The document discusses common themes found in British social realism films, including childhood deprivation, sexuality, violence, social class clashes, rebellion, poverty, drug abuse, corruption of youth, and domestic abuse. It then provides examples and analysis of several film clips illustrating the themes of parenthood, religion and culture, aspiration and escape, rebellion, and domestic abuse. The clips show characters struggling with parenting, rejecting cultural and religious expectations, pursuing dreams, rebelling against authority, and experiencing domestic violence.

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 positive 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
inform everyone how he got on.

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 family in mosque and at 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 resisting 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.