The document provides analysis of several films that deal with themes of class, status, and social issues: - Kes discusses the representation of the working class through Billy's impoverished living conditions and dull future prospects. - Last Resort examines the treatment of immigrants in Britain through the story of a Russian mother and son who find poor housing and restrictions after moving for opportunity. - From London to Brighton shows the harsh realities of abuse, prostitution, and lack of opportunities through the stories of Kelly and Joanne. - Billy Elliott depicts the restrictions of dreams by class and gender through Billy's pursuit of ballet dancing in his small mining town. - Adulthood stereotypically portrays

1. Kes:
In Kes the working class are being represented, this is shown through the décor in Billy’s house at the beginning of the film. In the
room Billy and his dad sleep in the same bed, there is a small window where light is let in but apart from that the room is quite bare,
this gives the impression that they do not have that much money and are quite poor.
Low – key lighting is used to show the dull, lacklustre life that Billy has, in his bedroom that he shares with his dad the light is turned
out for the majority of the time Billy is in the room, this gives us an idea of the dim future Billy has, due to the way society was and
still is being a poor family meant that you had less opportunities and were less likely to be able to do things. This representation will
affect the audience differently, for people who are of the lower working class level then it would make them upset and angry that
they’re being portrayed as stealing things. However, if a richer person were watching this film, then they might think that all poor
people stole things and make a stereotype out of it. Continuity editing is used when Billy is in bed and his dad has got up to get
dressed for work, this encodes for the audience the contrast in age and status between Billy and his dad. Along with this, a low
angle is used to evidence the fact that Billy’s father has power over him and that he is of a better status.
In the background of the scene where Billy is by the window getting dressed, there is calm, high pitched music to connote that the
countryside village that Billy lives in is peaceful and tranquil, it contrasts Billy’s character because the music and the town is normal
and controlled whereas Billy steals which is not a regular thing to do. Also, Non – diegetic music makes the film more engaging to
the audience because it sets the mood and tone for the scene.
There is a key theme of loneliness, and through that we can see that the reality being constructed is one of a teenage boy who is not
liked by many adults and does not go out with his friends very often. He is often by himself so he can steal whatever he likes
because there is nobody to stop him.The fact that Billy is stealing is an example of the naivety of Billy’s particular age group, kids do
not know better so they sometimes can’t understand that they are in the wrong.

2. Last Resort:
In Last Resort, the main issue being represented is immigration. A woman and her son are moving from Russia to England in hope of a
better life but are put in grotty and small accommodation and told they are not allowed to leave. Class and status is very evident in Last
Resort because the British citizens are of a higher status than the immigrants because they are of British origin and the immigrants are not.
The immigrants are stereotypical because they come with not much baggage thinking that Britain will bring them a better life. The mother
and son are shown to have a lower status than the British citizens as they have horrible housing and no freedom whereas British people can
do whatever they want and live wherever they want. Also, Pawlikowski has not particularly focused on a particular age group to make an
example of the way immigrants are treated, they do not care what age they are, they are always inferior to British citizens in the eyes of
the Brits, this is Pawlikowski’s opinion on the treatment of immigrants.
Close – ups of the mother and son’s faces give us an insight into the way they are feeling and how scared they are about moving to a
completely new country, the mother has a very small face and it looks as if she is scared but excited to move to a new country at first but as
the film goes on she looks more and more sad and scared. The lighting in the airport is high – key, this connotes a hope in the midst of the
sadness of leaving their own country. However, when they do eventually get called to the immigration office the lighting changes to low –
key to show that the conditions are a lot tenser and there is a fault in the mother and son’s plan of freedom. The audience could take the
representation of immigrants in a way that they start to see immigrants in a bad way and as a burden on British society or they could feel
sorry for the immigrants and what they have to go through.
When the mother and son are travelling to the airport terminal in the transport shuttle there is a medium shot that allows us to see the
proximity of the mother’s relationship with the son, this has connotations of wanting to protect the child, but on the flip side of this the
mother cannot protect her child from the harsh immigration officers in Britain who see all immigrants as the same.
In conclusion I think that Pawel Pawlikowski is trying to make the audience feel sorry for the immigrants and show the audience that when
people emigrate from other countries they do not always get the better life that they think they are getting, and that we should help them
as much as possible.

