Exam Paper Narratives & Identity

FM2: BRITISH & AMERICAN FILM

EXAM PAPER
IDEAS & APPROACHES


Approaching the exam

• Read the question through carefully
• What is it asking you to say?
• How is it asking you to deliver the
information?
• What parts of the film are you expected to
talk about?


The Question

• How far do the narratives of the films you
have studied for this topic explore questions
of belonging and exclusion?


This is England
(Shane Meadows 2006)
Themes:
Lack of identity

Collapse of traditional roles and values

Social upheaval in time period (early 1980s)

Coming of Age / rite of passage (Shaun)


Opening Sequence

This is England Opening Sequence
The sequence is effective in its clever use of iconic 80s
imagery inter-cut with outcomes and after effects of
the huge changes which took place in this time.
These events are also key to the themes of the text
itself – showing both positive and negative images
of Belonging, Social Upheaval and Industrial change
and how these may impact on Identity.


Opening shot of Maggie Thatcher operating a Wrecking ball – implying
destruction. Cut to Space Invaders – suggesting not only new technology but
also metaphorically destruction. A link between Thatcher and destruction is
being made. This is a recurring theme throughout the opening montage. This
is then contrasted with a shot of Knight Rider – again 80s context and new
technology but again cut against graffiti on a wall in a run-down estate
suggesting the social upheaval of this change.


This is followed by contrasting shots of Groups – first one (top left)
is suggesting groups of disaffected youth leaving school unqualified
and with few prospects. Contrasted with a positive image of a
group (again with clever 80s context) in the use of an Aerobics class
– the fashion for which really took off in this era. The most
significant image of Groups and Belonging is the example of the
Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana – which unified
the whole nation albeit temporarily – and provided a positive use
of the Union Jack as well as giving the whole nation a stronger
feeling of IDENTITY


The next set of shots return to the theme of destruction. Initially
we are shown some footage of the Iranian Embassy siege
brought to an end by the S.A.S – indicating a positive use of
destruction (?) contrasted with footage of the protests against
U.S Nuclear Arms at Greenham Common again referring to
collapse of Social order or destruction of English traditions.
After that we are shown Thatcher operating a computer – cut
against Missile Command – as though she is playing the game –
suggesting she is operating the missiles and cleverly using the
80s video game to link her with the U.S. Missile problems at
Greenham.


Footage of the CD being made brings the themes back to New technology and
another 80s invention – but as with the others so far it is contrasted with the
negative outcome of the change to British industry – the miner’s strike used
metaphorically here to emphasise the collapse of a large percentage of traditional
industries in the U.K. – often brought about by the introduction of new
technology. The next set of shots returns us to the central themes of Belonging –
being part of something and the impact of multi-culturalism in modern Britain.
Bottom left is a National Front march – the Union Jack being usurped with
negative connotations and the next shot implies a more positive effect of multi
culturalism – the two old women (who appear by the editing to be watching the
march) are of different backgrounds but seem to have integrated perfectly well.


The last bit of footage from this opening sequence shows images of Falklands war
fought in 1982. To finish on this event serves to reinforce the central themes of the
text – Belonging – being part of something, the destruction of traditional ways of
life and the following social upheaval those changes brought. The soldiers shown
carry the Union Jack whilst marching – in a similar context to the NF marchers
earlier but now with a more positive context. They also ‘belong’ by being part of
the armed forces. Thatcher and Reagan as a partnership were instrumental in the
‘special relationship’ which the U.S. and the U.K. are said to enjoy – suggesting a
change in the way things were done in the U.K. and we are shown another image of
Thatcher being metaphorically responsible for the collapse of working class roles –
seen here operating an anti aircraft gun and cut against not only the sinking of the
Belgrano but also the dead and injured soldiers as a result of the war.


Opening sequence
• The entire montage lays out the central themes of the text,
linking Thatcher with both the cause and effect of the major
changes in the 1980s.
• It shows differing images of destruction and changes (old
industries / ways of life collapsing)
• Contrasted with developments in new technology (CDs /
Computers etc)
• And inter-cut with changes from Imperial Britain to the new,
more modern world in which we live today
• Alongside ways in which human beings need to ‘belong’ or be
in groups – both positively and negatively. (unemployment
queues / aerobics / NF / Armed forces)


This is England

Shaun
As a character Shaun does not fit in to his
environment. He is demonstrated to be an outcast
from the first scene, waking and leaving the house
alone – excluded (even Banned) from the corner
shop when he takes too long to read a comic to
where he teased repeatedly for his flared trousers.
The scene where Shaun is teased by an older boy
also suggests this is not an unusual or unique event.
It also lays the foregrounding for his desperate need
to ‘fit in’ somewhere.


The sequence where Shaun buys his catapult should be one of happiness –
a toy like this should be shared and enjoyed with friends but the sequence
where he practices with it and then sits alone in the abandoned boat –
(both physically and metaphorically adrift) only serves to demonstrate just
how he is isolated and excluded.
Even the eventual reckoning with his mother over the fight at the
beginning of the film implies a lack of connection – they are kept in
separate frames through the entire conversation – further reinforcing both
his need to for a strong role model, to no longer be excluded and to belong.


