Representations
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Scotland
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OAPs
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Scottish Men
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Women
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Asians
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Scotland
The episode is set in Craiglang which appears to be a council
housing estate somewhere in Glasgow. This is therefore the
representation of Scotland the audience is given. It is very
different from the glens and mountains of the adverts put out by
the Scottish Tourist Board and is certainly much less positive.
The setting consists of a high rise block surrounded by waste
ground and very basic housing. The name of the building ‘Osprey
Heights’ is ironic; ospreys are a very rare Scottish bird found only
in remote and beautiful parts of the Highlands. There is nothing
beautiful about the building and the emptiness of the area around it
gives it a dismal uncared for look. This image feeds in to the
stereotypical inner city where life is hard and poverty common. The
pub adds to this as it is a very functional ugly building with little or
no windows and a flat roof.
This represents Glasgow itself as a place that lacks any beauty or
culture, where people are poor and working class. The residents
have only low paid jobs like Isa’s cleaning job or Bobbie’s bar
work. The only entrepreneur is Navid who is Asian.
The weather is very stereotypical in that the sun rarely shines and
when it does the residents seem surprised.
Scottish men
Scottish men are represented fairly stereotypically in the episode.
They all seem to enjoy a drink and their meals consist of pies at
the bar and cans of lager in the house. There is never a vegetable
in sight. Although Jack and Victor live alone and appear to have
fairly tidy clean houses we never see them engaged in housework,
in fact the only person we see cleaning is Isa. This again fits the
stereotype of women as housekeepers and feeds in to the
patriarchal ideology that exists in the episode where men are in
control and women play a more subservient role.
The men in the series also visit the bookies regularly and spend a
large amount of time in the Clansman. When introduced to the
university the thing that catches the attention of Jack and Victor is
the price of a pint in the union. We then see them drinking huge
quantities of beer, this all fits into the stereotypical Scotsman as a
big drinker. In fact when faced with a choice between the Student
Union and a lecture they choose the Union highlighting the
importance of alcohol in their lives and suggesting that education
has little part to play in Scottish working class culture. This idea is
continued when the two women who Jack and Victor talk to
outside the university have more refined accents, suggesting a
more middle class position, and choose to attend the lecture
refusing the invitation to come for a drink.
Although the stereotype of the hard drinking, foul mouthed
Scotsman is upheld to some extent in the series the language is
not too bad. This may be for a number of different reasons
including the problems associated with TV watersheds, however
within the episode the men are also seen to have a level of
manners and Jack is told off for swearing in front of a pregnant
women. This suggests that these men may be a little rough but
underneath it all they are gentlemen. This again may not fit the
stereotype of Scotsmen commonly held but, given this series is
aimed at a Scottish audience, it is important that the negative parts
of this stereotype are reduced in some way.
We also see the image of the Scotsman as a violent wife beater
turned around when we are introduced to ????? who’s husband
seems to live in terror of her as she constantly threatens to beat
him up for minor things he has done. This is one way in which the
dominant patriarchal ideology is challenged, however, this man is
treated with contempt by the other men in the pub suggesting this
is not a manly way to act and therefore making it clear that this
change in ideological stance is not normal or accepted.
When in the Clansman the interaction between the characters is
also fairly stereotypical, they take the mick out of each other and
use a large number of swear words. The only thing missing from
their conversations is a discussion of sport, in particular football.
This has been done deliberately because of the problems
associated with Celtic and Rangers. The writers felt that any
discussion of football would lead to a view that the programme was
pro/anti one team or the other so avoided the subject altogether in
order to avoid alienated any of their possible audience.
The character of Tam represents the stereotypical Scotsman who
is mean with money. He constantly tries to avoid paying for
anything, however as this series is aimed at a Scottish audience
this behaviour is one that the other characters are shown to dislike.
In order to show that the writers do not believe this stereotype to
be a true representation he regularly has jokes made about how
mean he is.
Pensioners
This is one of the biggest representations in the episode and in the
series as a whole. The basic foundation of the whole series is the
life of Jack, Victor and their friends in the setting of Craiglang and,
as these characters are mainly OAP’s, their way of life is part and
parcel of the action.
Unlike the stereotypical OAP the characters in the episode seem
to have spirit and life in them. They are not the downtrodden old
people that we expect; in fact in many of the episodes in the series
they defeat much younger, much more powerful groups. In this
particular episode Jack and Victor take on a group of students,
stereotypically big drinkers, and drink them under the table.
The basis of the episode is that Jack and Victor want to do
something with their lives. The writers begin the episode with the
stereotype of an OAP sitting about sleeping or watching telly.