3. From London to Brighton:
In From London to Brighton, the film starts off with a woman coming into a grotty, run down toilet with a teenage girl.The key
themes and issues throughout the film are abuse and prostitution, this is what gets the woman in trouble and the girl gets dragged
into the middle of it all. A shot reverse shot is used to show the rushed, hurried look of the mum and the utter terror and anxiousness
of the daughter because she doesn’t know what’s going on that got them into this situation.
There is no non – diegetic sound added in to make the film and dialogue more serious and gritty, therefore the audience only focus on
what is being said and the people saying it rather than the music in the background.
Class and status is very prevalent in the film, the woman (Kelly) is of such a low class and status that she has to sleep with men to get
money, and she has nothing to live for, the young girl (Joanne) should be a normal girl with a life to look forward to but yet she has the
pressures that even most adults don’t face with being on the streets, being forced into prostitution and having a near death
experience. There is parallel editing used when Kelly is on the train with Joanne and the prostitution business owners are bringing in
another woman who needs money to use for sex, this is to show that they are in similar situations and that they are both stuck in a
bad situation they can’t get out of.
Both Kelly and Joanne cannot afford to pay for many clothing items, also they do not really live anywhere and so wouldn’t be able to
store it anyway, Joanne’s outfit is very stereotypical of an 11 year old, however the fact that she smokes, swears and is homeless is
really not a regular thing for an 11 year old so that is subverting the age stereotype of young girls in a very bad way. Kelly is dressed
the way people stereotypically expect someone who has a lot of sex to dress, she is wearing a tight dress and a lot of makeup.
Pawlikowski is trying to show that it is never a good idea to bring young girls into prostitution or anybody at all as there are always
consequences. Also, human trafficking and prostitution are always very relevant issues so it was and still is a very good subject matter
to make a film about.

4. Billy Elliott:
In Billy Elliott, Billy is restricted in his dreams by the fact that he is from a small mining town in County Durham. Sexism is a key theme
in the film as nobody really supports Billy in achieving his dream and it is considered a ‘girls’ dream to become a ballet dancer, but Billy
wanting to be a professional ballet dancer is a countertype and inspires the audience watching the film to follow their dreams and
passions. Billy does however grow up in a town where if you’re a boy that enjoys feminine sports then you are humiliated for it and
pretty much shunned for it. Age is very relevant in Billy Elliott as Billy cannot follow his dreams because he is not old enough to make his
own decisions, and his parents are quite strict and forbidding of creative talent.
T – Rex’s Cosmic Dancer is playing in the background of the opening sequence of Billy Elliott, the lyrics of the song insinuate that Billy
was born to dance and that from birth being a ballet dancer was what he was meant to do. Parallel editing is used when Billy is trying to
play the piano in his house and his father stops him, to the rowdy protests of the townspeople who are arguing against the mine being
shut, this is also an example of binary opposition because Billy’s house is completely silent and is full of tension waiting to be unleashed
where as at the protest there is a lot of loud diegetic noise suggesting that the terror and tension has already reached breaking point
and broken out into this noise.
From what we see of Billy’s home town it looks very similar to most working class villages and along with that there is some violence
and broken parts of the town.This would give a reason for Billy’s parents wanting him to be a good boxer, they want him to be able to
protect himself perhaps.The décor in the gymnasium where the boxing and ballet is represents the time period the film is set in very
well, the gym is very stereotypical of a workout place and copies how gyms look in many American high school films.There is an image
of Billy dancing down his streets practicing his dancing, this is quite unusual as from the surroundings of his town it is shown to be a not
so forgiving place.
The Director is trying to show the audience that they should always go for their dreams, because no matter their circumstance, they can
always suceed, but if they never try they’ll never know.

5. Adulthood:
Adulthood is a social realism film based around murder and prison and what it does to the people affected by it.The murderer is of a
black ethnicity and he is from a poorer neighbourhood, this is very stereotypical of a murderer, also it is slightly racist as black people
are mostly portrayed as the bad guys in crime films whereas the white people never do anything wrong.The characters in the film are
mostly wearing tracksuits, hoodies or tight clothing, this is a stereotype of people living in the poorer areas of London and it is a very
unique British way to dress, there are not any other countries or cultures that have clothing styles like the British.
In Adulthood loud, obnoxious club music is played to set the tone of the film and create a sense of tension between the characters
shown on screen, and give the audience an idea of how they are feeling. The diegetic club music used gives us a representation of the
characters age, because stereotypically people of the older generations wouldn’t be listening to this type of music and enjoying it.
Throughout the scene where Sam Peel is released from jail, low – key lighting is used to show a bad representation of him, and how
he has done wrong and cannot be freed of his guilt.There is also a master shot when he walks away from the prison, it shows the full
extent of the dreary, all the same council houses, with dirty pavements and not much difference to tell apart the homes, also it gives
us a picture of Sam with his head hung in guilt and fear to show he doesn’t know how he is going to be able to face the people he has
hurt the most by murdering their friend. There is also an example of parallel editing when Sam is getting out of prison, after showing
him walking away it cuts to a much nicer setting where a woman is making something in her modern looking kitchen.
The pace of the film is not particularly fast in the opening scenes to show that the characters do not know the person who murdered
their friend has been let out of jail and is roaming the streets, it is showing their lives as calm and relatively normal, for now.
From what is shown in Adulthood we can assume that the director is trying to show the guilt felt by a person who murders someone
close to them, and how they can never really go back to living a normal life again.