Hunter College

Jessie Daniels, PhD SOC101

Worksheet for VIDEO: “56 Up”

(available via Kanopy database, Hunter College library)

SYNOPSIS. DirectorMichael Apted began filming a group of British 7-year-olds from different socioeconomic backgrounds and has returned to interview them every seven years since then. In “56 Up” (2012), Apted employs a telescopic method to present his subjects, cutting back and forth between the present time and clips from earlier installments in such a way that brings anyone up to speed who hasn’t seen all of the previous films.In addition, several of the subjects describe their love-hate relationship with being in the film series.

  1. Originally, Michael Apted interviewed 14 children from different class backgrounds, meaning they had different economic circumstances and opportunities as children. According to the film, how did their early economic position affect where they ‘ended up’ later in life?
  1. Was their economic position about the same as when they were children or significantly different than when they were children? And, what does this suggest about the class system in Britain (in other words, how easy or difficult is class mobility)?
  1. In your assigned reading by C. Wright Mills’ “The Promise,” he writes the “sociological imagination” is a "quality of mind to develop reason to make connections between what is going on in the world and what is happening to themselves.The sociological imagination allows one to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society.” How is Apted’s film an example of the “sociological imagination”?

Media Literacy Questions:

Everything you see in a film (or any form of media) represents an intentional choice by the director, editor or cinematographer. Since we get most of our information about the world from media, it’s important to understand how to make sense of media images. Use these questions to help you make sense of these images.

4. What are the physical qualities of the documentary (check where applicable):

____ Music
____ Narration
____ Special effects
____ Color
____ Live action
____ Background noise / ____ Animation
____ Dramatizations
____ “Talking Heads”
____ Historic Footage
____ Subject Interviews
____ Newspaper Headlines

5. What is the central message(s) of this documentary? How do you think the filmmaker wanted the audience to respond?

6. How does the filmmaker structure (or organize) the film? In this film, think specifically about how he uses archival footage of the subjects and the most recent interviews with the subjects.

7. This film series has won many awards, including one from the American Sociological Association. What do you think sets this film apart from other documentaries?