Representation of The Mining Community

Pride represents the mining community in different ways based on gender. The males in the mining community are all workers whereas the women stay at home in the town etc.  These were traditional roles in 1980's Britain. The scene in which Sian goes to get the miners out of prison fortifies this as all of the miners are males and most of the women are either with LGSM or in the town.

The miners find it very hard to understand why LGSM are here to help them because they don't truly understand LGSM as people. This is more the males than females as most of the males hold more traditional views of what a man should be. Therefore the deviation from this can be hard to understand for some. The adverts and tv spots for the threat of HIV & AIDS didn't help with this very much either as it just reinforced their views. The women on the other hand take to LGSM more which follows traditional real life social norms. This made more clear during Jonathan's dance scene as he is dancing with all the women and there isn't another man on the dance floor. Another representation is followed by this as Sian quotes that 'Welsh men don't dance'. This is in relation to men who work in the industry that they do as a whole as they're all classed as real men.



The miners are also represented as deprived and  some of them mentally weak in parts throughout the film. Particularly in the scenes in which LGSM go back to Wales this is more clear as the miners are struggling and having to cope without power and water in some cases. This is a direct result of the miners strike as they're having tope with a lack of money and attention from the government. Characters like Maureen fit into the mentally weak category as she refuses to open her mind and take in LGSM. She therefore maintains her prejudice opinion and is the reason the union vote to stop collaborating with LGSM. The union members who vote this also show an element of naivety as they judge LGSM on what they're and not what they have done.

The Miners themselves are very rarely featured in a scene alone apart from when they're fighting with the police which is another point in itself as most audiences already know that the miners lose the strike so some audiences feel sympathetic towards them. The struggles they had to go through are made more clear with this. The Miners not being in scenes by themselves represents them as not very independent and that they need the women to guide them through life. This challenges social norms at the time as women had some level of independence however they were not doing jobs that were classed as predominantly male like going in the mines.

The Miners themselves are represented as quite formal as all of the men tend to have the working mans uniform to show that they represent the mining community. This is challenged when LGSM turn up and characters like Steph challenge this with her hair that is shaven on one side and punk style outfits.