This is England - Representations of Masculinity

Masculinity

Masculinity is an important theme in This Is England, as the whole film is basically about Shaun's replacement for a father figure, so the film can be split into two sections. The first, where Woody steps in as his father figure and cares for Shaun, introducing him to the gang. Woody takes a very easy going approach to Shaun throughout his father figure role for him, he makes jokes and generally has childish fun with the gang. When he's first introduced, Shaun is annoyed because he is getting bullied, Woody sympathises with him and starts to bond with him over it, by having a joke about the bullies name. This makes Shaun laugh and since them he's one of the group and the lads go around and have fun together, he even gets a skinhead and dresses like the gang. Shaun is treated like a child, because he is a child.    

The other half of the film shows Combo taking control of Shaun's life, he feeds him new ideologies and commits crimes with Shaun. Combo treats Shaun very differently to the way Woody treats him. He uses a lot more aggressive physical actions, like slapping his head etc. He is a complete bad influence on Shaun, from the get go he uses Shaun's emotions to manipulate him into doing something completely different. He basically shapes Shaun into himself, where as Woody gave him more freedom. He is trained how to Swear and walk, as well as theft and threats against people.