Capital case study

Capital: Case study blog tasks

Work through the following tasks to build a detailed case study for Capital. This will give you plenty of background information to use in an exam question. Remember, for this CSP the question could be on any of the key concepts: language, industries, audiences or representations.

Reviews and features

Read the following review and feature on Capital:

Guardian review by Sam Wollaston
London Evening Standard: five things you need to know about Capital

1) What positive points does the review pick out about Capital? What criticisms are made - either of the TV drama or the original novel?

 a brilliant allegorical portrait of London

instantly recognisable

" Not to mention the bloody Guardian. The issues, the conversations, the obsessions and the fears are the same."

2) What references can you find in the reviews and feature to the idea Capital is a 'state-of-the-nation' drama? How does it capture modern-day London?

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Following several residents of the same street, the drama explores the parallels and discrepancies in their lives as well as how they view the 2008 financial crisis.



Trailer analysis

Watch the trailer for Capital:

1) How does the drama use camerawork to capture London life?

The fast faced clips gently depict British society by capturing the urgency of a typical London day. With a variety of close-ups and medium images, the montage of individuals of diverse ages, races, religions, and social classes symbolises the diversity of London.

2) How does the trailer introduce the different narrative strands suggesting tension or enigma in the 40-second running time?

All of the characters are included in the video, along with little snippets of their backstories. Throughout the 40-second clip, each individual discusses their love life, problems, family, and financial situation. It generates curiosity in the audience, which leads to the creation of an enigma code.

Capital in Media Magazine

Issue 83 of Media Magazine has a feature exploring Capital as a media product. Read ‘We Want What You Have’ in MM83  (p10). You'll find our Media Magazine archive here - remember you'll need your Greenford Google login to access. Answer the following questions:

1) What does the article suggest about the 'state of the nation' genre and how Capital is an example of this?

Capital (BBC 2015), is based on a ‘state- of-the-nation’ novel of the same name by John Lanchester. Such novels try to represent an entire country at a particular moment in time. As such, they

involve multiple storylines and a large cast.

2) What does the article suggest regarding the setting of Capital?

Setting the drama entirely in the capital city might enrage those who see the UK as being too London-centric, but it makes sense in the context of a multi-stranded production. Centring the action on a single street then helps bring some focus to the narrative.

3) What are the major themes in Capital and what does the article suggest regarding the impact of money on communities?

The street contains characters from all walks of life with different levels of economic security and income. Given the houses are not affordable to large numbers of Londoners, some of the themes are tackled through people with links to the street.

4) What different representations in Capital are discussed in the article?

The banks are the bad guys, Banker Roger is a weak, feckless character. Almost all of the other characters are set against Roger and Arabella as ‘good’ people. The representations of good versus bad, rich versus poor and industrious versus feckless make for straightforward drama.

5) What does the final section of the article suggest regarding genre and overall message of the drama?  

The words ‘WE WANT WHAT YOU HAVE’ have been written in red along the entire length of the road which could symbolise the idea that someone wants to be heard but isn't being heard.

Capital in Media Magazine

Issue 83 of Media Magazine has a feature exploring Capital as a media product. Read ‘We Want What You Have’ in MM83  (p10). You'll find our Media Magazine archive here - remember you'll need your Greenford Google login to access. Answer the following questions:

1) What does the article suggest about the 'state of the nation' genre and how Capital is an example of this?

Capital (BBC 2015), is based on a ‘state- of-the-nation’ novel of the same name by John Lanchester. Such novels try to represent an entire country at a particular moment in time. As such, they

involve multiple storylines and a large cast.

2) What does the article suggest regarding the setting of Capital?

Setting the drama entirely in the capital city might enrage those who see the UK as being too London-centric, but it makes sense in the context of a multi-stranded production. Centring the action on a single street then helps bring some focus to the narrative.

3) What are the major themes in Capital and what does the article suggest regarding the impact of money on communities?

The street contains characters from all walks of life with different levels of economic security and income. Given the houses are unaffordable to large numbers of Londoners, some of the themes are tackled through people with links to the street.

