Social Realism: Art, Nationhood and Politics

Social Realism: Art, Nationhood and Politics

By David Forrest

"The broad term of social realism has come to represent numerous examples of films that reflect a range of social environments and issues, in a manner that rejects the artifice and escapism of more classically oriented narrative models."

"Social realism is a discursive term used by film critics and reviewers to describe films that aim to show the effects of environmental factors on the development of character through depictions that emphasise the relationship between location and identity."

"Traditionally associated in Britain with a reformist or occasionally revolutionary politics that deemed 
adverse social circumstances could be changed by the introduction of more enlightened social policies or structural change in society, social realism tends to be associated with an observational style of camerawork that emphasises situations and events and an episodic narrative structure, creating ‘kitchen sink’ dramas and ‘gritty’ character studies of the underbelly of urban life."

"Consider the critics’ highlighting of the importance of ‘showing’ how the aforementioned environment impacts upon its constituents,"

"The words ‘gritty’ and ‘raw’ tend to embrace both the thematic elements of the films – which often confront the troublesome relationship between deprived environmental conditions and human psychology – and the ‘no frills’ style in which they are made. "

"The art film deals with issues of individual identity, often with a sexual dimension, and aspires to an overt psychological complexity."

"the presentation of locational verisimilitude. Social realism is visually defined by its commitment to 
framing the lives of the ‘real’, within their ‘real’ environment. "

Social Realism and Representations of the Working Class (This Is England)

Social Realism and Representations of the Working Class

This Is England

"Shane Meadow‟s film-making is as consistent as that of Loach, filmed on a 

low-budget, with the use of a mixture of professional actors and local people, 
and the use of a chronological shooting style." Local people add to the sense of realism throughout the film through the use of accent and dialect. It has been shot in chronological order to make it seem more realistic.

"On the other hand, when Shaun receives the flag, he without realization accepts the principles that Combo represents: the far right politics of the National Front and a hatred of immigrants."

"By ending the film in this way This Is England echoes an earlier sensational film on teenager lives, Quadrophrenia (Franc Roddam, 1979) when Jimmy (Phil Daniels) was disappointed and abandoned 
his mod‟s members, running along the seaside cliff on his scooter, and drops it off the cliff."

"The symbol of his youth, rebellion and friendship crushes on the ground, as Shaun‟s flag sinks in the water."

"last shot presents the strength he has gained through the whole summer experience. This contrast 
between the two scenes exquisitely depicts the personal growth of Shaun, from a boy; into a man."

"Meadows mentions that his first impressions of Thomas Turgoose and his family background where especially similar to those of Shaun; since Thomas‟s parents are separated and he is living with his mother."

"In This Is England, although the subject matter of racism and violence during the 1980s is quite bold, Meadows manages to capture a „contemplated‟ version of the story, through the eye of an eleven year old boy."

"The film places itself in 1983 through the use of media footage of the time."

"The film places itself in 1983 through the use of media footage of the time. In the opening scenes, Meadows shows iconic footage from the 80s such as a Rubik cube, Margaret Thatcher playing a computer game; the fashions of the 1980s and most importantly, Falkland‟s War footage."

"Throughout the film, Meadows uses the music that represent the 80s music scene, such as 
Toots & The Maytals, The Specials, and U.K. Subs, to further embed the film in 1983. This footage and music not only brings a certain reality to the film, it also creates a nostalgic tone which alongside the, lustrous colour and excellent editing by Chris Wyatt‟ amplify‟ the fantasy"

"Meadow‟s film-making style, embedded in the ordinary lives of the people of his locality, clearly aligns his works within the social realist tradition. "

"Finally, This is England depicts the socio-political condition of the 80s and skinhead culture, 
merging fantasy and reality by use of historic media references which are placed alongside the subjective viewpoint of its teenage protagonist."

Quadrophenia:Jimmy vs. World by Howard Hampton

Quadrophenia: Jimmy vs. World 

By Howard Hampton

The article was written by Howard Hampton and was published on the criterion's website. This is  credible source as they are a company who are releasing older "high-brow" films to make them accessible to a newer younger audience.

Hampton compares Quadrophenia to Martin Scorcese's Mean Streets (1973) as it shares it's "dedication to emotional veracity, but it's midsixties streets are meaner, more inhospitable" this shows British Social Realism films to have more veracity and closer to real life than other genres.

