View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by De Montfort University Open Research Archive Realism and Representations of the Working Class in Contemporary British Cinema TAKAKO SEINO MPhil in Film Studies De Montfort University 2010 Abstract This thesis examines the history of social realism and the representation of the working-class in contemporary British cinema. Opening with a critical history, of the political and social context of British social realist film-making since the 1960‟s British New Wave era, it moves the grounds of the discussion to social realism in the 1980s and 1990s. The main chapters are dedicated to individual case studies. Three distinctive approaches are applied towards these case studies: the auteurist approach is applied to the works of Ken Loach, and exposes how his politics is reflected in the films, whilst revealing the consistency and changes of his approach towards the subject-matter. In the second chapter, the aesthetic approach is used to examine how the new trend of „social art-cinema‟ affected the concept of social realism. It will discuss how social realism employs the style and aesthetic of art cinema, to enhance the subjective representation in the film. In the last chapter, the new subjective approach is used to study films that deal with the issue of asylum seekers, immigrants and immigration. This thesis will reveal the complexity and flexibility of the concept of social realism, by analysing its use in contemporary British cinema from these three perspectives. The significance of social realism is its ability to add to the film a sense of immediacy, a sense of „here and now‟. It can enhance the objectivity of the film, or by integrating with art-cinema aesthetic, enhance the subjectivity of the issue. Social realism needs to be considered with the nature of the medium of cinema, to capture and reflect elements of the social-political structures which make up society. 1 CONTENTS CONTENTS ................................................................................................................................................ 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 2 PART 1 ........................................................................................................................................................ 4 BRITISH CINEMA AND SOCIAL REALISM SINCE THE 1960S: POLITICAL CONTEXT AND CRITICAL DEBATE ................................................................................................................................. 4 THE BRITISH NEW WAVE .......................................................................................................................... 4 THE 1980S ................................................................................................................................................ 9 THE 1990S TO PRESENT: NEW LABOUR AND NEW MILLENNIUM ............................................................ 15 CHAPTER 1 ............................................................................................................................................. 22 KEN LOACH’S SOCIAL REALISM .................................................................................................... 22 RIFF RAFF (1990), RAINING STONES (1993) AND LADYBIRD LADYBIRD (1994) .................................... 23 MY NAME IS JOE (1998), SWEET SIXTEEN (2002) AND AE FOND KISS (2004) ........................................ 29 CHAPTER 2 ............................................................................................................................................. 36 SOCIAL REALISM AND ART CINEMA: THE AESTHETIC APPROACH ................................... 36 RED ROAD .............................................................................................................................................. 39 LONDON TO BRIGHTON .......................................................................................................................... 43 THIS IS ENGLAND ................................................................................................................................... 47 CHAPTER 3 ............................................................................................................................................. 53 THE NEW SUBJECT-MATTER: IMMIGRANTS AND ASYLUM SEEKERS ................................ 53 LAST RESORT ......................................................................................................................................... 59 DIRTY PRETTY THINGS ........................................................................................................................... 63 IT’S A FREE WORLD ................................................................................................................................ 67 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................................... 73 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................................... 78 2 Introduction John Hill calls social realism in British cinema an „unbroken tradition‟ (Hill 2000a: 178), whilst Samantha Lay describes its relationship with British cinema as an „enduring relationship‟ (Lay 2007: 232). Since the medium of cinema was invented, realism has always been its concern, and in the case of British cinema, since the documentary movement in the 1930s, cinema with social concern that searches for realist expression, is something that has always been discussed. The concept of „social realism‟ is rather complex, since although it is not something like genre, which has collective characteristics on style and mode of narrative, it has been treated as one. With a specific subject (working class lives), filmic treatment (naturalism), political orientation (leftist) and iconography (industrial city, council estates etc.), these characteristics hold a range of films together under the name of social realism; however, it is always controversial since no one could define how many of these characteristics a film should have to be categorised as a „social realist film‟. There is a wide grey zone around this concept. Supposedly that is why this concept fascinated academics, critics and most film-makers. The main concern of this thesis is the recent history of social realism in British cinema, or, a history of the transformation and transitional complexity of this concept. Throughout the thesis, the subject matter and its representation in social realist film will be examined together with a close analysis of its social and political context. This thesis consists of four main parts: Part one, as a literature review, will be a historical study of social realism in Britain, from the British New Wave films in the 1960s to the prosperity of social realist drama in British television afterwards. It continues the discussion into the social realism of the 1980s, the decade that opened a new interest in race, ethnicity, and hybrid identity in Britain. In the time of Thatcherism, the films discussed will be widely varied in terms of style and form. The third and last part of the literature review will be the 1990s and thereafter, when Britain welcomed the innovation in the national and cultural image of Great Britain under a unified name of „Cool Britannia‟. Here there appeared films which pushed the boundaries of social realist form, by integrating pop music and pop culture into films. The representation of identity in a multicultural society becomes more hybrid; with the emergence of the Black film makers who attempt to capture their voice in their own style. The literature review intends to build a background to this critical issue, by contextualising the previous works of social realism while examining the flexibility of the concept. The next three chapters are case studies; each one discusses a distinctive 3 approach towards this concept. The first chapter discusses director Ken Loach and his works. It analyses his work in the early 1990s, Riff Raff (1991), Raining Stones (1993) and Ladybird Ladybird (1994); and his works in the late 1990s to early 2000s, My Name is Joe (1998), Sweet Sixteen (2002) and Ae Fond Kiss (2004). By analysing these titles chronologically and sometimes cross-referencing them, his consistent attitude towards film-making throughout his long career is discussed and it is this which allows us to perceive an auteuristic style that is carried from the traditional social realist drama of the 1960s, along with his political message. The second chapter reviews the aesthetic approaches, to examine three very different films that develop more art-cinema style. These are Red Road (Andrea Arnold, 2006), London to Brighton (Paul Andrew Williams, 2006) and This is England (Shane Meadows, 2007); all of which are created by young British film directors. These films stand on the tradition of social realism whilst extending its visual expressions. All these films share the same characteristic which is a strong sense of art-cinema aesthetics. With close examination, this chapter will reveal the further hybridisation of art-cinema and social realism, and how it develops this concept. The third chapter analyses the films with the new vogue subject-matter of asylum seekers, immigrants and immigration.