british social realism themes

1. THEMES OF BSR

2. COMMON THEMES OF BSR
Childhood - kids that are deprived of a childhood are mainly shown in BSR.
Sexuality - sexual awakening - first kiss/homophobia/discovering who you are.
Violence
Social class clashes - the higher and upper class mix together.
Rebellion - rebelling against parents/religion.
Poverty
Drug Abuse/Experimentation - Addiction/First experience
Corruption of Youth - Young people having a negative experience.
Domestic Abuse - abuse at home of a partner/children.
Parenthood - young, struggling parents trying to provide for their children.

3. PARENTHOOD
This is the opening scene from London to Brighton. This clip, clearly
shows the theme of Parenthood. In this screen grab at 0:54, the
woman holds the door shut and tells the lady on the other side to
'f**k off', in front of her child. The woman isn't really watching her
language around her child. Also the area they're in right now, is very
dirty and unsanitary. Denoted is graffiti on the door which connotes
it's an urban area. This is no place that a child should have to
experience, but the woman has no choice but to bring her there as its
evident something has gone on that they need to be there.

4. PARENTHOOD
In this screen grab taken from 1:02, denoted is the woman trying to
clear the girls face. This shows the theme of Parenthood, as although,
presumably, she was the reason the little girl is involved, she's still
trying to look after and care for her child. She helps her get rid of,
what looks like blood, off her face.
Another moment where it shows she's caring for her child is at 1:06 -
she holds the girls face in her hands and says 'do you want some
food? I'll get you some food alright?' She may not be the best mother,
but she's still trying to provide for her. It's clear to see she is
struggling, which is the typical representation of parents in BSR.

5. PARENTHOOD
In this clip, Parenthood is connoted in a negative but positive way. It's
connoted as posititive as through out the situation, the mother is
trying to look after the girl, she goes and gets food for her and then
also does prostitution to get money so they can leave the area. But
arguably, it's also negative as the little girl shouldn't have been
involved in all of this, she's only involved as this woman is her
mother. It represents the woman as a struggling mother.
I would explore this theme in my film, much like how it is explored in
the clip. I like how they have two sides of Parenthood, it shows how
parents aren't all perfect. An idea for the opening sequence of my
film was maybe to start with a shot of a living room in a small house,
with lots of kids but only a single mum to look after them all , it
would exaggerate her struggle to provide for these kids.

6. RELIGION AND CULTURE
This is the trailer for Everywhere and Nowhere, directed by Menhaj Huda. This
clip displays how religion and culture is affecting this boys dream to become
a DJ.
Denoted in this screen grab from 0:44, is a woman saying 'if not account, you
would make a great lawyer'. This dialogue is spread over the shot in the
screen grab but also shots of the boy dj-ing in a club. In asian culture, a
typical stereotype is that parents always want their kids to become
accountants, lawyers, doctors etc. So by this woman saying that, it conforms
to the stereotype. But by having the shots of the boy dj-ing on the screen
while she says this, it connotes how the boy's going against the stereotype of
his culture. He doesn't want to do a job that's deemed as professional and
the best by his parents or relatives ,he wants to do what he believes in. Also
the fact the 3 women in the shot are wearing the cultural attire, emphasizes
the fact that he's rebelling against it even more.

7. RELIGION AND CULTURE
Denoted in this screen grab, taken from 0:57, is a man that claps his
hands while saying 'that's very impressive' sarcastically. In the shot
before this, the boy says that he is a dj and this is the mans response.
This represents how in this cultural society, doing anything other than
lawyer,doctor etc is frowned upon and other creative jobs are not
taken as seriously. When saying 'very' it puts emphasis on it and draws
it out, which connotes his sarcastic tone to this boys job. Also the way
he's looking at the boy, he's almost looking down at him and his face
is pointing downwards. He think's that he is of a higher status than
him. The man laughs and claps while being sarcastic, he's almost
brushing it off. He's taking this boys dream to become a professional
dj and made fun on it.

8. RELIGION AND CULTURE
In this clip, religion and culture is seen as something that holds you
back, it's connoted in a negative light. People could be stuck in a job
they have no passion for, just because in their religion and culture,
that's a job that's acceptable to do. But the fact that this boy is trying
to break out of the typical stereotype displays to the audience that it's
not set in stone. If you want to achieve your dreams you can, you
shouldn't let anybody stop you.
Exploring the theme of religion and culture is a difficult one as I think
you're likely to get backlash of it from people who get offended, so if I
do incorporate this theme, I'll have to take that into consideration.
One idea I do have is that you could have an individuals family that is
all very religious and cultural, but then this certain individual doesn't
believe in the religion and doesn't follow the same path as the rest of
the family do. It would be interested to see the conflicts that occur
when this happens.

9. ASPIRATION AND ESCAPE
This shows a short clip of Billy Elliot, where he gets his acceptance
letter for the Royal Ballet School. Although this is only a short clip, it
definitely shows the theme of aspiration and escape.
This screen grab taken from 0:19 connotes how important it is for the
boy to escape his town and pursue his dream of being a dancer.
Denoted in the screen grab is the boy looking nervous, his hands are
on the table and he's tapping slightly, he doesn't know what to do
with his hands. He's also biting his lip while looking around at the
people around him. This clearly connotes how important this is to
him as the letter is right in front of him, but he's afraid to open it
incase they reject him, his aspiration to become a dancer will be
crushed.