The two men feel that they are wasting their time and want to
expand their knowledge. At the university they consider such
things as Law and Medicine, discounting them only because they
will be ‘deid’ before they qualify. These aspirations are not typical
of the elderly, they are normally associated with the young. The
writers make it clear that these OAPs, and by association all
OAPs, still have the ability to live their lives to the full. This makes
the representation very attractive to the elderly audience.
The character of Winston represents the elderly who suffer from
some sort of disability (he lost his leg in an earlier episode) and
again he does not conform to the obvious stereotype. He does not
seem to be held back in any way by his disability, he is as involved
in the daily life of the series as any able bodied character. In fact
none of the elderly characters seem to have any health issues and
hospitals and doctors play very little part in the series as a whole.
Women
Women in the episode are very stereotypically represented. The
only person we ever see doing any cleaning is Isa, and Meena’s
role in the shop seems to be one of a shelf stacker, she is never
seen interacting with customers. This representation of women as
being fit only to carry out menial tasks is quite a negative one but
fits into the patriarchal ideology that permeates the whole series,
as such it might not be liked by some of the female audience.
However in the episode we are also introduced to Margo who turns
this stereotype on its head and challenges the dominant ideology
when she beats up Bobby because he smacks her on the rear.
She takes control of the situation and provides a representation of
women as being able to look after themselves and equal to men.
In ‘Swottin’ we see also three young women in the Clansman, one
of whom is pregnant. They appear shocked by the swearing of the
men and are drinking tall drinks, not pints and ‘nips’. This
representation is one that conforms to the dominant ideology that
says women are the more gentle sex and should be appalled at
foul language and hard drinking. This idea is continued when we
see Isa and her friends drinking sherry, normally associated with
older ladies.
The only character who does not fit this stereotype is the women
with the downtrodden husband, however she does fit into the role
of the ‘battle axe’, the wife who is very masculine and in charge in
her relationship, another common stereotype. She abuses her
husband, both physically and verbally, and is much bigger than
him. She lacks any of the feminine qualities of the other women.
This is not a representation that is a positive one and the preferred
reading is that this woman is not like normal women, however it
may be that some female audiences will like some of the aspects
of this representation, they may take a negotiated reading, seeing
her power and control over her life as a positive thing.
Asians
The Asian community is represented in the characters of Navide
and Mina who own a corner shop in Craiglang. This in itself is a
very stereotypical representation and most audiences will
recognise it.
As a representation of Asian men Navide is fairly positive. He
always wears a shirt and tie and seems to be a respected part of
his local community. In the episode he is highlighted as having
provided a prize for the quiz night and when he stands to take the
thanks of the people in the pub he waves almost like the queen,
reminding us of someone in an elevated position taking the thanks
of his subjects. He also has a very obvious Asian accent although
he does use a number of Scottish phrases such as ‘dinnae’. The
preferred reading of this seems to be that, although he is obviously
from Asia, he is part of the Scottish community. This goes against
the common view that Asian people stay within their own
communities, refusing to be part of ours.
As a representation of Muslim men Navide does not drink, having
a soft drink in front of him in the pub, and sports a large beard. His
wife seems fairly typically Asian, wearing traditional dress with her
hair in a bun, and she serves only in the background of the shop
with her back to the camera at all times, seeming to play the role of
a subservient women. The Muslim audience who are of a
conservative Muslim ideology are likely to enjoy this representation
as it would appear the couple stick to the teachings of Islam.
Mina however is not the meek wife she appears to be and the
writers use subtitles to let the audience see this. She speaks to
her husband in Punjabi, often quite disrespectfully, and makes
negative comments about the customers regularly. In the episode
she also reveals a knowledge of English football, giving Navide
and Isa the answer to a question about an English player. Again
this turns the stereotype on its head. This representation may well
suggest that there is far more to Asian women than we think. As a
group they seem almost invisible in Scottish society, staying home
with children or, like Mina, working in the background in the family
business. In the episode, and the series as a whole, we never see
Mina’s face, this may well be seen as a metaphor highlighting the
lack of understanding we have of these women. In the same way
that Mina’s face is unseen, so their lives are equally invisible.
The preferred reading of this representation would appear to be
that Muslim women, although appearing to be second class
members of the Muslim society, are in fact strong independent
people who have a mind of their own and are not afraid to tell their
husbands what they think. It may be a reading that young British
Asian women will like, as it is a much more western attitude to
marriage, however older, more traditional Asian women may well
take an oppositional reading seeing Mina as a disrespectful wife
who does not reflect the ideology of conservative Asian society.