A touch of frost essay

In the extract of A Touch Of Frost that we watched we see a boy called Billy being questioned by the police. The first scene is of him walking through a dark forest makes him seem like a threat, almost scary, this is added to by the use of a wide angle shot, making it seem as though he is not someone you want to be near. 

The diegetic sound of Billy talking is quite muffled and unclear, he speaks quite slow and in simple terms. This is the stereotype that disabled people are dim and uneducated. Frost also refers to Billy as being "mentally subnormal" this portrays how disabled people are considered abnormal, even though they make up the majority of a population. 

Hunts idea of the 10 stereotypes a disabled person is likely to have comes across in this clip. Frost tells his dad that he has to be present in the interviewing process, his mum also says "I'd like to clean him up first" both these examples show how Billy is unable to, or assumed to be unable to do anything for himself. He is considered a burden on other people, this is one of the 10 features of a person with disabilities as said by Paul Hunt (1991).

When the dad goes to speak to Billy he kneels down to talk to him, this is a visual representation of how a disabled person can be seen as less important and someone who is looked down upon. This can also be seen in the way that Frost talks to Billy in slow simple terms, this can be seen as patronising as he is changing his characteristics to cater to Billy's needs. 

"Do you know what the police were doing? They were looking for someone" Frost assumes that Billy is unable to answer the question and so answers for him. "You know Trisha don't you Billy" Frost also uses tag questions to assume answers and put ideas in Billy' head. This can be seen as very patronising and degrading for Billy, once again making him feel abnormal and separate to others.

Frost physically leans in towards Billy when talking to him, showing visually that Billy may be seen as beneath him. This may just be because of Frosts superior intelligence but it can be interpreted to be that Frost sees Billy as child like.

Frost directs some of his questions to Billy but the majority of them are aimed towards his dad for him to answer. Billy is shown to be inadequate and that he has no mind of his own, he is alienated from his dad and Frost, even though he is the centre of the scene and the whole episode.

The camera angles used are mainly wide shots, however a close up is used to show the expression on Billy's face, just before Frost begins asking questions, his facial expression is mundane and Billy seems uninterested and confused.