4) What different representations in Capital are discussed in the article?

The representations of good versus bad, rich versus poor and industrious versus feckless make for straightforward drama.

5) What does the final section of the article suggest regarding genre and overall message of the drama?  

The words ‘WE WANT WHAT YOU HAVE’ have been written in red along the entire length of the road. If the state-of-the-nation is in some ways unseen, perhaps the job of the artist is to make it clear. Perhaps that is just what Capital is trying to do.

Capital Media Factsheet

Use our Media Factsheet archive on the M: drive Media Shared (M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets) or on Google Drive here (you'll need your Greenford Google login) to find Media Factsheet #194 on Capital (BBC TV Drama). 

Read the whole of Factsheet and answer the following questions:

1) What does the factsheet say about the characters on the first page?

Petunia Howe and Roger and Arabella Yount . We are also introduced to the Kamal family, who run the corner shop, and Quentina Mkfesi, a religious asylum seeker with a PhD working illegally as a traffic warden. The interactions between the characters reflect the tensions between different cultures and costume is used to quickly communicate the different character roles.

2) Focusing on the industrial contexts, how does Capital help the BBC meet its obligations as a public service broadcaster?

1`) To provide impartial news and information to help people understand and engage with the world around them. 

2) To support learning for people of all ages.

3) To show the most creative, highest quality and distinctive output and services.

3 )To reflect, represent and serve the diverse communities of all of the United Kingdom’s nations and regions and, in doing so, support the creative economy across the United Kingdom. 

4) To reflect the United Kingdom, its culture and values to the world.

3) What do we learn about the ownership structure for production company Kudos? 

The ownership of Kudos reflects a horizontally integrated company.

The parent company, Endemol Shine UK, own a range of TV production companies across different formats and genres.

Endemol Shine UK is owned in equal share by Apollo Global Management (an American public equity firm) and 21st Century Fox.

4) How can David Hesmondhalgh's ideas in The Cultural Industries be linked to Capital and Kudos? 

• Cultural industries are risk averse
• Commodification of cultural content
• Cultural industries utilise vertical or horizontal integration

5) How does the factsheet suggest Capital meets the genre conventions of crime and social realism?

Capital fits well within these two genres, and uses generic conventions from both areas. It reflects genre development, and contains aspects of crime genre and social realism.

Conventions of crime genre

• Use of narrative enigmas.

• Restricted narrative.

• Resolution of a mystery.

• Question of morality.

• Debates around innocence and guilt.

• Verisimilitude – representations of ‘ordinary’ people in

everyday life are recognisable to audience.

• Power struggles (within different divisions of police or

within community).

• Teamwork and pleasures in successful resolutions.

• Corruption and betrayal often key theme within a

narrative.

• Villainy is evident through the characteristics of various

characters.

Conventions of social realism

• Strive to represent regions of UK with authenticity.

• Narratives explore social issues (such as economic

inequalities/immigration/Islamophobia).

• Triumph over adversity.

• Shooting on location to offer authenticity.

• Wide shots used to establish the location and setting

as this is often key to understanding the narrative and

themes.

• Humour and seriousness intertwined in a narrative.

6) How does the factsheet analyse the DVD packaging and what this communicates to the audience?

The DVD cover uses the same promotional images that feature in media pack, website and press coverage. This

creates the recognisable brand for the audience.

7) Look at page 5 of the factsheet. Choose one of the audience theories in the table and apply it to Capital.

Uses & Gratifications –

Blumler and Katz

Personal identification? - may relate to the immigrants or ethnic minority

Surveillance? - to understand the financial crash

Social Interaction they might be a fan of one of the actors

Diversion? a programme to relax and watch at night

8) What does the factsheet suggest regarding binary oppositions in Capital?  

The character of Roger Yount is a clear example of this. During his own narrative development, we see binary oppositions within his own character (the money driven banker starts to yearn for a life with more meaning). We also see the financial inequalities through Roger and Arabella. Their initial highly stereotyped dialogue (“How do you feel about cedar wood cladding?”) serves to position the audience to understand the change in society and the Pepys Road community from ‘normal’ residential street to million-pound properties.

