Social Realism Directors

Andrea Arnold
Shane Meadows
Ken Loach
The tradition of social realism in British film is often said to have begun with the Free Cinema
movement of the mid-1950s. The aim of these documentariesshown at the National Film
Theatre in London from 19561959, was to bring to the screen authentic representations of the
working class, largely absent from the conservative mainstream British culture of the day. In the
early sixties, the narrative cinema in the form of rough-edged, often black-and-white character
pieces, often referred to as kitchen-sink dramas, such as Andersons major successThis
Sporting Life became very popular in cinema.At the end of the decade, Ken Loach, a political
filmmaker with a background in television, took realism even further with the
groundbreakingKes,a grimy, unsentimental portrait of a boy in a Northern England mining town,
featuring nonprofessional actors. Today, the legacy of British social realism continues to be felt in
the work of many filmmakers, including Andrea Arnold, Shane Meadows and Ken Loach.

What is Social Realism ?

Social Realism is a genre used to describe visual and other realistic films which portray the
everyday life's of the working classes and the poor. They portray the social environment in
which these people live in.
A social realist film is a film that focuses on issues that represent the modern society through
different ideologies.

1. Real locations.
CONVENTIONS
OF A SOCIAL REALISM FILM
2.
Available lighting.
3. Unfussy , not dramatic
cinematography.
4. Cluttered, gritty mise en scene.
5. Eye level, eye witness camera
shots.
6. Desaturated, high contrast
finish.
7. Unknown actors.
8. Natural accents and acting style
allowing interruptions and
improvisation
9. No ADR and noisy
soundtracks.
10. Not much incidental music.
11. Long takes and basic editing.
12. Everyday problems within the
narrative.
13. Working class characters as the
protagonists.
14. Complex characterisation.
15. Empathy with the plight of the
working class hence the

Andrea Arnold

Andrea Arnold has directed several social realist films including Red Road (2006), her revelatory,
shrewdly observed debut feature about voyeurism and sexual payback, which was award winning.
She also earned an Oscar for her short Wasp (2003), her third film, Fish Tank (2009). All three
films revolve around young women living in run down council estates and facing sexually domestic
situations. Despite the situations of abuse her audacious heroines, the women certainly dont see
themselves as victims. This is reflective of Fish Tanks big mouthed young protagonist, Mia. Her
heroine inFish Tank,Mia, aspires to dance, but we can see she isnt a great dancer in the making
from the beginning, except in her own private world. Mia could have a brighter future at the films
end, or she may just return to live on a council estate, or falling into the welfare-dependent lifestyle
of her mother, or even being drawn into drugs and prostitution. Andrea Arnold provides a vivid
snapshot of the urban margins that make up much of contemporary Britain and shows the audience
the Broken Britain which we all need to know.
The broken down council estate is the setting for Arnolds drama about a fifteen-year-old girl poised
between childhood and womanhood. Andrea Arnold is on the side of Mia. We meet her in the first
image of the film, head down and alone in the private world of an empty apartment that has
become her bolt-hole and personal dance studio. From here, she looks out over the life of the
estate. But were not granted access to Mias thoughts, except through her actions. Here, she
dances, and drinks cider when she can get it through
an older
She will briefly girl,
dream
of
Mia, overall
is an accomplice.
aggressive fifteen-year-old
living
dance as a means of escape, although her first
steps
lead
to
humiliation,
when
she
realizes
that
an
on an Essex estate with her tarty mother, Joanne, and
audition is not for people like her.
precocious little sister Tyler. She has been thrown out of
school and spends her days aimlessly. She begins an
uneasy friendship with Joanne's slick boyfriend, Connor,
who encourages her one interest, dancing, despite the
pedophile character Connor can be seen as, fish tank is
not about sex. Its about a young working class girl who is
seeking love and escape from the life she's living and
Andrea Arnold captures this through this social realist
genre film.

Shane Meadow

Mods, New Romantics, and Skinheads were the major youth sub-cultures of this film and the films
main character is a young 12-year-old Shaun who is alone and lost during the start of his school
holidays. The message is that this young generation turned to racist groups as a scapegoat for what
they see as a society because the original British are becoming marginalized and overwhelmed by
immigration . Underlying that there is also a theme which demonstrates that youth culture seek a
way out through groups such as skinheads who may look different but also accept traditional values
of tolerance. The skinhead culture which grew out of the mods and rockers culture of the sixties
were proud of their working class roots which is how they adopted their boots and braces signature
dress. Meadows is disillusioned with the flag waving and xenophobic celebration of the Falklands
victory which he saw as hiding the fact that the British forces overwhelmed the untrained and illprepared Argentine forces. These were times of high unemployment and divisiveness at home as a
result of the Margaret Thatcher government. The little boy Shaun becomes caught up which British
filmmakerShane Meadowsportrays. This could also looks back at his own youth in this semiautobiographical comedy drama that examines skinhead culture in the U.K. Shaun who is edging
into adolescence without a father because his dad lost his life the year before in the Falkland Islands
War joins a gang of skinheads. These tough guys in their teens and early twenties who shave their
heads, wear Ben Sherman polo shirts, and Dr. Martens boots, start picking on him. Shaun, however,
shows he is mouthy young boy, and gang leader Woody) takes a liking to him. Woody takes Shaun
under his wing, and he starts hanging out with the skins, getting advice on dressing right from
Woody's girlfriend, and learning about Jamaican music from West Indian skinhead Milky. However,

Ken Loach

Ken Loach is one of the most famous directors for his social realist films, especially a film
called Kes which was a huge success. It was named one of the ten best British films of the
century by the British Film Institute, Ken LoachsKes,is cinemas typical portrait of workingclass Northern England. Billy the main character and protagonist is a fifteen-year-old miners
son who develops a close bond with a wild kestrel providing him with a spiritual escape from
his dead-end life.Kesbrought a sociopolitical touch which Loach had established in his work
and pushed the British angry young man film of the sixties into a new type of realism. He
done this by using real locations and nonprofessional actors, typical conventions of a social
realist film. Loachs emotional coming-of-age drama remains the now legendary directors
most beloved and influential film. The main story line of Kes is the 15-year-old named Billy

Casper suffers abuse both at home and at school in Yorkshire, England. At his home
in the working-class section of Barnsley in Yorkshire, Billy's brother beats him and his
family neglects him. Most of his teachers ridicule and reject him,. Like other broken
children in an unfashionable social system favoring the ruling class, Billy is portrayed
as though his future is bleak. With no motivation and nothing to look forward to it is a
sad life for him , until he finds a kestrel - a falcon. Billy finds meaning in befriending
and caring for the baby kestrel. He raises, nurtures, and trains the falcon, whom he
calls "Kes." Its development gives him hope that he too will one day develop, that he
too will gain the skills to fly against the wind. Then Billy opts to spend his brother's
track money on food for Kes, which sets the stage for a grave disagreement between
the young men and an unhappy outcome.