Big Fat Gypsy Weddings is a British documentary series produced by Firecracker Films for Channel 4. The series follows gypsy's and Irish travelers, looking at what their lives are like in Britain today. The first broadcast was in February 2010, as a one-off called My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, and part of the Cutting Edge series, a series of 5 episodes was commissioned and began in January 2011. A second series began airing in February 2012.
The series further explores travelers lives, and how girls stop going to school around the age of 11 because as one mother says, it’s shameful to continue, they then spend the next few years learning to clean and care for children, and then get married around 16 or 17.
I watched the episode 'School of Hard Knocks', first shown on the 28th February 2012. This episode featured a 15 year old girl Santana, who is planning her lavish sweet 16th birthday party. It follows Santana's day to day routines, mostly cleaning her family chalet as she no longer attends school. Instead, Santana has 1 hour a week of home tuition. During a shot of Santana doing her daily chores of cleaning, She explains how she was bullied at school for saying no to doing drugs with the rest. In my personal opinion, i think this scene really shows how she spends her days, cleaning up after everyone and how hard she does work, despite not going to school. It also emphasizes that it is not just herself she has to clean up after, but any kind of mess that is made is her responsibility to clean. Santana is filmed putting bleach in the washing up bowl, claiming that the plates and cutlery need to be properly cleaned because they are passed around so many people.
The episode also follows 16 year old Cassa, who attends school only 3 times a month just to attend the school prom, where she said she wanted to have an excuse to wear a big dress as she wont be getting married at 16/17. However, Cassa admits she has to be forced into attending school by her teachers. When arriving at her prom in her Barbie inspired dress and a horse and carriage, she says " it was worth it because now I've got this big dress and a horse and carriage. This is definitely worth going to school for". It was evident in the scenes filming Cassa that her education and gaining qualifications were not her main priority. When they asked Cassa what she hopes for her future, she replied 'I want a white AUDI and a boob job.' However despite her lack of interest in school, she ended up with six GCSE'S. I found one scene really shocking, when 8 year old Mary is being interviewed in her caravan. Mary is asked whether she wants to do well in her GCSE'S and answers with 'what?', the interviewer asks her if she knows what they are and she further responds with 'No!' before laughing. Not only does Mary not have any idea what GCSE's are, she is also very unlikely to take them herself.
This documentary appeared to have many interviews, which were all in the aim of finding out more of individual gypsy/travelers lifestyle and their own personal opinions on their lives. I think these really helped the audience to understand them and find out more about what they actually do on a day to day basis rather then keeping their opinion of the typical gypsy/traveler stereotype which is only based around a few basic assumptions. The interviews are often done in their natural environments, doing their day to day activities suggesting a more laid back style interview where it is less likely to be staged, scripted or exaggerated.
A voice-over is used, informing the audience of general values and beliefs of the gypsy's/travelers and also enabling the audience to follow the journey through the individuals lives and where they spend their time. Sub titles are also placed at the beginning of each scene which is filmed in a key place. For example, during a scene in the episode of Big Fat Gypsy Weddings that i watched, a sub title was placed at the bottom left corner reading 'Liverpool'. This also enables the viewer to follow the journey of the documentary. The style of the subtitle was also written in a very fancy, young looking font to emphasize the fantasy style lifestyles of the young gypsy's/travelers. Non diagetic sound is also played throughout, which can be compared to something sounding very 'fantasy' like and upbeat, further adding to the emphasis of a fantasy lifestyle.
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