How is disability represented through the opening of After Thomas?

By Sian Lynes

After Thomas was a one-off TV drama produced by ITV; already the audience know that they are a credible TV company and often portray realistic values in their drama. Mise-en-scene immediately suggests that the mother and child are of average, middle class family which is then relatable to the audience. The boy is shown wearing an outdoor attire, as well as the mother who is shown wearing a winter hat; therefore being set in winter. The family are represented as average and relatively normal look which adds to the sense of realism so the audience understand their possible family values between the mother and son. This realistic situation is reinforced when the audience is informed with a white screen alongside black writing that it is a true story ; the white background has connotations of truth so that the understand will be able to add their understanding of belief in the events which unfold and not questioning its sincerity. The realism is also portrayed through the setting of the mother and child in a normal looking street as well as shops emphasising the idea that they are going about their normal routine; which is then reinforced by the assumed fathers common office job. However, the events begin to unfold that in fact the child suffers with autism and the mother struggles to cope with his condition. As the scene begins, the audience are shown the mother struggling to control her child. Slow-motion presents this so that it emphasises her struggle to take control over her young boy; as well as closeups of her face to show her current distress. Alongside this, mise-en-scene is represented by colour as these shots are given a warm hue, especially of the key light coming from a vehicle behind her and her tone of clothes; suggesting a scene of calm and relaxation but then creates irony to the audience as we know she is distressed. Disorientated sound plays over this situation, which become contrapuntal as a violin which gives the idea of calmness mixtures with the scream of her child. It is also represented in subjective time, as the slow-motion does not clearly define a context until cars pass the screen to give the audience an idea of the average street setting. As vehicles go passed the shot of the mother and child, it adds connotations that life is going by in a separate world in comparisons to the hectic experience the mother is going through. A dissolve transition is used to transfer to the plain white background and text to suggest confusion with dream and reality; but this transition allows the audience to apply context to the rest of the plot that it is the truth as well as the seriousness within it. Consequently, long-shots are then used to show the relationship between the mother and child who hold hands together down the average looking street which represents that their relationship is also normal. As a pan is used to show the audience that both characters are making their way into the shop the audience are then shown that the boy is screaming at this relatively normal task; which contrasts the audiences previous ideas that their relationship was normal creating empathy from the audience for the mother at this point. Within the store, over-the-shoulder shot at a high angle is used to create the perspective of the protagonists view (the mother) of the shop assistant helping her; here the audience can also see the distress the child is causing no only to his mother but to the shop assistant. It also allows the audience to experience through real time the struggle the mother has, as well as being able to apply through the clothing of the woman, wearing black attire, that she works at the store. Mid-angle shots show by on lookers who judge the situation to also encourage the audience to make the same, if not, similar judgement on the mother on her child. This then

makes the audience create the stereotype similar to that of the by standers, without full knowledge of the womans situation, that she must be a bad mother if she struggles to control the behaviour of her child. This idea that the audience are also apart of other on lookers who are making a stereotypical judgement about the mother and child is used by a hand-held shot. This stereotype is represented through the audience perspective of being an on-looker but is unaware until further in the scene that the child has autism and is difficult condition for anybody, especially a mother on her own in this case, to deal with.