How is the disability represented in After Thomas?

Consider: Mise-en-scene. Colour, setting, sound, characters, lighting, angles, movements, editing, transitions, sound types The mise-en-scene in After Thomas represents the disability of the child in the programme. It does this using many different techniques visually. For example, it is able to use the setting and surroundings in order to portray the incidents and the disability of the child. To begin with, the clothing and type of clothing they are wearing presents that they are presumably part of a middle class family. They appear to be in winter time since they are wearing coats. The surroundings actually present a lot of the mise-en-scene which is used to show to disability. In the shoe shop, when the child is clearly displaying the disability through kicking and struggling while screaming, red items appear behind the mothers head, showing that she is associated with negativity, that negativity being the child and its behaviour which has been displayed in order to show its disability also, though more blatantly. The red van appearing past them also foreshadows those events that happen across the road just afterwards. The mise-en-scene used with the van is a connotation based on colours used to represent the mother and child as being associated with danger due to the disability. The danger is then shown on the road scene as the child acts out on the street, just like the red van foreshadows. Furthermore, when the father is in the work office, the mise-en-scene portrays the environment as professional and sophisticated. This is relevant as the man working there is not able to finish his work due to his troubles at home. This is relevant as it shows the man cannot keep up with the high class environment office because his child at home has the disability. The mise-en-scene in this scene is used to show how the disability of the child also affects the others close to him. The red appearing behind the mothers head in the shoe shop also represents this. So, you can see how the mise-en-scene is all linked up to portraying the difficulties with the disabilities of the child, and how it ultimately not only affects him, but his family and those close to him too. Some camera angles and movements are also used in order to represent the disability in the show. For example, a close-up of the mother and son struggling on the road is seen at the start of the show, as well as later on. It shows the two of them struggling massively as the vehicles rush right past them in a whip pan movement. This angle and movement combined shows how the family struggles with the disability of the child as the world, or in this case, the cars just go by and life goes on. This shows the problems that come with the disability. Another example of angles used is the section of the show where they are in the shoe shop; the part with the red behind the mother is positioned behind her head for a reason. It is to show that other characters in the shoe shop might consider her a bad mother, and to be associated with danger, as she has a child kicking up in the shop. This angle may have been used to show how she and the kid appear to everyone else. Also when on the road, the mother and son are struggling as a crowd looks on. The crowd looks on from a side camera angle, this shows that the people on the side are watching, and they view the mother and the disabled child as scum and low class citizens to a certain degree. This could suggest that the disability of the child also affects the reputational value of the family.

So to conclude as far as angles and movements go, they all have purposes which link to representing the child and his problems, as well as how the family is affected as a whole. Another example to further this argument is the scene just after the screen of Based on a true story as the mother and kid walk down to the shoe shop. The camera follows them; it is in a following state until they get to the shoe shop. Then the camera shifts to a position that shows it from the side so you can see the shop sign. At this point, the child then screams and shows off his problems. This effect is only minor, but it does go on to present the disability of behaviour from the child as a starter. It is an effect of surprise from some aspects, as it suddenly just shows the shop and the child bursts out suddenly. Narrative factors also help to represent the disability and its overall effects. For example, the protagonist, in the mother, since the story is based from her perspective, is not a typical hero. She is a struggling middle-class citizen trying to make a living, and her sons issues hold her back. She is viewed as a disgusting mother by the other mom with a well behaved daughter. The deutagoinst, the son, is portrayed as the problem, as his disability is what causes the problems to generate due to his behaviour. The tritagonist, in the father, is a man not featured very much. All that is shown at first is that his problems are caused via the behaviour of people at his house, linking to the childs problems. The antagonist is the other mother, as she is the one who opposes the main family. She does not cause the general problem, but is portrayed as the character that rivals the main mother of the show. Even though the son is the source of the problems and plot, he is not truly the antagonist, since he cant help it. The codes featured in this include the enigma code at the start of the show. This is used during the opening segment that shows the mother struggling with her child in the street. The setting in the scene makes it appear that the boy has been hit by a vehicle, since there are cars in the foreground and background. Later, it is revealed that the boy was just acting up because of his disability. This is an example of how the codes and narrative inclusion are lined to representing the boys disability via complex techniques and methods. Another code used was the action code, particularly during the shoe shop scene and the scene on the street. Both times, the boy acts out and causes a crowd to watch over and look down on the mother and child. This is another example of how codes and narrative techniques help to represent the effects of the disability. It does this via showing how the disability through the aftermath and effects of what the acting out in the story causes overall. It shows how it causes bad things to generate from his disability. Finally, narrative timing techniques have also been used to represent the disability of the boy. As mentioned previously, the opening scene and the setting within it makes the child seem like he has been run over, but the enigma code usage, used to get the audience into a false sense of security, then discovers the child is merely acting out. Combine that with the action code used to show how the acting out causes problems, generates effects caused by the disability, and that goes on to represent it in a clear and justifiable manner. Narrative timing being included is what has made this method of representation possible. At the start, the scene begins half way through the story, if the flashback did not occur do to the transition, which is relevant the editing techniques, then the method of representation would have not been possible, so the timing was a part of what helped to represent the disability further.