Adam's Foundation Portfolio

This clip explores the twin issues of gender and ethnicity in a number of ways; the first and foremost issue is that of the Irish working class man. We can clearly hear his irish accent and we immediately see he has been beaten up. We also hear that he has been wrongly accused, which presents the Irishman as possibly being a victim of racism. He also refers to his father moving to England and being abused, indicating a history of it as well - much of the hurt caused by racism is magnified if it is longstanding. He makes a reference to the Irish being given all the labouring jobs that the english don't want to do: "Shovelling shit" he calls it, and his rough clothing verifies this. There is also the mentioning of the asian woman's sari as a 'nighty' - it could be interpreted as a misunderstanding, but more likely, Gene is making a racist joke. This is, from what i can gather, a decent representation of men's attitudes to discrimination in the '70s. It was often seen as comical; a good example would be Alf Garnett:

There is also examples of sexism: the reference to a woman prime minister was met by derisive laughter from the other officers, indicating an inability to respect women.