British Social-Realism

British social-realism was established in the late 1950s and the early 1960s, often know as kitchen sink realism. It depicted domestic situations of working class Britons, in cramped houses spending their evenings at the pub. It showed the harsh reality of the social and political issues taking place among the working class.

The genre was promoted by the BBC in an attempt to capture British life, very unlike the route America (Hollywood) was taking with musicals and very glossed over lives. These films were often very low budget and focus more on peoples regular lives not some Hollywood action movie plot. British social-realism is meant to be relatable to those in a British working class and open talk to topics such as domestic abuse and unemployment etc. The genre was also know to push the boundaries of cinema, Trainspotting being a prime example as it is rated an eighteen due to nudity and drug use among many other reasons.

Since British social-realism was a new genre it birthed new directors such as Ken Loach and Mike Leigh. Ken Loach is best know for his film Kes (1969) about a boy who is bullied at home and at school that takes a kestrel egg and hatches it. Mike Leigh directed Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) a prime example of a social realist film.

 

Danny Boyle, Auteur?

• Danny Boyle uses cinematography to great effect in his films often using POV shots, handheld cameras when is danger, low and high angled shots and surreal sequences. The best example of an surreal sequence is when Mark drops some drugs down a dirty toilet so he reaches into it and falls into the toilet. It then cuts to Mark swimming in what looks like an ocean.
• Mise-en-scene is also used a lot, for example the colours of certain shots. In the apartment where Mark and his mates shoot up heroin the places has red hues signifying the danger of drugs. The apartments hallways are also painted a blue/green colour to signify the eventual sadness when the baby dies.
• A lot of Boyle’s films are high energy portrayed through fast paced shots, for example when Mark is running away from security guards. Along with the use of fast paced shots fast paced music is used.
• At the start of Trainspotting we as an audience jump straight into the action with Mark running towards the camera which is a shot used throughout. The sequence of shots is accompanied by a voice over of Mark making it sound as though he is talking to us personally.
• Boyle also likes to manipulate time with flashback and time lapses. For example, a time lapse is used when Mark takes drugs to signifying the passing of time in which he has been stuck in the euphoric feeling of shooting up heroin.

Shane Meadows, Auteur?

Shane Meadows is an English filmmaker most know for This Is England (2006). His films reflect his unique styles through the use of techniques and themes.

• Themes of the working class are prominent in This Is England due to Meadows coming from a working class family. Bullying and social unrest is key in his films as that’s what he grew up with as a child.
• False role models are also used within Meadows films, for example Combo as a role model for Shaun
• Camerawork in Meadows films are used for effect. For example handheld camera shots to create tension and long shots to allow the actors to get lost in their onscreen roles.
• The use of the same actors/new actors is a typical from Meadows as it creates a more comfortable environment for the actors to work in.
• In This is England a manipulative non-diegetic score is used to manipulate the audience to feel a certain way to what is shown on screen. Which wasn’t typical of most socialist realism films. The best example of this In This is England is when Combo is attacking milky. The score sounds remorseful and sad showing the audience that what is happening is bad and should never happen.

 

Mock Exam

Trainspotting (Danny Boyle, 1996)

Trainspotting follows a group of heroin addicts in Edinburgh. The protagonist of the story is Mark Renton who tries to stop his addiction but it constantly brought back into by his so called friends. Sick Boy gives up drugs alongside Mark at the start and is more successful and Spud continues to abuse drugs throughout eventually leading him to get arrested. Another mate of theirs is Tommy, that was a good lad at the start, not addicted to drugs but then when his girlfriend breaks up with him he asks for a hit off Mark which leads him in a spiral of drug usage. The film shows the gritty reality of a drug addiction and how it can affect those around you. In the end Mark is able to curb his addiction and runs off with the money from a drug deal organised with his friends in order to start fresh.

DannyBoyle comes from an Irish catholic working class family. Boyle portrays a form of social realism in his films which he exploits so British people can identify with. He doesn’t romanticise his films, rather shows the true reality.

I really liked this film due to the fact is was stylised and gritty, Boyle didn’t shy away from showing the true reality of a drug addiction. I also really like Tommy’s storyline as it was quite sad to watch a young and healthy boy slowly wither away until he eventually dies.

 

This Is England (Shane Meadows, 2006)

This is England is a socialist realist film which is a more stylised version of England in 1980s. During the 1980s Margret Thatcher was prime minister and the Falkland war was going on. The film follows Shawn, a young boy who lost his dad in the Falkland war and is bullied at school. A group of skinheads, their leader being Woody takes him which causes tensions within the group. Everything was well until Combo, Woody’s old friend comes back from prison with a racist ideology which he has gained from the British Nationalist Party. Woody refuses to fight the so called war with Combo against foreigners however Shawn is convinced as he doesn’t want to let down his dad who died in the war. Combo and his group spray paint racist messages on walls and rob shops. All this hate is then directed to close to home with Combo beating Milky up with Shawn there.

I really liked this film as it portrays what the 80s were like in England with social divisions due to the Falklands war that many felt was unnecessary and a waste of life.

 

Active Spectatorship: Audience Positioning

When audiences watch films they tend to position themselves with certain characters from the film through film language encouraging us to do so. It encourages us to see ourselves onscreen rather than just the character. Films may also shift our character positioning throughout the film, making us as an audience actively identify with a range of characters.

Active Spectatorship: Stuart Hall’s Reception Theory

Preferred

Is the reading the audience is supposed to make, they passively accept the preferred reading.

Negotiated

A negotiated reading is a mix of acceptance and rejection of different messages the film presents.

Oppositional

Audiences will take their own meaning from the films from their own pre-existing views on issues in the film. Demographic factors also effect your views such as age, gender, ethnicity and social class.

 

Passive Spectatorship: The Uses And Gratification Model

The uses And gratification model theory is a to try and understand why people go and see films to satisfy their needs, for example, for entertainment and education. The theory see’s the audience as a heterogeneous group of different individuals, all will react to the film differently and take away different meanings.

UGM Assumptions:

• The audience is active and its media use is goal oriented
• The initiative in linking need gratification to a specific medium choice rests with the audience member
• The media compete with other resources for need satisfaction
• People have enough self-awareness of their media use, interests, and motives to be able to provide researchers with an accurate picture of that use.
• Value judgments of media content can only be assessed by the audience.

Passive Spectatorship: The Hypodermic Syringe Model

The hypodermic syringe model is a model of communication that imagines an audience as a homogenous group that accept the message that the film has presented them. The Nazi’s used the theory and so did Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s. The hypodermic syringe model originates from Propaganda Technique in the World War (Harold Lasswell, 1927).

This theory has been debunked.