Cuffs Context
Women are not always the damsel in shows anymore - juxtaposes The Avengers
Masculinity is now flexible and people don’t have fixed/extreme opinions
Equality Act 2010 made discriminated against queer people illegal
Same-sex marriage was made legal in 2014 (a year before the show aired)
Homophobia is not as prevalent
Shows now have more diverse casts
Police are not well liked due to brutality
They are often seen as a joke
The episode reinforces and contradicts this
Gender:
DS Jo Moffat is an atypical female character with high status in the police force.
PC Jake Vickers is not stereotypically masculine and is portrayed as slightly weak in the episode
PC Ryan Draper is stereotypically male mostly in the episode but in the first scene (nudist beach) he is portrayed as weak as he cannot even control a petty crime; this also presents the police as a joke.
Sexuality:
PC Jake Vickers is homosexual. It is not made a big deal of and his romantic journey is treated the same as a heterosexual one.
Diversity:
PC Ryan Draper - Black
PC Donna Prager - Half Japanese, Lesbian
PC Lino Moretti - Half Italian
PC Mischa Baig - Indian
PC Jake Vickers - Gay
Racism:
The episode included a hate crime against someone who was Indian
The show is comedic and addresses serious issues like this
Police:
Nudist beach scene - police is presented as a joke and the serious job is used for a comedic scene
Jake’s lack of experience and weakness presents the police negatively
Ryan addresses police brutality and makes an effort to make sure that the police isn’t portrayed worse than they already are - ‘no respect from the public, press printing lies’
Women are not always the damsel in shows anymore - juxtaposes The Avengers
Masculinity is now flexible and people don’t have fixed/extreme opinions
Equality Act 2010 made discriminated against queer people illegal
Same-sex marriage was made legal in 2014 (a year before the show aired)
Homophobia is not as prevalent
Shows now have more diverse casts
Police are not well liked due to brutality
They are often seen as a joke
The episode reinforces and contradicts this
Gender:
DS Jo Moffat is an atypical female character with high status in the police force.
PC Jake Vickers is not stereotypically masculine and is portrayed as slightly weak in the episode
PC Ryan Draper is stereotypically male mostly in the episode but in the first scene (nudist beach) he is portrayed as weak as he cannot even control a petty crime; this also presents the police as a joke.
Sexuality:
PC Jake Vickers is homosexual. It is not made a big deal of and his romantic journey is treated the same as a heterosexual one.
Diversity:
PC Ryan Draper - Black
PC Donna Prager - Half Japanese, Lesbian
PC Lino Moretti - Half Italian
PC Mischa Baig - Indian
PC Jake Vickers - Gay
Racism:
The episode included a hate crime against someone who was Indian
The show is comedic and addresses serious issues like this
Police:
Nudist beach scene - police is presented as a joke and the serious job is used for a comedic scene
Jake’s lack of experience and weakness presents the police negatively
Ryan addresses police brutality and makes an effort to make sure that the police isn’t portrayed worse than they already are - ‘no respect from the public, press printing lies’