red riding

Red Riding is a period piece set in 1974. As a result the representation of 'British life' is different not only in a historical sense, but in also a social/economic sense. It shows the 70's as a very different  place to the one we know today. In the mise-en-scene, the costume is stylised to make them look very 70's natural and very british. 

Red Riding shows a different representation of gender to what we might expect today. The male characters in the program are shown as dominant over the women and indeed there are far fewer woman character in the piece. The woman characters are often shown as passive, for example there is a scene where the protagonist goes home and we see his mother and sister but they do provide any advancement to the plot. Another example is when the protagonist goes to visit a family to interview, at the door a woman (who we learn is probably the wife and mother of the other two characters) she does not want to let the protagonist in, but when the man comes to the door he overrides her decision and lets him in. When they are talking the child tells her mother to 'shut up'.  

In the 1970's people didn't have as much money as they used to especially in the north.  This is represented in the piece, in one scene there are shots or children vandalizing cars and playing in the street. These scene shows lack of money and breakdown of society0.