Inner City Life Written Analysis

Inner city life’s video narrative is based on the hardship and pressure of council estate lifestyle and deals with inner city dilemmas such as bills, single mothers, drugs, prostitution and gang culture.

The setting is in a council estate in on of the major city of England this is evident due to the large council estate flats the mise en scene used is utility bills so show the hardship of council estate life and the pressure a single mother has to deal with due to these bills shown. Another aspect is the use of young children hanging out at on street corners this also adds to the trouble sum and stereotypical life style of this inner city children lifestyle. Furthermore another stereotypical element dealt with is the robbery as there is a shot of a burning car which seems to be stolen and is being burnt to get rid of the evidence so this is another element of street life that this video portrays. Another important shot is the high angle shot of a trolley being thrown out of a window to show the blatant disregard for the council estate life style which shows that no one care for where the live and how it looks, which gives a reading of that no one care and there is no hope for the people of the council estate life style and the people living there have given up of life. Another effect shot is the use of a high angle shot of a BMW car in the council estate which offers a polysemic reading as in one way it could show a sense of hope in the council estate due to that this person has money and is worked hard to get his car, whereas on the other hand it could be a drug dealer which show that the only hope in the council estate is to sell drugs to get money so the only income of money is through illegal ways, in addition we are enforced with images of young children with hoods on which may show that these children are also going to grow up to be a drug dealer and are a product of there environment.



I believe that Marxist who argue these are realistic messages being portrayed in the video because Marxist believe that the economy bases peoples social class and because it is seen as people from low income background will be evidently feel low and depressed with life and feel.

Status quo is to keep the things the way they presently are, and I believe that this video maintains the status quo due to the stereotypical day to day life that goes on in council estate life. This is evident due to the high angle shot of a mother in a bed with her child then it juxtaposes a shot of the same mother in the same bed with a man which shows again shows that the only way to make money and support your family is through legal methods such as in this scene where there is theme of prostitution.

The target audiences for this video are people from urban estates from teenagers to young adult as they can relate to the video because of the concepts dealt with. Also people who enjoy the British urban music scene which is generally people from the same age group.