Gavin And Stacey Essay

Gavin and stacey is a comedy television programme. It is based in both Wales and england, depending on the charecters being shown. Gavin and Smithy are two young men from Essex in England, Gavin and Vanessa are two young women from Barry in Wales. The story consists of Gavin meeting Stacey and Smithy meeting 'Ness which produces love in both partnerships. After watching the start of Episode 1 of Series one, the charecters already start to show resembalance to my post i blogged abouth Northern and Southern stereotypes, for example Northerners are heavy drinkers, laid back ,friendly and foul mouthed. Whereas Southerners are 'Posh', Business like, richer and office occupations. In this episode and part that we watched as a class, i notice that the camera angles repeat with both charecters as the focus switches from the English family to the Welsh. The camera shots are often Mid shots to show the charecters upper body actions, and because it is not an action filled series, the whole body is not needed to be shown. Also camera angles such as long shots are often used outside the charecters house to show where the scene is and stop people getting confused about where everyone is. The Houses are also a big difference and play on the stereotypes set for each household. The welsh household id very small, the house is a terraced house and is in a very urban place where there is lots of other houses of the same size. However this then creates a binary opposite, because the English house where Gavin lives is a large modern house, set in a rural area out the way of city and busy roads, and the scene shows Gavins mum, Pam, having been at home all day because Gavins father is the breadwinner and obviously earns enough for pam not to work and the family to live comfortably.
The lighting in both houses also shows contrast in the families wealth, the welsh families house is very dark, dull barely lit. Whereas the england based families house is fully lit, bright and very poshly build with expensive furniture and appliances. The charecters used are very well chosen in that they all have different personalities that creates love and conflict. Gavin and Stacey are very in love despite on just meeting face-to-face in the first episode, They are very polite and generous to each other, for example Gavin talks in a polite manner over the phone the day before they meet. Gavin is very easy going and comes across very nice and friendly, the opposite to his southern stereotype of stuck up and stubborn. However his best friend, Smithy, is the opposite because he is rude, mouthy and unkind. For example he tells Gavin he will only come to meet Stacey in London if she brings a friend and she is not a ''Munter''. Stacey is similar to Gavin, a polite and generous and loving young woman who gets on with her family. Vanessa is then the same as smithy, rude, unthoughtful and foul mouthed. Vannessa has a tattoo on her shoulder of the welsh flag, showing her patriotic mind for her country, she wears hardly and clothes, but because of her weight most viewers dont find her attractive. She doesnt care of what people have to say to or about her and she is almost manly in the way she stands and behaves. The director has produced these charecters to show two potentiallly 'perfect' couples. Staceys mum is very much like Stacey, polite, soft voice with a gentle touch and a very generous woman. Gavin mother is very much like the average ''dumb blonde''. She is blonde and acts very stupid, for example when Gavin arrives home she tells him she has been crying because she saw a badger on an animal programme crying, but because badgers dont cry she is imagining it and being childish. Again at the table she acts stupidly by having 3 steaks because she is on the Atkins diet. But instead of getting rid of hercarbs she replaces them thinking she will lose weight by doing that. Gavin's father is almost sly in that he sneaks off work to play golf. He plays golf which is an 'Upper class' sport. He wears a suit and the family portrays a masculine and femanine stereotype, Gavin and his dad wearing blue and Gavins mother wearing pink.
Both families are very different but the director has used camera angles and acting skills so that the audience see's the families as similar in personality, different in wealth. The programme is aimed at all ages but mainly 20-40 year olds who think to relate to the programme.