The document provides summaries of scenes from several British social realism films from different decades. It analyzes the themes, characters, filming techniques, and other elements depicted in short clips from films like Look Back in Anger, Room at the Top, Kes, and Trainspotting. The analyses note themes of violence, corruption of youth, domestic abuse, social class clashes, and more. They also describe the use of natural lighting and on-location filming that were characteristic of the British social realism genre.

1. British Social
Realism Through
History!

2. 2010’s

3. HOME
Look back in
Anger
Room at the Top

4. Back
Jimmy Porter is a loud, obnoxious man, rude and
rather abusive to his wife, Alison. This clip denotes
a high angle shot showing a group of people
dancing in a room with a band playing old
fashioned music. The diagetic music has no lyrics
and it is only instrumental. The accents in this scene
are very posh. As well as the music, the costumes
the people are wearing are also very old fashioned.
The scene is filmed in real life locations and this is
backs up the idea of a British Social Realism. The
setting is very industrialised and has an urban look
to it as you can see factories in the establishing shot.
This connotes that the people who live there are
working class people. Also the clip shows a woman
working in the house, ironing the clothes whereas
the men are sitting reading a newspaper and this
stereotypes the fact that the woman have a lower
status than the man and stay at home to work.

5. Back
This clip denotes two small children looking at
a man from a high angle. The man is on the
ground and his face has blood on it. Even
though he looks worn out, his facial expressions
denote a pained smirk. His clothes are very
dirty. The blood on his face connotes the theme
of violence throughout the film. The clip shows
a group of men helping the man and this
connotes that friendship and relationships are
another major theme. Throughout the clip, the
man has a toy car with him which represents
the significance over the youth. The clip is
filmed on location and this means there is
natural lighting. The Era represented is in the
past as the posh costumes the men were
wearing is something you would wear in the
past and not modern day clothing.

6. HOME
Poor Cow Kes

7. Back
This clip connotes the theme of childhood by
denoting the way the parents are looking after the
child and spending time with it. The clip also shows
the theme of parenthood and this is connoted
through the care and love the parents for the baby
and this is not how parenthood is usually represented
in BSR as they usually show parents that are failing.
There are very less characters shown in this clip. I
found that the mother in this clip holds the archetype
of a loving mother, the one you would always go to
for comfort and for reassurance. However I also
found that the dad was helping out with the baby as
well which is also out of place for a BSR film as the
dads tend to be strict and go to work instead of
helping in the house. The clip is filmed on location
and you can see buildings and industrialised factory
in the back which connotes a working class area. The
sound starts off as non diagetic with a sound bridge
in between the shots. However we see near the end
the dad playing the guitar and singing the song.

8. Back
The themes denoted in this clip is Childhood as the
boy kept answering back to the teacher and even
though he was getting told off, the rest of the class
kept laughing even when the teacher said to be
quite. This connotes that there’s no discipline in
their lives. This also shows denotes the theme of
Corruption of Youth as the teacher could not handle
the class well and this connotes that they weren’t
receiving a good education even if they are in
school. There is no hierarchy in the classroom. The
clip is filmed on location in a school and has
artificial lighting. The production design denotes a
blue colour in the mise-en-scene and this connotes
that the school is the last place the children want to
be. The only sound in this clip is Diagetic (Dialogue)
and there is also a bell ringing which is a SFX. There
were many cuts in the clip but not many different
camera angles. I did see a close up of the teacher
and the shot denotes a worn out expression on his
face and this connotes how fed up he is with the
boy and that he gets this situation regularly. The
costumes the children are wearing are school
uniform and this connotes that all of the children
are considered to be the same.