10. ASPIRATION AND ESCAPE
In this screen grab, denoted is Billy Elliot reading his letter from the
Royal Ballet School. What's interesting about this is the sound that is
played on top of the shot. So far in this clip, there's been no dialogue
or music, but as soon as he opens the envelope, soft piano music
begins to play. This music then gets more intense when he's reading
the letter. This connotes the theme of aspiration and escape, as the
music helps to put all focus in that scene on him opening the letter,
that's what the director wants people to focus on. It emphasizes the
need for him to be a dancer. Also the only dialogue in this clip, is
when he announces that he got in. Again, this is to exaggerate how
much he wants this.
The last shot of this clip, is his dad running to the social club to tell
everyone that his son got in. The fathers facial expression in this
screen grab connotes how happy he is for his son to not be stuck in
the same town for the rest of his life, he's going out there and
making a name for himself. Also the fact that he's going to tell
everyone in the social club, can connote how no one in this town has
really done big exciting things, this is the first time, so he's gone to

11. ASPIRATION AND ESCAPE
Aspiration is represented very positively in this clip. Although they
don't say much, it's clear that they all want him to achieve his dream,
they all want him to aspire to be something more. When he does get
accepted, his dad starts running and grinning massively, it's obvious
he's happy for his son.
Also you can tell it meant a lot to the boy as when he read the letter,
he was in shock, he didn't go out and tell them, he sat down silently
and cried.
If I choose to explore aspiration and escape in my film, I would do it
in a different way to this film. Instead of having the support of the
people around the character, I think it would be interesting for them
to do it alone, so they can correct the people that doubted them. The
journey of them to aspire to be what they want to would be more
interesting if everyone was against them in my opinion.

12. REBELLION
This clip from Yasmin, shows the theme of Rebellion. Yasmin is a girl that
has a religious Islam family, but from this clip, it's clear to see that she is
more westernized.
In this screen grab from 2:06, denoted is Yasmin taking off her more
traditional clothes and putting on western clothes. Also in the next shot of
her, you see her taking off her headscarf. This clearly shows rebellion, as
she's rebelling against her religion. Her family are in the surrounding shots
and they're praying and all in the traditional cultural attire.
0:50 - Shot of her family in a mosque 1:16 Shot of women in
headscarfs

13. REBELLION
In this screen grab from 4:00, Yasmin says 'C'mon John, I'm
not gonna buy a TP car, am i?' Then later goes on to
explain that TP means 'Typical Paki'. She's rebelling against
her religion as she says she doesn't want to be like them,
she doesn't even want to drive a car that's associated with
Pakistani's. Also the face that she makes while saying this
connotes that she thinks she's better than them as she has
a disgusted facial expression.

14. REBELLION
Rebellion is represented in this clip as a way to get away from this
girls ordinary life. She doesn't want to be like the rest of family, she
wishes to be more westernized, so she rebels. Rebellion will always
be represented in a negative light, as the word itself it's negative. The
definition of rebellion is 'the action or process of resisting authority,
control, or convention'. Someone resisiting authority is likely to be
represented negatively.
If I were to explore this theme, I would use the idea of rebelling
against the parents instead of religion. I would have a scene where
the daughter/son agree to not do something with their parents but
do it anyway. Like in an Amish family, they don't do certain things, so
it would be interesting to see how the children rebel against it.

15. DOMESTIC ABUSE
This clip, taken from Nil By Mouth clearly shows the theme
of Domestic Abuse, verbally as well as physically.
In this screen grab from 1:58, you can see that the man is
annoyed by his facial expression, his eyebrows are raised
and his lips are pursed. He also says 'tell me f***ing
straight, are you f***ing him?'. From this dialogue, it's clear
that this man is jealous and thinks his girlfriend/wife is
sleeping with someone else. This is what causes the
argument. There's already a little bit of verbal abuse as he's
shouting and swearing at her. This then gets escalated
2:14, as he gets right up in her face and starts swearing
and shouting more. This is where the verbal abuse really
shows. He's in her personal space, demanding answers
about the man she's supposedly sleeping with.

16. DOMESTIC ABUSE
In this screen grab from 2:26, the woman says 'No, I mean
this, I can't stand this all the time!' - talking about the
man shouting at her. This makes it evident that this abuse
isn't a one time thing, it has happened on multiple
occasions. The womans' facial expression when she says it
also connotes the abuse. She looks almost scared to say
it, the abuse has clearly affected her.
2:37 is when the physical abuse starts. Denoted in this
screen grab in the man kicking the women while shouting
'c***' repeatedly and all you can hear from the woman is
her weeping. The camera work in this shot makes the way
this theme is shown very graphic, as you don't actually see
the woman, all you see is her attacker. So you're left
thinking in your head what she looks like and imagine it to
be horrific.

17. DOMESTIC ABUSE
Near the end of this clip, at 3:12, you see a little girl on the stairs. She has
heard everything that's gone on and is just sitting there silently, this also
makes it evident that this has happened before, as she might be scared to
go see what's going on as she's already had that experience. The man tells
the girl to go to bed and she goes almost instantly, running away as if she's
scared of him.
Domestic Abuse is another theme that will always be represented negatively,
as it's never a positive thing. In this clip it's definitely represented as
negative as the man starts to hit the woman, over a small topic. All she did
was hang out with another man, who was friends of a friend and her
boyfriend/husband got overly jealous and started to beat her.
If I were to explore the theme of Domestic Abuse, I would focus on the
abuse of parents hitting their children as I feel this is an issue that isn't
brought up a lot. I would do my best to raise awareness of this, as many
people think Domestic abuse is just between partners but it can also occur
between parents and kids.