'A Touch of Frost' - Disability

In class we have been looking at issues around the way in which disability is represented in TV Dramas, particularly 'A Touch of Frost'. Representation of social groups in our thriller opening is something we need to take some informed decisions about. If we are going to, for example, depict somebody with a condition attached to mental health or a personality disorder then we will need to research this to avoid clichéd or offensive stereotyping. This is important in our thriller especially as we are making a psychological thriller. In our opening scene we show a young girl talking to a psychiatrist for the first time, we need to be careful as to not show the psychiatrist as intimidating and show that speaking to someone about how you feel is a good thing, nothing to be afraid of.

Here is what I wrote about the representations of boy with downs syndrome in an episode of 'A Touch of Frost':

The quick change from the woman describing Billy as ‘strange’ to the clip of Billy walking through the woods. This clip shows time much faster than it actually happened, this could imply that the police quickly jumped to conclusions and caught the first suspect that they had before looking further into the investigation. They assumed that because Billy had a disability that he had a short temper and suffered from confusion and therefore would have been capable of hurting a more able person despite the stereotypes of them being weak and easily scared. The fact that time was showed to go faster could also suggest that Billy is actually starting to feel confused now, the events of the night are becoming jumbled and replaying over and over in his head, things quickly went horribly wrong for him and he doesn’t understand why. The officers that tackled him noticed that he suffered from downs syndrome and so didn’t bother to explain what was going on, they just took him home and left the ‘professionals’ to handle the delivery of the bad news.

Low key lighting is used throughout the whole clip, this implies that the life that Billy’s parents have is very plain and limited as those who are able bodied and not aware of disabilities are represented as arrogant about those with learning difficulties. First impressions of his parents are that they’re old and struggling to cope, this is represented by the use of the dull lighting. Maybe looking after Billy has aged them and made them feel older than they are. They’re all so dependent on each other that they couldn’t leave each other’s sides, his parents have lived together for such a long time that they couldn’t imagine life without each other. They’re such a close family and that’s because that’s their way of coping with having a hard life; Billy needs to be watched and looked after for the rest of his life as his disability holds him back from living a normal life.

During the interrogation, there is a slight low angle shot used when the officer is in the frame showing that he is in control of the whole situation and has the authority. However, there is a slight high angle shot used when Billy is in frame to show his vulnerability and lack of control; this shot could make the audience sympathise with Billy’s situation as he believes he’s done nothing wrong, he’s been wrongfully accused. Within this shot, however, low key lighting is used to create shadows over his face giving a sense of mystery. Also when the camera is on the detective the scene is brighter than it is when on Billy, this could be to suggest how people who are disabled, like Billy, are suggested as dirty as he isn’t independent and can’t look after himself making it seem as if Billy is like a child (another reason for why a low angle shot is used on Billy, he isn’t treated like an adult).

Towards the end of the clip, Billy starts to stand up for himself, this is showed by the sudden change in camera shots from the mid shot -which included Billy’s dad in the background implying that Billy is dependent on his dad to be there for him when he doesn’t know how to answer- to a close up of Billy’s angry expression -which shows billy standing up for himself and making it clear he doesn’t need help. This is very unexpected as throughout the whole interrogation a two shot is the only shot used when Billy is in frame as this shows both Billy and his dad in the same shot implying that he is very dependent on his dad and other people as they have to be there to talk for him as he is showed as unable to speak for himself due his disability. However, the sudden change to the close up implies that there could be more to Billy than we first see, maybe he is capable of so much more than we think, this idea juxtaposes the officers first words about Billy, he describes Billy as ‘mentally subnormal’. The word ‘subnormal’ massively patronises Billy and lowers the audiences thoughts about Billy’s abilities based on his disability; as the able officer is the one to say this, the statement is believed even more as the police are trusted and relied on to give the truth.