"Pete Townshend hit on the catchy idea of doubling Jimmy's schizophrenia making it 'quadrophenia'" This shows the film deals with very real themes and topics. 

"Jimmy isn't presented as a cool audience surrogate, a heroic rebel; there's a built-in detatchment to his gradual, o-so-awkward disintegration" Example of social realism films showing 'real' people as their protagonist and not the traditional hollywood hero.

"Played with gawky, monophonic intensity by Phil Daniels, he's a twitchy and inarticulate regular lad with no visable drive, no Dean/De Niro charisma"

" In a public bathhouse - a sign of how cramped and decrepit life in Britain remained twenty years after the war." Shows the film portrays a very realistic look at British life at the time.

" By the time that the movie was made, the mods had been succeeded by several waves of British subcultures. Those prophets of alienation included, to name the most visible, hippies, skinheads, headbangers, glitter kids, and, by 1979, punks."

"Everyday mods like Jimmy, with their parkas, pasty, acne-mapped faces, and high strung clumsiness." Shows social realism films' protagonists as being average working class people with everyday problems.

"The last-shot-first nature of quadrophenia makes Jimmy's story seem like a loop he's destined to repeat."

British Social Realism :From Documentary to Brit-Grit by Samantha Lay

British Social Realism : From Documentary to Brit-Grit 

By Samantha Lay 

The book talks about the tradition of social realism films in Britain and it explores it's comtemporary forms which are more of a hybrid. Lay examines the movements, moments and cycles of British social realist texts.

Samantha Lay describes a classic realist text as being "defined as one in which there is a hierarchy amongst the discourses which compose the text and this hierarchy is defined in terms of an empirical notion of truth." (p. 30)

She highlights that realist films usually have a working man as a protagonist and she says "I am proud that i played some part in the recognition that the working man was a fit subject for drama , and not just a comic foil in a play on middle-class manners." (p.68)

"The creative interpretation of actuality should suggest an exciting, endlessly intriguing use of the cinema; and yet it must be admitted that the overtones of the term are not immediately attractive. (p.58)

"Issues relate to the different social problems portrayed in these films, which were topical around the time of a given film's production and which provided some cause for national, social concern. (p.13)

"In British Social Realism, some of the prevalent and recurring themes include the demise of the traditional working class." (p.14)

 "Social realist texts generally focus on characters one would not generally find in mainstream films." (p.14)

"Social realist texts also work towards extending the representations in art and popular culture of previously under-represented, marginalised or subordinate groups, and deal with issues and problems that mainstream cinema has shied away from or avoided." (p.20)

"The narrative structures of mainstream texts tend to work in a linear or cause-and-effect way, with the action motivated by a central protagonist" (p.20)

"By contrast, the narrative structures of social realist texts tend to operate cyclically or episodically" (p.21) Quadrophenia opens with the end, appears to be a cyclical problem.

"Many films and television dramas seem to have shifted their attention to children of the working class." (p.108)

"british social realist texts have increasingly not only incorporated the experiences of working class children into their narratives, but have also made them the central protagonist." (p.109)

"In order to understand British film-making of this period and the renewed interest in social realism in the 1980's, it is crucial to understand the social, political and economic climates." (p.81)

BFI Screen Online - Social Realism by Richard Armstrong

Social Realism by Richard Armstrong

This article was published on BFI screen online's website by Richard Armstrong. I thought this particular article was interesting and useful as it contained a lot of the history about the genre as well as putting it in context to world cinema.

The article proceeds to talk about the genre in chronological order by starting with films such as "Rescued By The Rover" (1905) to "After The War"(1902) all the way to more modern films such as Ken Loach's "Sweet Sixteen" (2002)

Armstrong believes that British Social Realism is "characterised by stoicism and verisimilitude" and that it combines the "objective temper and aesthetics of the documentary movement with the stars and resources of studio filmmaking."

This article uses a quote from a historian, Roger Manvell, who said that after the war "the cinemas reopened, the public flooded in, searching for relief from hard work, companionship, release from tension, emotional indulgence and, where they could find them, some reaffirmation of the values of humanity." The Social Realism films of that time, "Millions Like Us" (1943) and "This Happy Breed" (1944) offered the public this.

Armstrong addresses the "relaxation of censorship" around 1960 and he suggests this was a huge factor in the success of social realism films being able to portray as close to real life as possible. He said as a result of this "characters had sex lives, money worries, social problems. Auteurs could deal with prostitution, abortion, homosexuality, alienation and relationship problems." These all aided the genre to portray a greater sense of "verisimilitude."

