How British Social Realism Themes Are Used?

1) Domestic Violence - Nil By Mouth



In this scene of Nil by Mouth (made in the 1990's), a strong theme of Domestic violence is portrayed. The audience denotes a husband beating up his wife whilst their child is having to witness this terrible crime sitting nervously at the top of a staircase within the home. While this action is being taken place by the husband, we only see his actions against the women whilst kicking her on the floor. What makes this theme so effective is that we as the audience are not able to denote the women's image and her injuries taken place. The camera chooses to deliberately hide her away from the shot and only focus on the husband and his negative actions. This causes the audience to have a sense of mystery on their minds to how the women may be coping or maybe looking like. Questions begin to swarm the audiences' minds to how bad the injuries may be from the cause of her uncontrollable husband.
If i were to use this theme in my own work, then i would establish it in the same way so that my film would be able to give the same strong effect towards the audience as they view it so that they are able to connote the strong realisation of the situation occurring.

2) Racism - This is England




In this scene from ''This Is England'' (2006), the theme of Racism is portrayed in the most effective way. As the boy enters the shop, the audience witness him approaching the asian man behind the counter and calls him a ''paki bastard''. After this insult was expressed from the little boy, a big white man approaching the asian man with a large blade threatening him and mugging him for his stores merchandise. This theme of racism is established very strongly in this scene due to the use of overpowering and authority that the white ethnicity 'Skin Heads' claimed they stood within the British hierarchy. If i were to use this theme within my own work, i would use the same use of effectivity and style that they portrayed powerfully within this scene in This Is England and that would help to convey one of the main strong conventions of British Social Realism.

3) Smoking/Drugs - Trainspotting


Within the opening sequence for Trainspotting (), at 0.30, we witness him smoking drugs. We are able to denote this due to the strong effect that occurs within the dizziness and language of his body after smoking one puff of smoke. At 1.12, the camera uses a cross cut to represent the effect taking place with the drugs and the effect of the football smashing onto the mans face. Both shots denote him falling backwards onto the floor. With the cross-cut taken place to represent him falling, it foreshadows along with the fact of his life being downgraded whilst being a british citizen. I think if i were to use this camera work and theme in my work, then it would really help to give that strong 'kitchen sink' effect to how negative british life really is in our everyday world.

4) Dysfunctional families - London to Brighton


With the beginning scene of ''London to Brighton'', we witness family issue between a mother and a daughter. By looking at the mise-en-scene, they both appear to be inside a toilet. Due to the fact of the mothers eye being swollen up and blood being cleaned off the daughter, it connotes their struggle in life to the idea of violence being acted upon towards them. Also, the daughter is seen crying which helps to connote her worries about the struggle she may be sharing with her beaten mother. Whilst being approached by the theme of Dysfunctional families, the mother at one point also comes across the theme of prostitution in order to retrieve money for her and her child which then related back to the orignal theme of the struggle of their family. If i were to use this theme in my work, i would take the similar idea of relating two themes together causing them to work together and give a greater effect to the serious atmosphere of the situation.

5) Poverty - Looking for Eric



Within this scene from Looking for Eric, we are able to portray the theme of poverty from analysing the mise-en-scene which Eric is positioned in. Within his home, we are able to connote that there is a theme of poverty from looking at the dried up paint and dirt contained within his home. It shows he is struggling to provide which is helped by the dull colours used in the scene and the unvarnished atmosphere given within the kitchen. This would be very inspiring if i were to use this theme idea in my work and i would use the idea of my location being within a working class standard so that whatever theme i am trying to come across maybe regarding poverty, my audience would be able to denote it when watching.