Media Coursework

1. Matrix of Social Realism Themes
and Issues
By Jack Woods

2. Poor Cow (1967)
• WritersNell Dunn
Ken Loach
• DirectorKen Loach
• ProducerJoseph Janni
Theme:
Love
Issues:
Domestic Violence
Childcare
Moral Responsibility
A Women makes a lot of bad decisions in her life, she then loses
her son. She then gets a brief grip on reality.

3. Kes (1969)
• Writer(s)Barry Hines
Ken Loach
• DirectorKen Loach
• Producer• Tony Garnett
Theme:
Friendship
Love
Issues:
Lack of love
Abuse
Bullying
A young, English working-class boy spends his free time caring
for and training his pet falcon.

4. Pressure (1975)
• Writer(s)Horace Ove
Samuel Selvon
• DirectorHorace Ove
• ProducerRobert Buckler
Themes:
Cultural Differences
Issues:
Immigration
Cultural Clashes
A British-born younger son of an immigrant family from Trinidad
finds himself adrift between two cultures.

5. My Way Home (1978)
• WriterBill Douglas
• DirectorBill Douglas
ProducerJudy Cottam
Richard Craven
Themes:
War
Issues:
War Desertion
War Crimes
The young Hungarian protagonist wanders through the Russianoccupied Hungary of the final months of WWII, suffering a
pointedly arbitrary round of arrests.

6. Made in Britain (1982)
• WriterDavid Leland
• DirectorAlan Clarke
• ProducerMargaret Matheson
Themes:
Cultural Differences
Issues:
Racism
Violence
A skin head youth rebels against the conventions of
society, when his social worker and carers working in a detention
center, try to get him to conform.

7. High Hopes (1988)
• WriterThemes:
Friendship
Mike Leigh
• DirectorMike Leigh
• ProducerSimon Channing Williams
Victor Glynn
Issues:
Class conflict
Culture clashes
Social mobility
What happens in the life of an ordinary person.

8. The Full Monty (1997)
• WritersSimon Beaufoy
• DirectorPeter Cattaneo
• ProducersUberto Pasolini
Issues:
Themes:
Friendship Unemployment
Six unemployed steel workers form a male striptease act. The
women cheer them on to go for "the full monty“.

9. Nil by Mouth (1997)
• WriterThemes:
Gary Oldman Love
Violence
• DirectorGary Oldman
• ProducerGary Oldman
Douglas Urbanski
Issues:
Domestic Violence
Drug Abuse
A Working class family in London are in a cycle of Domestic
Violence and drug abuse.

10. Last Resort (2000)
• Writer(s)Rowan Joffe
Pawel Pawlikowski
• DirectorPawel Pawlikowski
• ProducerRuth Caleb
Themes:
Issues:
Love
Immigration
Dehumanization
A Russian women wants political asylum in England when her
fiancé fails to pick her up from the airport.

11. This is England(2006)
• WriterShane Meadows
• DirectorShane Meadows
• ProducerMark Herbert
Themes:
Hate
Issues:
Racism
Gang culture
Violence
A kid has a fight with some skin heads after a fight with them, he
them becomes close friends with them. Based on Shane
Meadows experiences.

12. Fish Tank (2009)
• WriterAndrea Arnold
• DirectorAndrea Arnold
• ProducerNick Laws
Kees Kasander
Themes:
Family
Love
Issues:
Violence
Everything changes for 15-year-old Mia when her mum brings
home a new boyfriend.

13. Tyrannosaur(2011)
• WriterPaddy Considine
• DirectorPaddy Considine
• ProducerDiarmid Scrimshaw
Themes:
Hate
Love
Issues:
Violence
Charity
Joseph, a man plagued by violence and a rage that is driving him
to self-destruction, earns a chance of redemption that appears in
the form of Hannah, a Christian charity shop worker.

14. The Angel’s Share (2012)
• WriterThemes:
Paul Laverty Redemption
Love
• DirectorKen Loach
• ProducerRebecca O'Brien
Issues:
Alcohol abuse
Domestic Wellbeing
Narrowly avoiding jail, new dad Robbie vows to turn over a new
leaf. A visit to a whisky distillery inspires him and his mates to
seek a way out of their hopeless lives.