Malcolm (Woody) the bike courier who turned into a polo player.

At the beginning of the show Malcolm was a bike courier, who seemed to have very low self-esteem. This is because he seems to think that the only thing he can amount to is a bike courier, and nothing more. While talking to us as the courier Malcolm is being sincere about himself. His personal style is not of the social or cultural norm as he wears hand painted Gothic clothes, a lot of earrings in one ear and has an almost fully shaved head with just a pony tail at the back centre of his head. He also has numerous tattoos scattered about on his body. The staging in Malcolm’s life before the polo player is minimal as he mainly uses his bike and lives in Manchester.

When Malcolm arrives at the prestigious Beaufort polo club in Gloucester he is immediately taken to his mentors room; where they are surprised with his personal appearance and the fact that he has never been on a horse before. At this point Malcolm’s persona changes as he lies about never being on a horse before and he becomes more cynical. This is a self-maintenance strategy as it means if he is not good he can blame it on the fact he has never rode a horse before. At this point in the show the mentors tell Malcolm that he is going to have to change his identity. This is so he can fit in with the higher culture of the polo players. The mentors get Malcolm to go to a professional hairdresser and get him a personal stylist who is also of higher culture. This is so he has good representation of himself towards the spectators of the polo match, and of the other players.

It was obvious from the show that Malcolm had completely different cultural codes to that of Casper his mentor. For example Casper wouldn't be getting drunk the night before a big polo match as this is not in his cultural norms. However, Malcolm didn't seem to care that there was a big match the next day and got drunk with the stable hands, who are more suited to his social class. Taking this into consideration however, Malcolm did become a good polo player who fooled the judges into believing his role as the polo player was truthful and that he had been playing for many years. His personal style as the polo player gradually grew to that of a person with a higher cultural background and of a higher class. This helped him fit in with his fellow team players and the spectators. His self-esteem also grew throughout the 4 weeks. This is due to his mentors being able to understand Malcolm's blind self and help him see that he could do it, as long as he tried hard enough.