To what extent are your chosen texts typical of their genre

To what extent are your chosen texts typical of their genre?

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How do your chosen texts use genre conventions?

‘This is England’ is a Social Realist film and is typical of this genre in many ways. One of these is in its aesthetics. By convention, a social realist film should be set in an urban or suburban working class area. It should also be authentic and filmed on location. This adds realism as it is a real location and not a fabricated set, which is always built bigger so that cameras can move around and have freedom to twist and get into position for particular shots that will be filmed. This means that the camera movement and shots are limited, meaning that it looks less cinematic and more like how we, ourselves, would see it in person. Other conventions, which are met in ‘This is England’ is with its natural lighting and non-known actors. This adds to the realism as we see them as the characters and not as themselves or their earlier works like we would with better-known actors. Thomas Turgoose is a good example of this as he was found in a youth club and has had no other acting experience. He gave the image of raw emotion in his performance as he was almost playing himself, being a preteen boy in a rundown area where violence is rife and where you have to make a name for yourself for respect. Like Shaun, Tom had been put on suspension for fights and troubled acts at school and so could relate in this sense, strengthening the bond between him and his character.

‘This is England’ is also typical of a Social realist film in its function. One of these is to make a statement. This is done well in ‘This is England’ as it makes the point that the racist attitudes, which took place in the 80s, are still applicable today and that we can do something about it and stand up to those who share Combo’s ideologies. This point is made clear by the final shot, which has Shaun breaking the fourth wall and looking directly into the camera. This delivers the message in an immensely powerful way. This film also is relatable to real people and highlights real events and issues as some might face racism in a day-to-day life, not just being on the receiving end, but also actually being on the delivering side.

Although this film has many conventions of the social realist genre many people see ‘This is England’ as more of a Shane Meadows film and view him as an auteur. Many of his common conventions are present in ‘This is England’ like his use of contrasting comedy and seriousness in different parts of the film. This is shown with the comedic and light-hearted scenes in the first half of the film when Shaun first meets Woody and the skinheads and in the second half of the film where Shaun meets Combo and is manipulated into following his ideologies and way of thinking. As seen with ‘A Room For Romeo Brass’ he seems to use regular actors like Vicky McClure, Andrew Shim and Frank Harper (who play Lol, Milky and Lenny in ‘This is England’). His narrative elements are also a part of him being an auteur as he uses them for many of his films. These include the use of a ‘coming of age story’ with children based in a working class English urban or suburban setting. His films also include mostly include family problems or issues, violence, older role-models (normally a surrogate father figure) and use improvisation in the performances. Other things which are present in the film but are not a part of the social realist genre is the use of narrative devices such as montages, slow motion and music. The music in 'This is England' is instrumental and is used for great emotion which is being felt both by the audience and the characters within the movie. These things which take away from the realism do wonders for the film but can be seen as also adding to the auteur theory.

Due to this it is difficult to tell whether ‘This is England’ is a Shane Meadows film or a Social Realist film.