Topic 13 - Shared knowledge and absurdist drama (Session A) > Our schematic knowledge of a typical tutorial > Task B > Answer

Our schematic knowledge of a typical tutorial

Task B – Our answer

For former Language and Style students, like us, the typical female mature student would be middle class, reasonably educated, speak standard English and be dressed ‘conservatively’, particularly as she is about to have her very first tutorial with her tutor. We would expect her to be on her best behaviour, and her dress would reflect this. ‘Respectable’ names like Jane, Catherine or Emma come to mind.

In fact the person in the film of the play contrasts dramatically with the stereotype. The student is called Rita, and the play is Educating Rita. Rita is not a very common name, and is associated with working class women (cf. the Beatles’ song ‘Lovely Rita, Meter Maid’. In the film, Rita is played by Julie Walters, speaks with a marked Liverpudlian accent and is dressed in an outrageously short white mini-skirt and totters about in white high-heeled shoes. It is clear, then, that there is a large contrast between our this character and our expectations, and indeed between the tutor and the student. The contrast between the two characters, and between Rita and our schematic expectations, looks likely to be a source of dramatic tension in the play.

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