Peaky Blinders: Representation

Question 1

What was Knight’s intentions when constructing the representations within Peaky Blinders?

Answer 1

• Knight and his producers have said they were deliberately trying to offer a darker and less upper-class view of British history between the world wars.

Question 2

Why might Knight’s choice to represent underrepresented groups be signifigant in Peaky Blinders?

Answer 2

• This could be seen as historical revisionism – a deliberate attempt to excavate alternative versions of a historical period by looking at the lives the lower classes, women, LGBTQ, or migrant people, instead of royalty and wealthy people.

Question 3

How does Peaky Blinders choose to represent the city of Birmingham?

Answer 3

Peaky Blinders doesn’t downplay the squalor of the industrial city, but it does portray it as a place of community, grudging respect and frequent excitement.

Question 5

What did Knight reveal about 20th Birmingham and how does this correlate within Peaky Blinders?

Answer 5

• Knight has pointed out that in 1919, Birmingham was seen as ‘the workshop of the world’, a hub for the British Empire, manufacturing all the things needed to maintain that empire.
• The ambitions and plans of the Shelby clan represent this as a place of dirt and poverty, but also remarkable opportunity

Question 6

How is Tommy represented in Peaky Blinders?

Answer 6

• Tommy, like many other gangster characters in the genre is seen as ‘tough guy with a heart of gold’.
• Though emotionally restrained and capable of bursts of incredible violence, he is kind to children and the elderly and wants to support (and defend) his community.

Question 7

How does Peaky Blinders build upon traditional stereoytype of men?

Answer 7

• Though the violence in the show has been criticised, the machismo of the many of the characters is rooted by previous trauma.
• This adds a layer of vulnerability to traditional ‘tough guy’ gangsters, as defined by older / established media texts.

Question 8

How are the female characters developed in Peaky Blinders?

Answer 8

• The female characters are more complex and narratively significant than the usual ‘gangster’s moll’ and sex workers featured in the genre.
• Polly particularly has more back-story and nuance to her character than a superficial crime family matriarch (a problematic relationship with motherhood and her extended family).

Question 9

How is Grace represented in Peaky Blinders?

Answer 9

• Grace is also an interesting female representation. Initially she is a fish-out-of water, ‘too pretty’ for the area, who can calm a bar with her siren’s song. Later it is revealed she is a ruthless and dedicated undercover agent who has adopted a ‘pretty’ disguise to get closer to Tommy

Question 10

Relevant Theory: David Gauntlett, Identity Theory

Answer 10

• Long form multi-protagonist drama (like Peaky Blinders) offers audiences a range of different characters for audiences to identify with. Even when they are in conflict (e.g. battles between favourite characters in Game of Thrones), we still identify with them.
• This also suggests a fluid nature to identity.
• By showing a brutal yet highly stylised representation of working-class Midlands life, Gauntlett would say Peaky Blinders is promoting a diversity of identities.
• Instead of the upper-class version of early 20th century history, we are shown a different (and extremely exciting) world that can offer audience from this area, or from this class, a more authentic text to identify with.

Question 11

Relevant Theory: Judith Butler, Gender Performativity

Answer 11

• Costume is crucial in Peaky Blinders for constructing not just gender, but also status and power.
• The Peaky Blinders themselves wear expensive sharp suits (upper class), with flat caps (working class), that also turn into weapons (aggressive masculinity). This costume = dominating, territorial and violent.
• Grace is an interesting representation of ‘performed’ femininity. She deliberately
  dresses more ‘girlish’ and innocent when she first goes for the job at the pub. Her singing is also soft emotional and melodic. Later, it is revealed this is just a performance and she is actually a vengeful and driven undercover agent.

Question 12

Relevant Theory: Paul Gilroy, Post-Colonial

Answer 12

• A range of ethnicities are represented in a manner which may be described as ‘othered’ - odd / different / unusual in a manner which sets them apart from the mainstream (Caucasian) norm including: the Asian family at the start with a distinct mystical knowledge; the Jamaican preacher manically prophesizing religious rhetoric in a manner similar to the pentecostal preachers of modern US media; the stereotypical costume and implied threat of Italian Mafioso, etc.