REPRESENTATIONS OF CHARACTERS: TV DRAMA

My mother and other strangers

The differences between American and Irish identity

Both the Americans and Irish had a clear and recognisable accent to them in which they were easy to tell apart. The type of vocabulary the Irish and American used were slightly different from one another as the Americans would say words such as ‘Santa’ instead of ‘father Christmas’ and ‘the movies’ instead of ‘the pictures’ or ‘the cinema’. Most of the American soldier’s personas were portrayed as confident and slightly arrogant. One of the American soldiers had asked the young Irish girl out to ‘the movies’. This shows he is very self-assured and clearly thinks he has a good image and could easily get her.

On the other hand, the Americans did take great pride in how they looked. They had a well fitted uniform on with a fur lining, sunglasses on even though it may not have been sunny and they had very open and relaxed body language showing that they were confident satisfied with themselves. Through the mise-en-scene of the programme we can see that the American identity shone through very intensely. At the Christmas party, instead of the traditional British Christmas decorations with the red and gold colours, the Americans had jam-packed the room with cookies, the USA flag, USA motifs and a colossal Christmas tree. The party costumes that the Irish children had on were the American air force uniform and cowboy hats. This shows that the Americans had a lot of power and influence over the Irish and shows how the Irish children look up and admire them. The young Irish children are in awe of them and want to be more like the Americans.

The Irish are much more reserved and to themselves, most of them have been living there for many years. Michael Coyne, who is the father of the Coyne family has been at the heart of the town for generations. He is presented as very hard working as he manages the local pub, shop and family farm. However, as Rose Coyne is British she doesn’t feel completely accepted as she is far away from her family in London and finds it hard to fit in because she is an outsider and none of the Irish can empathise with her. Another family that have been living in Ireland for generations is the Hanlon family however they are not looked upon fondly in the community. Unlike the Coyne family, they are not impressed by the Americans arrival. This shows diversity within the Irish community and how they have different views.