Representation of Regional Identity- Our Friends

• The clip starts with a mid-shot of the the couple, Nicky and Helen join the other couple, Mary and Tosker, at the table for dinner. The fact that Helen is the person who is  joining the people who live in Newcastle could be used to show that she is not from Newcastle and this is not the place that she is used to. It could also be used to show how the rest of the characters are comfortable with where they live and the area that they come from where as Helen is not used to this city and they are used to the place where they live. This could be used to show that she is someone that has been brought up differently and is used to a different kind of life. However, they are all in a restaurant that looks as though it is quite posh and expensive which is the kind of environment that we associate with Helen.
• All of the four characters are dressed up and you can tell that they have made an effort for this meal. This could indicate that this meal is important and may be a celebration of something. This shows that the restaurant that they are all at is quite posh and expensive. This may show that they are all entering the world that Helen is used to. This is because this meal seems to be to find out about Helen so it would make sense for them to be in environment that most like Helen.
• There is diegetic sound when Helen asks Mary and Tosker 'have you ever had the Gamberoni?'. Tosker then has to look at the menu in order to find out what this food is as he is unsure of what it is. Once he has found it in the menu he then replies by saying 'Oh yeah, they're prawns'. By Tosker using the simplified name for the food this may be trying to show that people who are from Newcastle are not as smart as people from London, the area from which Helen is from. It may also suggest that they do not have as much money as they may not be used to eating out as much and therefore do not know the names of these foods in this kind of situation.
• Helen then goes on to ask what the Prawns are like, which is diegetic sound, as she wants to know whether she should order them or not. Tosker then replies by describing what the prawns look like in which all of the people from Newcastle reply to by laughter. Here he is trying to be funny and make a joke, however, Helen does not laugh and does not understand what he means, This is showing how Helen maybe does not have a sense of humour and she is also thinking that he is not as intelligent as her as she believe that he does not understand what she is asking him. This may be trying to show that people who are from London are all like this and none of them have a sense of humour and they feel as though that they are better than everyone else.
• There is a mid-shot of Tosker which shows him as he is trying to eat the spaghetti. This shows him and  the table where his plate of spaghetti is places. he then tries to eat some of the spaghetti off of his fork. However, all of the spaghetti falls off of his fork and back onto his plate before he is able to place this food into his mouth. This may be trying to show how Geordies may not have very good table manners and may not be used to situations where he eats in posh resteraunts. By the camera only focusing on him and not showing anyone else in the shot, it is trying to emphasis the fact that he is unable to eat the spaghetti.
• Tosker insteps the conversation that Mary and Helen is having, which is diegetic sound. Helen replies to this by saying 'I'm sorry I was talking to Mary'.  This shows Helen is not used to people interrupting the conversation and she is used to only talking to one person  at a time. This may be used to suggest how people from Newcastle do not have manners and they will talk over people and not see a problem, with this. It may also be used to show how people from London, like Helen, have manners and are not scared to say what they are feeling as she tells him straight away that she was talking to Mary and that she does not want him to join the conversation.
• Tosker lights his cigarette after Helen corrects him for interrupting the conversation that she was having with Mary. This could be his way of saying that she will not change him and his way of saying that he doesn't care what she thinks of him. It may also be his way of dealing with being in a surrounding that he is not used to. Smoking is typically seen to be a lower class thing showing that Newcastle is a lower class than London.
• 'What's one of them?'- Tosker says this to Helen when she tells him what she does for a living. This may be used to show how Newcastle has simple jobs and does not have many 'posh' jobs. It also may be used to emphasis the fact that Geordies are not as intelligent as this is not a 'proper' sentence. It also may give the impression that the area that Helen comes from is a lot more upper class as she has a job that other people may not have heard of.
• Helen does not answer Tosker's question and in fact stares at him blankly. This may be because she does not know if he is joking or not or because she does not want to answer the question as she may not respect him enough. However, both of these things show that people who are from London can be quite rude and disrespectful. It shows that they think that they are better than other people from the fact that she does not feel the need to reply to him. However, she does reply to him when he asks about money. This shows how she cares about money and wants to show off how much money she makes. This shows how people like Helen show off about how much money they make.
• When the waiter comes over to see if they want any dessert, Tosker asks 'How much are they?'. This shows how much Tosker cares about the money that he has and does not want to spend it on expensive food, This may also show that he may not make a lot of money so does not have the money to spend on expensive food even if he wanted to. This could be used to indicate that people from Newcastle are tight with money. However, to this question, the waiter just laughs. This may be because he is not used to people going out for a meal but then asking how much it is. This also shows how people do not take Tosker seriously as this is the second time that he has been ignored. This could link to the stereotype that people from Newcastle are annoying.
•  There are close ups of all of the characters when Helen and Tosker start having an argument. This is so that the audience focuses on their facial expressions in order to feel how they are feeling. At this moment in time, it is showing how they are all equal and that Helen is not seem to be at a higher authority because of where she is from as they are having an argument that is showing the more authoritative and less jokey side of Tosker.
• Helen begins to laugh when she no longer wants to argue with Tosker. This shows how she is regaining her authority and power and wants to make Tosker look stupid. Tosker does not know how to reply to this and just goes silent. This is showing the rudeness of Helen which leads us on to believe that all people form London are like this.
• Nicky then offers to pay for Tosker and Mary and Tosker replies with 'You're not'. This is the way in which Tosker believes that he is able to regain his dignity and show that he is also powerful. Most of the talk has been about money and what has been concluded is the fact that Helen has a lot of money and Tosker does not. Tosker believes that if he allowed Nicky to pay for him, this would make Helen have something else that she is able to have over him and he does not want that. He wants to be able to prove that he is just as good as her. This may be used to show how people who are from poorer parts of the country do not want to be seen to be this and do not want to be treated differently because they may not have as much money as someone from London.
• Helen says to Nicky 'Brace the change, brace the future' to which Nicky looks uneasy at the thought of. This could show how Nicky does not want to change and he likes the fact that he is from Newcastle. This may also show how he does not want to become like Helen as he does not like the way she handled the situation with Tosker. This may be trying to show how people do not like, or aspire to be like, people who are from richer parts of the country.