Armstrong begins to discuss "The New Wave" which was a sub-genre of social realism. He identifies one of the key themes of this genre being "issues around masculinity" and that the majority of these film'a "protagonists was usually a working-class male without bearings in a society which traditional industries and the cultures that went with them were in decline." To support this argument he uses "High Hopes" (1988) and "The Full Monty"(1997)

A text in context Reservoir Dogs

Media Research Practice 

Med4 – a text in context Reservoir Dogs 

The article was written by Tina Dixon and was first published in the 15th edition of Media Magazine. 

The article contextualises Quentin Tarantino's film, Reservoir Dogs and compares it to other films within the gangster genre by highlighting contexts, key concepts and relevant theory. 

The article gives the film's background to introduce it: 

'Made in 1992 by first-time director Quentin Tarantino for a budget of $1.2 million.' 

One of the first conventions discussed is the use of mise-en-scene and how it conforms to the gangster genre. 

'Very naturalistic lighting, urban setting, suits and guns. The dialogue is realistic colloquial language.' 

The article then discusses the social and political context of the film by using the torture scene as a case study. At the time the film caused problems and the reason given was that:
' violence may not be a problem per se, but torture is.'

 This links with the gangster films of the 1930's which were much more restricted and didn’t even use profanitites. 



A section of the article focuses on the representation of women and how Reservoir Dogs, unlike other gangster films, does not have any credited female actresses. Dixon says 'it is a male bonding film with only two women in extremely marginal roles throughout the whole 99 minutes.'

Media Diary - Week 4- Conor Walker

The Text That "Changed" My Life

For this task I have chosen to talk about the "The Wall" which is a 1979 concept album by British progressive rock band Pink Floyd. The album follows "Pink", a fictional character who Roger Waters, the lyricist of the band, modelled after himself and former band member Syd Barrett. It explores the themes of abandonment and person isolation from society. This album was later adapted into a film by the same name in 1982.

The album tells the story of Pink's life from the loss of his father at war, through to the abuse he suffered from his school teachers, to his overprotective mother and the breakdown of his marriage. This all eventually lead to him forming the metaphorical "wall" which he built in order to isolate himself from society. 

Pink Floyd's signature progressive sound is showcased throughout this album as sound effects help to tell the story with the sounds of babies crying and fighter planes to outline key points in the protagonists life. Each song also "bleeds" into each other to help the story flow and to show that all the events are linked as they all contribute to Pinks eventual formation of the wall. However, at the end of side one after the song " Goodbye Cruel World" the music comes to a sudden abrupt end which signifies Pink putting the last "brick in the wall." This sudden cutting off helps to evoke emotions for the audience as it symbolises the size and immensity of the wall implying that the wall silences all that is behind it which really helps highlight the isolation Pink is feeling.

This media text in particular had such an impact on me initially as it was very different to the way I viewed music. While I was younger I would usually listen to the music that was in the charts which were usually stereotypical pop songs with no real underlying message with the purpose of sounding good. When I first listened to this album it opened my eyes to an entire other genre of music that conveyed such emotions and explored such personal themes, this made me seek out other similar texts that had a similar purpose and entirely changed the way I listen to music and what music I choose to listen to.

The album is so personal and real that it really evokes emotions as you feel sorry for the protagonist because of all the problems he has had to face throughout his life. In order for Pink to feel the need to completely isolate himself from society, his experiences must of been really shocking which the audience understands and is why it manipulates emotions as much as it does. I have not personally encountered the same problems that Pink does but I can imagine for someone who has faced this problems this album would really resonate with these people and they would feel even stronger emotions towards it because of their cultural experiences. 

Reception Theory - Conor Walker

American Psycho  

My chosen text is a film from 2000 called American Psycho and is about the life of a successful Wall Street businessman who is a psychopath and secret serial killer. Patrick Bateman, the lead character played by Christian Bale is presented as a materialistic person who only cares about his appearance and his status. 

Target Audience 

Using the income status model, I believe that this film would be mainly targeted at someone who is a part of group D which is working class. I think this because the film shows rich people in a very negative light, therefore, if rich people would view this they would have an oppositional view of the film. However, working class people may feel bitter about rich and successful people because they are jealous but they would enjoy watching this film because it would make them feel better about themselves. 

