat at Donte’s kitchen table eating breakfast. He’s complaining of a headache and blames Donte. The lighting is again dull and gloomy, almost as if its reflecting Seddon’s mood. He then takes Donte’s wallet from him and removes £80. ‘You caused this headache so you should pay for it’. He then gives it back and takes the ten pound tip that Donte refused to give him the night before. It then cuts away to a scene of him leaving the house and he’s twirling a set of keys around his finger. ‘Now we can pop around anytime we want.’ He says smirking at Helms. A mellow, non-diegetic music is playing over the top of this scene.

The way Lewis is represented can be interpreted as quite stereotypical. It’s almost saying that he's from a broken home so he’s a broken, bad child but this is not always correct. I think the way he is portrayed is quite unfair as not all teenagers are like that.

A contrasting character to the rough, hard boy Seddon is Brett Aspinal. Brett is the rich boy and heartthrob, his father is funding the school and he thinks he is allowed to get away with anything because of it. The first scene that we see Brett in he’s curled up on his sofa bed in her bedroom. Brett’s bedroom is a really boyish room; he had posters of the Kaiserchiefs and other bands like that. He has glass bottles and trophies on his shelves like ornaments. It’s quite a clean room which is unusual for a teenage boy but there are stray items of clothing lying around. Brett is having a heated argument with his father and it is obvious that he is very rude and disrespecting towards him. The scene has dull lighting and it seems like its natural because the room looks dark and gloomy.

Brett is then seen again climbing from his father’s car. He’s wearing his school uniform, his shirts untucked and his collar on his blazer is up. He has another heated conversation with his dad before entering the school, ‘Super massive black hole.’ A song by Muse is used non-diegetically over the scene and we see him walking briskly and confidently down the hallways. The lighting is very bright and the shot used is a full body shot. He picked up a fire extinguisher and smashes it into the school model. It is obvious this is an attempt at getting back at his dad. He is then taken to the heads office and he doesn’t look bothered about anything he’s done. He actually seems quite smug and there is a medium close up shot which shows his expressions as he’s being told off. The lighting is still bright but natural in this scene.  After his telling off he seems quite proud of himself, having a big grin on his face.
Later on in the episode Brett is shown speaking to one of the other teachers, Miss Campbell, pastoral care. He opens up to her about his dad, saying why he ‘hates’ him. In this scene we see a broken, hurt Brett and the camera angles and lighting reflect this. There is a softer light in this scene, which helps the atmosphere and the camera angles are mainly medium close ups of Brett, showing us the strong emotions he has. This scene gives the audience more of an insight onto rich boy Brett’s life.

Maxine Barlow was a student at waterloo road and is dating Lewis Seddon; she originates from a troubled background. She was first introduced to us in an establishing shot outside of Donte’s house with Seddon. She looked fairly scruffy, homeless even, wearing a ripped pink cardigan, a grey crop-top and green combat pants. She had greasy hair and her make-up was overdone and she looked like your typical ‘chav’. We see Maxine again lying in bed with Seddon, obviously at Donte’s house. Both characters were half dressed and Seddon jumps up realising he is late for work, it then comes apparent that he has an ASBO and he's trying to get it lifted, again another stereotype. Lewis acts slightly aggressively to Maxine saying she needs to get out of the house and if she doesn’t she’s ‘for it’. He then gives her the keys and leaves.

Once Seddon has left a loud, rebellious song begins to play non-diegetically. The camera cuts to a medium close up and Maxine has a mischievous look on her face as she contemplates what she is going to do. The lighting in the scene is quite natural. The then begins to search through the draws and wardrobe. The scene ends with her holding the keys looking quite thoughtful and as if she is up to no good.

The music plays through and it cuts to a scene of a man walking on to the school grounds with a bunch of heart shaped balloons that say, ‘Davina I love you’. It then shows Brett stood around the corner watching the man, he has a mischievous grin on his face insinuating that he is up to something. Brett is then shown in the sixth form common room and Davina, the sectary, begins to accuse him of sending her flowers and organising the scheme with the balloons. At first around Davina he acts innocent but then he admits to doing those things and beings to act cocky around her saying, things like. ‘Then tell me what I want to hear, you fancy me.’ This makes teenagers seem over confident and big headed. This is an unfair representation of us teens as nowadays most teens are socially awkward and on the internet.

Davina seems to fall for his games and agrees to date him. This confirms Brett’s heartthrob reputation because even a member of staff is falling for him, this makes Brett very happy and a bright, happy song begins to play non-diegetically. This music plays through into the next scene which contains Maxine. She is seen in Donte’s living room, shoving various items into a purple bin-bag. The room is dimly lit and looks gloomy, the house looks a mess and it’s obvious that she has searched the house top and bottom for things to steal. Once she is finished she steps out onto the street, taking one last look back at the house before walking off. She didn’t even look guilty. The camera stays at a wide shot as she walks off.

Maxine is the typical problem child and this is obvious by the way she acts and the techniques that are used to edit and make her scenes more believing. The scenes always seem to jump cut and have pretty edgy shots and there are always non-diegetic songs that reflect her mood or the things that she is doing.

Mika Granger is the stereotypical female ‘heartthrob’ and her and Brett seem to be edging towards couple status. Mika looks like a sensible girl, she has hair hear done up in a ponytail, good tie, loose unbuttoned collar. She always seems to be followed around by slow melancholy music. She seems naïve and venerable, which I would say is the only accurate representation of a teenage girl. In the first scene we see her in she is climbing from her parents car. She looks upset and is quite dismissive towards one teacher miss Haydock. Her mother, Izzy, tries to justify her rude behaviour by saying ‘She needs a bit more time after what she’s been through’. This obviously tells us she has some issues which we don’t know about. Mika’s shots are brightly lit but very soft too, she seems like a gentle character and the way the shots are edited reflects this. They are really smoothly edited and seem to transition very well.

Mika is seen again in another scene after a class with Miss Haydock. She is called back and Steph tries to apologised for a past incident that we don’t know about. Mika is again quite dismissive, towards her and this seems to be a running thing throughout the episode. We find out that Mika had been getting bullied and she tried to commit suicide, which makes us realised that she isn’t perfect, despite being the ‘heartthrob’.
Mika is also in a lot of scenes with Brett and this makes us see the connection between them as Brett flirts with her a lot. Even though he’s trying to also get with Davina, this makes Brett a kid of a player. This is relatable to a lot of teenage boys these days so this is a fair point.

All in all I think Waterloo Road has a balanced representation of teenagers, some aspects are very correct and accurate but others are drastically over top. I think that the representation of Maxine and Seddon is a little unfair because not all underprivileged teens are like that. But it is a good representation of the stereotype that is counsel estate kids.
I think that some techniques used in the show are rather good, like the music that flows through scenes and transitions. Though sometimes it is a little loud and you cannot hear the dialogue over it.
I wouldn’t say that the representation is up to date because the fashion and furnishings are a little out of date but I would say the representation of the class rooms and the school is extremely believable.