Monarch of the Glen - Essay on Age

How does the clip challenge or reinforce positive or negative stereotypes of Age and how?

At the start of the clip all the characters shown are adults, they all show respect for each other, even the male adult with all the authority, who was in the main foreground, was treated equally as they all loaded cars. The pace of the scene and the soundtrack has been set slow in order to put an emphasis on the long day of work ahead of them. They all chat among themselves reinforcing this sense of equality among them, the long shot on the scene puts an emphasis on this. This reinforces that adults get along well with each other and doesn’t resent the thought of the others being youthful or the frailness of age.

The scene then goes to outside the house, where the youth pretending to be an adult, exits the house to talk to a youth that is acting like an adult. The soundtrack seems to be building up to something. The authoritative adult comes into the scene he throws the youth pretending to be an adult the keys. This shows that he trusts her as he thinks that she is an adult to take care of his things as he thinks that she is a responsible adult like the adult she was talking to. When she steps into the car the close up on her face as well as her silent instructions to herself show that she is spontaneous youth. When she drives the car a few moments later they continue with what they were doing as they assume she is responsible enough to take care of herself, however the Foley comes into play as it sound that car crash which makes all the adults go running to the scene in panic.

At the car crash the youth steps of the car which is at a head on collision with the other one, the Foley from before causing the adults that ran to scene to huddle round her in panic as they have grown to trust and like her. An elderly man steps out of the other car and says her name with sense of annoyance and relief, his tone shows that he is wise but also traditional. The close up of the authoritative adults face shows shock and this renewed sense of mistrust as the person he thought was a responsible adult was really a reckless youth. This reinforces that adult’s perception of youths being reckless, irresponsible and spontaneous. 

Back at the house you can see that the family is rich due to decoration in the house. This shows that the adults living in this house are well respected. The Elderly traditional man states that ‘It is his responsibility to her (the youths) father…’ This infuriates the authoritative adult as he trusted the youth and she had mistreated his trust. The authoritative adult assumes control over the situation and demands that she goes back to school. There is no soundtrack in the background to put an emphasis on the seriousness of the situation but also so that the power battle between the two is prominent, also it wants the audience to make a decision on whose side they are on without influence.

At the work site the situation has become more settle. A fast country soundtrack plays in the back ground to show that everyone is working together fast and efficiently, also it reflects the mood that everyone is happy. The scene cuts around the area showing everyone working well and doing their part, that they are in control of the situation around them. A community.

The scene then goes to the youth, she has placed props on her bed with notes done in curvy writing and pink pen with love hearts and flowers. This shows that she still acts and thinks like a child. The prominence of the teddy bear putting an emphasis on this. The soundtrack has changed now to slow, almost sad to show her mood, and keeps going even when she’s left as if she’s left that emotion behind, that it’s something she will never consider again. These actions make her seem reckless as she is running away as she has to go back to school. Then an elderly women enters the room. She looks at the props on the bed and runs to the open window where most of this was filmed as she was following the youth.

The scene then changes to the authoritative adult. There is no music making the scene seem eerie. He has a discussion with a stereotypical traditional elderly man who is demanding that they get off his property. The composition when he is making his demands is so that he is in the foreground and the adults in the background. But after his rant is over the adult returns to the foreground and his control and authority is prominent over his ramblings. This causes the elderly man to back off. As this happens an elderly women comes running up to the authoritative adult, she is breathing heavily out of both panic and due to her age she is unfit, this making her seem venerable in the situation she’s been put in. In a panic she tell the authoritative adult that the reckless youth has ran away, again. The close up on the authoritative adults face falls as the control he thought that he had over the reckless youth seems to have been nothing, also it is panic as he is now responsible for this youth until she returns home.

Overall, I think that this clip reinforces the stereotypes of ages as it makes it clear throughout how the adults respects themselves more highly over any other age group as they feel that they have the power over youths and adults. This also reinforces views that although youths can sometimes be well behaved and trusted a major part of being a youth is being spontaneous and reckless.