Also using, Hartley and Fiske's subjectivities I believe the target audience of this film would be men because there is a large amount of violence and women are depicted in a very promiscuous manner. I think the ideal age would be from 18-35 as the majority of the characters are relatively young so it would appeal to this age group. Ethnicity wouldn’t really matter for this film but it consists of mainly white Americans so it would be aimed at this. 

Preferred Reading 

With this film the encoders want to reinforce the stereotype that rich and successful people are only out for themselves and care more about their appearance and status than anything else. This is shown by the representations of the characters in the films. Patrick Bateman often goes into great detail describing his possessions or his workout routine to reinforce this stereotype. The majority of the characters are mainstreamers to such an extent that they look so much alike they often mistake their friends for each other. 

Also another underlying message is that these people of high status are only out for themselves in the end and don’t care about other people other than what they appear as. This is shown when Patrick Bateman goes up to strangers and tells them about his urges to kill and how he likes to "dissect women". These people don’t even react which shows that they don’t care because they only care about themselves. 

The characters are materialistic to such an extreme level that it makes you realize just how stupid they are and it helps you realize the things that do actually matter in life.  

This film is a critique of Capitalism as this is a film that depicts a person who will do anything no matter how ruthless for money and status. This is essentially the ideology of capitalism but it is shown in the film in a much more shocking visual manner in order to make people think more about what this regime is actually like. 

Oppositional reading 

I believe a person who has an oppositional reading of this text would be likely to say that they understand the films aim is to show these materialistic people in a bad light but they are much like the characters and believe that these possessions and their status can bring them happiness in life. 

This may be because of their cultural experiences. For example, this person may have been born into the kind of lifestyle that is showcased in this film. Therefore, all they would know would be that status and material possessions would make them happy and they would believe that Patrick Bateman lives a very happy life because he has the best apartment with the best job, body and girlfriend. However, this is not how the writer and directors wanted the text to be perceived but these peoples life experiences have altered their judgements. 

Also, someone may hold this view because they are from New York, where the film is set, and they would believe that the film is trying to stereotype the people living in this area to be like the main characters. However, this person would understand what the film was trying to do but would reject it because of their own cultural experiences. 

Another reasoning for this viewpoint would be that the directors and writers are trying too hard to reinforce the stereotype of materialism and hubristic behavior. This person may believe the amount of time put in to showing this ideology makes it less believable and less realistic because they are exaggerating on it too much. 

The majority of people choose the political parties they follow because of their parents. Therefore, someone who grew up in a home of Capitalists they would believe this film is unfairly depicting their ideology and may take offense to the messages encoded in this film. 

Another oppositional reading of this text would be if a woman viewed the text they could see as it glorifying male dominance in society because of how the women are represented as being prostitutes, ad secretaries which are possessions of the males that control them. They may believe this is a very misogynistic film for this reason. 

Negotiated reading 

Someone who takes a negotiated reading to this text would view it superficially and would not understand any of the encoded messages or ideologies presented. Therefore, they would only view the film visually on the surface. This means that they would believe that the film is trying to overly violent and shocking just for the purpose of being shocking. They would also believe that the film is a glorification of violence because they don’t understand the film fully as really the film is critiquing this violent behavior rather than glorifying it. 

Situated culture could also have an effect on somebodies viewing of this film. If you were to watch this film while focusing on other media texts or with some sort of distraction you may not be able to focus entirely on the ideologies represented in the film which could make someone believe that the film is just essentially about someone who kills others and they would, too, believe that it is glorifying violence because they wouldn’t understand the whole message. 

Uses and Gratifications 

One of the gratifications of this text is very obscure given what the film is about and the seriousness which is on the surface of the film. I believe that if you are able to decode the messages of the film you are able to find humor throughout the film even in the particularly shocking scenes because of the way they are filmed. For example, when Patrick Bateman kills Paul Allen it is very brutally depicted with a lot of blood and an axe but while this is happening Patrick Bateman is dancing to Huey Lewis and the News. 

Another gratification would be that people would be shocked by what happens in the film. This is because of the numerous violent murder scenes as well as the very graphic sex scenes that are in this film.  

Also someone would get a sense of self worth because they may think that they are better than the characters that are in this film because of how they are represented. For example, these characters are shown to only care about what they look like or their status but for people who realize that people are worth much more than this they would feel better about themselves because they would realize they aren't that bad.