'When they see us' representation essay:

This short clip of episode 2, in season 1 of the Netflix series 'when they see us' it almost recreates an image, and memory, of what has happened so far in episode 1. This paints a perfect picture of the racial inequality between whites and people of Hispanic and African backgrounds, showing the social indifference and height of racism in the 1900s. We briefly get glimpses of how they interrogated and tortured these young kids into telling the investigators what they wanted to hear while cutting between shots of kids and parents crying faces in the courtroom.

In the first scene, we see an establishing low angle shot of one of the boys getting ready and looking all nice for his trial, with his mum holding on to him behind him. This not only sets up the whole scene for the court trial but it also gives us a sense of confidence from the young man with the fact he is wearing the suit and showing us he is taking it seriously and he has a feeling of confidence although he knows he is probably going to be "guilted as charged" he still shows confidence and pride in himself, because in his mind he is not. Also, the fact it is a low angle shot looking up at him further provides a sense he is holding himself high even in these tough times. Another point in this first shot is that the mother is holding onto his back and hugging him, almost making it look like she was hanging off him. This makes us think and feel like he is holding his mother up in this hard time, and he is possibly only trying to look strong for his mother so that she doesn't have to be strong herself. Just after this, it does an over the shoulder shot into the mirror so you can see his back and his face. This shows us his face and how he looks down, this accompanied with the darkroom, I believe this is showing us that he is having a realization of what he is about to get into, and as this happens his mum walks out of the room, which could point to the fact that she can no longer look after and take care of him anymore because she now has no more power in the situation than he does. While all of this is happening we can hear the mother talking in the background with a voice-over talking about how you think you do a good job and realize you don't, kind of stuff which kind of reiterates the walking away part of how you can't protect them forever kind of thinking. 

The next scene is a cut to the courtroom and you see the kids standing up one by one with worried and scared faces giving us the impression that these kids are innocent and most likely had nothing to with the whole situation causing us to feel bad and sympathy towards them. As you see them rising one by one, it is shown as an extreme close up of their faces, this also coupled with the slow-motion really draws out the moment and give it a really dramatic and suspenseful effect, it also allows us to even see the heavy breathing and large swallows they are taking giving us a sense that they are actually quite afraid and have no idea what will happen or what their future holds. It then shows flashbacks of what happened on the night in which these crimes take place as the judge calls out the names of the 5 kids standing on the stand as well as a scroll through their parents, the flashbacks show us that these kids most likely did nothing and it shows an innocence to them as if all they wanted to do that night was have fun and be kids. As it goes between the shots of each parent, it shows how they all upset and this gives us a sense that they already sought of know what is coming and that the 5 kids will be found guilty of these charges put up against them. Also as it carries on and the judge reads out all the charges against them it shows other flashbacks, and this use of the convention of flashbacks is to replay events that may have happened to possibly remind the viewers of what has happened or tell them something that wasn't necessarily shown. In this case, it is showing the kids shake their heaps as each charge is read out, but instead, in the flashbacks, it is them being interrogated if they did it, whereas in the current scene it is reading out their charges and the effect of this being put in the same time almost points again that they know they didn't do it but they are being falsely accused and forced to comply. We then see the back and forth again of these flashbacks with the interrogators abusing them into saying yes for the crimes they have committed and them signing, which again shows and proves the racial inequality of the time these young kids were falsely accused. After this, it cuts back to a shot of lady as the judge says her name of the attempted murder of her, and it shows the look of ignorance on her face and you can see she knows it wasn't them but because they were black and Hispanic she had a pre judgmental thought that made her think they could be dangerous and affiliated in some way. This next part of the scene shows an extreme close up of the man's face showing his mouth moving at a distorted rate from what he is speaking, this can give us the idea that the reality is not setting in fully yet as he says it and that the kids don't actually understand or don't get what is actually going to happen and that realization hits shortly after with the man's mouth shown in slow motion catching up with the words he is saying.

In the next part of the scene, it shows the boys and families crying as they realize what this means and that they are almost in disbelief of what is happening as you can see them all shaking their heads. Also in this scene, there is a big focus on the youngest in the group with multiple shots throughout the whole scene which in my view could be putting emphasis on how young they are and that these aged kids in most circumstances would not participate in this behavior. Another important factor I had thought of is the fact of the camera panning down behind the gate possibly signifying the fact that they are almost being lowered into a grave and that it is finalized and is finished, and could possibly signify the death of the old way these kids used to act their old life and that everything is going to change for them from now on, also the use of the kid playing the trumpet at the end could symbolize, 'the last trumpet', and the fact it is outside on the street could be signifying that is the last time they may see those streets and freedom for a very long time. 

All in all this short clip is filled with representation, as well as things I didn't mention as well but this is a very serious and sad scene in the series and a turning point for these kids whose lives are about to change forever.