Thompson, Class, and Tone

In The Making of the English Working Class, Thompson writes, "I do not see class as a 'structure', nor even as a category', but as something which in fact happens (and can be shown to have happened) in human relationships" (9). One way, he claims, that experience potentially links up to human relationships is through a mediating tone, in the sense of "the rhythms of speech" appropriated into "prose" (748). This, he continues, is part of what made William Cobbett a popular political theorist of his time, putting theory "in terms [and perhaps tone?] that a labourer or artisan could well understand" (751). This seems to be especially relevant now as politicians, political commentators, and political advertising attempt to appropriate the tone and language of the working and middle class. But watching the Academy Awards I'm reminded of the tone offered film to relate experience for possible class identification. In particular I'm thinking of the documentary Gasland, which adopts an almost hard-boiled tone to address its subject: the harmful effects cause by natural gas drilling. I wonder why the filmmaker adopts this particular tone for a film that's so important to himself--since natural gas companies wanting to buy his land prompted him to make the film--and his audience. And is this tone effective in relating the dangers of natural gas drilling to a predominantly working class audience deciding whether or not to sell their land to natural gas companies? In their advertisements on radio and television, the natural gas companies take a different tone, addressing the luck of having your home on the Marcellus Shale as a godsend allowing the homeowner to retire and live a life of leisure. But perhaps this latter tone might backfire in its attempt to downplay its potential harm on the environment and to peoples' health, especially when compared to the more serious tone offered by Gasland.