Task Seven: Young People and UK-Based Drama

 

How are young people represented in Broadchurch?

 

Storyline and Character actions (Contains information regarding the outcome of the series)

 There are very few young people seen in this crime thriller. With the body of a young boy being found dead on the beach in the town of Broadchurch, the drama of the series is seen through the investigation of detectives David Tenant and Olivia Colman.

There are two main young characters, the sister and best friend of the deceased boy, Danny.

 His sister, Chloe suffers mainly in silence for the most part of the first series giving suspicion to a possible case of depression in the aftermath of her brother’s death. Furthermore, Chloe rebels from her parents, often sneaking out of the house to see her boyfriend and failing to go to school.

 Danny's best friend, Tom, is the son of female lead and detective Ellie Miller, portrayed by Olivia Colman. Urging the first series, Tom hides crucial evidence from his mother in order to protect his deceased friend. When his father is arrested for the murder later in the series, he refuses to accept his father’s guilt. This leads to his estrangement from his mother in the second series as she believes her husband to be guilty. Tom is one of the few characters to stand by his father in the second series, acting as support for his father in court until his beliefs are changed towards the nd of the series.

Another important character to remember is Danny himself who is accidentally killed by his chosen father figure when his own father fails to meet his needs.

When just looking at the storylines of each of these characters, they appear to be loyal, loving and emotionally intelligent, despite the occasional lapse in judgement as is expected of everyone from time to time. n extension, the young people of Broadchurch are reasonably minor characters, as young people often are in such strenuous circumstances are. This is best seen through Danny himself as although he is the victim of a tragic crime, his family take centre stage and are named victims instead. Even the legal events of the second series focus on the dynamics and conflicts of the people surrounding Danny, not the fact that a boy was killed in his search for emotional support. This emphasises the societal reality whereby young people are often treated as lesser citizens than their adult counterparts as when they die they are ‘someone’s child’ and not a person.

 

Use of actor

The younger members of the cast were very much unknown at the beginning of the series, often only having one or two previous acting credits. This was probably done for the sake of the plot as the characters loss of anonymity within the world is lost after a series of extreme events is reflected in the sudden fem of the actors that play them. Furthermore, the way this works makes the audience feel as if they are getting to know these children as the general public would if the circumstances of the series were a reality. This process uses the young characters as symbols for society as too often are innocent people sucked into a situation that taints as well as hurts them; a child being the ultimate vehicle of innocence.

 

Use of costume

Mostly the characters appear in age appropriate clothes or school uniform. Danny and Tom are always seen in jeans and t-shirts or their school wear, as any child of their age would naturally be seen in. Chloe is slightly different, although appearing in clothes naturally worn by women in their mid to late teens, her skirts are often very short and the rest of her clothes normally tight and sometimes low cut. In addition, her makeup is often extreme and dark. Despite the fact that this type of wear is considered ‘normal’, Chloe is one of the very few members of the cast who appears sexualised. As the only young woman seen (alive) in both series, this stereotype doesn’t seem out of place and therefore exaggerates its normality in real society, when it actually is a largely rare occurrence. Overall, the costume represents young men as playful and proper, whereas young women are mildly sexualised, a representation that is emphasised by Chloe’s promiscuous attitude and behaviour in the first series of Broadchurch.