British Social Realism Themes

Hey there! Today I will be focusing on different themes that are portrayed in British Social Realism films.

First is 

Film - Ill Manors

At 0.15 we denote a young female looking downtrodden once she has walked out a shop.She says to the male next to her "He ain't interested,lets go somewhere else.".These characters are outside a fast food place on the streets.At 0.25 we denote the male walking into the shop looking rather aggressive as his walks briskly into the shop with his face contorted with annoyance.Ed (the male) eventually makes a deal with the shop owner for him to have sex with Michelle (the young woman) for only £20.This connotes that Women are reduced to such low levels of integrity and are seen as sexual objects.This scene in Ill Manors is focusing on the theme of prostitution and how women use their bodies for business.In my own production I will represent the female characters in a similar fashion with poverty hovering over the theme.I will represent poor lowerclass women struggling for money and will gloss over ways they may do so to feed their families to make my audience sympathise with my characters.

There is also a song that relates to this scene and the particular character of Michelle created by the writer Plan B.You can listen to the song below!

Now moving onto ...

Film - My Brother the devil

At 0.33 we denote from the following gif below ,two men sitting very close together on a sofa.One male puts his arm around the other.He then begins to massage his arm a bit with his thumb.This connotes affection and a very close intimate relationship between the two men.

At 2.26 two men are goofing around and laughing playfully.They begin to get extremely close together as they fight over the camera.We then denote the two men closing in on eachother kissing.This represents experiencing sexuality and love through the means of their intimate relationship.

In my own production , I will try to explore sexuality by introducing the concept of 'first love' with my characters.This may be depicted from how the boy and girl talk to eachother to suggest a beginning of a relationship.

Next is ...

Film - Yasmin

At around 0.47 seconds , we first denote two men walking into a room,we denote red carpet with gold designs and two men dressed in Muslim etire.We can connote from this that these two men are religious as they are entering a Mosque.The lack of sound here illuminates this strongly to represent the devotion and serious tone of a Religious place and the respect they have in a place of worship.This gives the theme of religion something you can identify with because it follows a similar fashion an ordinary muslim would endure when going to a Mosque but also follows most religions because of the silence and respect shown when you enter any Holy Temple.

Let's take a look at ...

Film - Billy Elliot

Billy Elliot follows the story of an 11-year-old boy who finds a passion for dancing.He is from a working class family and wants to aspire his lifestyle onto doing what he enjoys.In the final scene,the transformation of Billy finally escaping is denoted from the dull London train setting.This connotes an every-day mundane place and location,soon we denote an older man dancing ballet.The older man is Billy now he is older,further highlighting how his dreams came true.Just a regular lowerclass boy who is now performing his own shows in a theatre infront of hundreds of people.In my own production , I want to represent a lost boy/girl who is aspiring to something,ofcourse I can not show the ending as my work is to be only 2 minutes long,but I can still suggest a dream of the lost boy/girl to the audience through the combination of an establishing shot of the run down area and some dialouge of the actor who wishes to be somewhere or someone else.

Finally ...

Film - Fall of the Essex boys / Essex boy retribution

The lifestyle of a drug dealer is pretty flashy and full of adrenaline.At  0.14 we first denote several buildings with bright lights,connoting the big buildings and nightclubs within Essex.We then denote a bar full of alchoal and drugs and a male talking to a police officer,connoting that these men are drug dealing in the local club.This film is centered around Essex boys leading the new high paced drug cartel stealing all the local profit.This film is full of violence and the actors all have an aggressive nature,thus representing drug users and dealers to be on edge constantly which is a good depiction and message to the audience.You can watch this film on Netflix and find surveillence on what it's like in the drug dealing business in Essex.

In my own production work,I want to represent the location to be rather rough and urban.Along with dirty streets you will find your typical drug users,so this film has inspired me to perhaps have some very aggressive actors who can portray dominance of drug dealing and also the consequences of it.