9. HOME
Bronco
Bullfrog

10. Back
This clip denotes a mid shot of two boys
opening the back of a truck and this connotes
the theme of petite crime as you can see them
robbing the van. At 2:09 the clip denotes two
men beating up another man in an ally way in
the night and this connotes the theme of
violence. The characters represented in this
clip are very stereotypical. The clip denotes
two woman sitting at home drinking tea and
gossiping about their lives and this connotes
that they stay at home not working. However
the clip also denotes a woman walking with a
man and he asks her “what do you do” and
this connotes that he does not know her and
she is walking with him to connote
promiscuity. The clip denotes factories and an
ally way and this connotes that the film is
filmed on location with natural lighting most
of the time. The sound is slow and the
characters had accents.

11. HOME
My Beautiful
Launderette
Rita, Sue & Rob
Too

12. Back
This clip denotes at 1:54 the man saying “Oh dear, a
working class such a disappointment to me” and this
connotes that one of the themes in this film is Social
Class Clashes. Another theme connoted in this clip is
Parenthood and this is denoted by the man talking
about how he wants his son to read and not work in a
launderette. I feel as if Politics is another theme as the
man hints at what is being done to who in their
country. The characters shown in this clip suggest
that the men have to work hard to get something ,
even if they are put down by upper class people. The
film is filmed on Location and you can see the use of
artificial lighting. There is hardly any sound in this
clip except for the dialogue. As well as the sound,
there are also very little cuts in the editing and the
clip is filmed mostly using a mid shot to connote the
relationship between the two men. The mise-en-scene
is suitable for the location as you can see washing
machines and baskets .

13. Back
This clip denotes the father of the house
waiting for the girl to return to the house
and he is holding a bat. This connotes the
theme of Domestic Violence. The father is
shouting at her and also calls her mum a
‘lying bast*rd’ and this connotes the theme
of bad parenting as the language used
toward the girl is brutal and offensive. The
clip denotes the father always drunk and
aggressive and this connotes that the men
are like this. However you see the girl
being confronted about sleeping with
another woman’s husband and this
connotes that the woman are seen as a
prize and are used in promiscuity as the
husband apparently was ‘not at fault’. The
clip was filmed on location and you can see
it is with natural lighting outside as well as
artificial lighting.

14. HOME
Trainspotting

15. Back
This clip denotes a mid shot of a man talking
about a fight and his language and story
connotes the theme of Violence. At 1:06, the
clip denotes a freeze in the scene and a voice
over and this connotes that the story is from
someone’s point of view. The clip denotes the
voice over saying “that was one of his
weaknesses, he never tells lies” and this
connotes that the men are represented as
weak if they are honest. There was no music
in this clip. The knife in the pocket connotes
the theme of violence as well. The actors
made the scene very unrealistic as the man
threw the glass from the top and the girls face
shows to have blood all over it. The
costumes are everyday normal clothing such
as jeans and denim jackets.

16. HOME
Kidulthood

17. This clip denotes at 4:25 the boy holding a bat and this connotes the theme of
violence. At 3:15 the clip denotes the boy flirting with the girl who has a boyfriend
and indicates to have sex with her. She hesitates at first butt does nothing to stop
him and this connotes that women are represented as easy and promiscuous and the
men are represented as immature. The shot is filmed on location and it uses natural
lighting. The sound in the beginning has a beat to it and sounds like something
gangsters listen to. The costumes the boys are wearing are tracksuits and hats. You
also see the girl wearing fishnet stockings with a skirt. The camera language is really
good as the clip denotes a low angle at 4:30 and this connotes that the three boys are
in control of the situation.
Back

18. HOME
Sightseers

19. Back
This clip denotes many wide shots and shows
the woman and man making a fuss over cleaning
up after their dog. They lie to get out of their
problem and this connotes the theme of failure as
they are lost and they don’t have their car. The
characters represent the way they are struggling.
For example, the woman fake cries to get what
she wants and this connotes the woman to be
demanding and immature. The man wrongly
blames the other man and this connotes that he
has no class. The costumes they are wearing are
modern day clothing consisting of leggings a
coat and hats. The lighting used is natural as
they are filming on location which makes the
scene look realistic. There is faint cheery music at
the beginning that connotes that they are trying
to be happy through their everyday struggles.