Representations: close-textual analysis

Capital offers a range of fascinating representations - from London and asylum seekers to capitalism and inequality. You need to be able to confidently discuss these issues in the context of 2015 London - with reference to key scenes from episode 1. Representations include: London, family, gender, ethnicity, religion, immigration, asylum, inequality, wealth, capitalism, aging and more.

These are our notes from this year analysing the episode in class. There are also these notes from a previous year analysing the clips in case this is useful. Use this to help with this element of the case study. You'll need your Greenford Google login to access the document.

1) Write an analysis of the representations in each of the key scenes from episode 1 we studied in the lesson:

Scene 1: opening sequence 00:30 – 4.49
Scene 2: work in the City 6.28 – 8.10
Scene 3: “Which of those isn’t absolutely essential?” 14.00 – 15.35
Scene 4: asylum 18.03 – 19.42 AND 31.10 – 32.40
Scene 5: “What use is 30 grand?” 36.40 – 39.00 
Scene 6: life at the corner shop 40.10 – 42.55

Scene 1

• High house prices
• Different ethnicity and races
• Shows Petunias life 

Scene 2

• Very busy/dirty and overcrowded reflects life in London
• Birds eye view of London shows how grand the city is
• Fast cuts reflects how fast paced life is in London
• series of shots between people who all look unhappy
• the male is the breadwinner and the wife stays at home and looks after the house and children
• competition between Roger and the other employees reflects the competitive nature of the financial industry

Scene 3

• "which of those isn't absolutely essential" - shows how money orientated people are and how their whole live revolves around how much money they make and earn
• materialistic way of living
• Arabella does not love Roger unless he is making money - she does not care for him just money
• caricature of the middle class

Scene 4

• Living in a very loud crowded flat
• portrays exploitation
•  religion helps her 
• black female lawyer - subverts stereotypes
• she is cared for by the lawyer but not by the many who is paying her which could be because of the gender difference and how women are seen as more understanding and caring stereo typically
•  trying to survive

Scene 5 

• Drone shots of London showing the allure of the financial district
• Rogers commute is sped up which shows how he is losing touch with reality
• Very out of touch - does not know the actual value of money
• Thinks luxuries are essential to life 

Scene 6 

• Shows the differences in culture
• They live on the same street but do not recognise each other showing how different they are and how different their lives are
• one son has become more westernised whereas his brother is more connected to his Muslim heritage which causes conflict between the family
• the contrast between how close their family is compared to Rogers who have fallen apart
• male running the family business

You can choose which aspects to focus on for each scene: e.g. London, family, gender, ethnicity, religion, immigration, asylum, inequality, wealth, aging etc. Feel free to use bullet points for each scene - a summary of your notes is fine.

2) How does Capital use stereotypes? Do the characters and issues represented in Capital reinforce or subvert the stereotypes we typically see in the media?

The Kamal family are also positioned with an expected framework, the cornershop, and reflect the stereotype of an Asian family. Roger is quickly established as a stereotypical banker (wealthy, outside of the community, sees himself above the rules). His costume includes the visual signifiers, but his reaction to receiving a parking ticket from Quentina also builds this stereotypical representation. Roger is rude, and makes it clear he holds Quentina and her job role in contempt.

Industries and production context

Capital was produced by independent production company Kudos for the BBC. Look at the Kudos website and also read the Kudos Wikipedia page.

1) Who is the parent company for Kudos? What changes of ownership have there been for Kudos? This is an example of conglomerate ownership.

Shine Group (2007–2015)

Endemol Shine Group (2015–2018)

Banijay UK Productions (2018–present)]

2) Watch the showreel on the Kudos website. What other TV dramas have Kudos produced and for which channels? What awards have they won?

Then  you run

Code 404

Deep water

 Grantchester 

Responsible child

3) How does Capital help the BBC to fulfil its remit as a public service broadcaster? You may want to look back at our work on public service broadcasting last term. 

It informs on the financial crash of London

It entertains the audience

It educates the audience about finances and the economy