Woody
Shaun comes into contact with this group / gang shortly after the initial
fight. Their teasing sparks a response and it is Woody’s kindly affection
that first brings Shaun into their group. His action here signifies to Shaun
that he has found a place to belong and a role model to follow. His way
is one of friendly, good natured (perhaps rebellious) companionship.
Woody is an idealised role model – he is kind, warm, understanding and
provides not only support and friendship but a place for Shaun to
belong. It is quite easy to understand how someone as bereft of these
things as Shaun is meant to be could be so easily seduced by the lure of
friendship and belonging.
However, Woody is also a weak Father figure as he does not have the
power to control his ‘gang’ – the control of which is challenged and
subverted by the arrival of Combo.


This is England

• It can be suggested from Shaun’s character that he is also
struggling to find a MALE ROLE MODEL from which he can
build an identity –
• Woody is the first older male role who shows him any sort of
support or affection.
• He becomes the first Father Figure for Shaun – in the
absence of his real father who has died during the Falklands
war (1982) indicated by the bedside photograph of the
soldier
• Woody’s role as Shaun’s ‘father’ is implied by his protection
and encouragement but reinforced by the ‘hunting’ sequence
where Woody carries Shaun on his shoulders


Not only does Woody represent the Father / Brother
Figure that Shaun craves – but also he acts as a link to
the group, something else Shaun is desperate for – the
need to ‘fit in’ and belong to something.
Woody is his way of joining the group of ‘skinheads’
and becoming part of something. Initially, the
Skinhead politics are very ‘safe’ and sanitised as Woody
(and the gang) are polite and welcoming to this
newcomer – even at the expense of one of the other
group members.


Identity

To fit in, Shaun goes
through the ritual initiation
of having his head shaved.
This makes him feel part of
the gang and gives him an
IDENTITY.
By becoming part of the
Skinheads, he now has a
‘group’ and adopts Woody
particularly as his ROLE
MODEL or Father figure


Identity Crisis

Combo
Combo represents the extreme side of the skinhead movement and
serves as Shaun’s second and more dominant Father Figure – leading
him onto the BNP and his more fascist ideals.
Where Woody was a weaker role – identifying with Shaun in a more
Friend/Brother role – Combo takes on the role of Father figure and
actively instructs Shaun on his behaviour and conduct.
Shaun – still desperate for any sort of identity - adopts this new, more
aggressive (and dominant) role model enthusiastically. It could be
argued that as reaction to his earlier lack of power he would seize any
chance at what he sees as real power.
That need to belong – and desperation for IDENTITY leads him to adopt
Combo’s way of doing things and Combo’s beliefs in Nationalism. Thus
Shaun’s identity evolves again to ‘please’ his ‘Father’.


Milky
Milky’s West Indian (Jamaican) background
makes his role as a skinhead problematic.
By including non-white members to his
gang, Woody is identified as a far more
tolerant or passive character than the
stereotype suggests thus reinforcing his
kinder, gentler role in Shaun’s life.
When Combo arrives, this tolerance is disrupted
and then completely abandoned. Combo tries to
befriend Milky – another example of inclusion
and belonging – because he wants Milky’s
connections to cannabis but it is a façade which is
soon abandoned when Combo sees Milky as the
reason behind all of his own misfortune. Milky’s
large family (implied belonging) only reminds
him of how excluded he (Combo) really is,
causing him to lash out.


It could be argued then that the ‘threat’ ethnic minorities really offer to the
often disenfranchised, disconnected white majority is their true feeling of
belonging – minority groups often create strong communities based on the
roots of their homelands as a way of protecting themselves in a foreign
environment. It is these community links and groups – the fact that they
are able to feel part of something and to belong – is, ironically, what
characters like Combo want to destroy. It is a reminder of what he/they do
not have themselves.
Consider the scene where Combo loses his
temper and ends up beating Milky – it is
only when Milky talks about his family and
the happy times they have together that
Combo attacks him – this reinforces the
idea that Combo is jealous /angry that
Milky belongs to something when he
(Combo) is abandoned by all but his most
loyal followers (Shaun & Banjo). Even his
attempts to persuade Lol to choose him
over Woody are met with utmost rejection.


Identity & Belonging in East is East


East Is East
Based on a semi-autobiographical play by Ayub Khan
Din, East is East (d. Damian O'Donnell, 1999) was a
surprise international smash hit, nominated for six
BAFTAS and winning the Alexander Korda Award for
Outstanding British Film.

O'Donnell turns Rudyard Kipling's adage,
"East is East, West is West, and never the
twain shall meet" cleverly on its head, in a
clever yet moving portrayal of the culture
clash between a traditionalist Pakistani
father George (Om Puri) and his English wife
and seven westernised children.


Themes

• Immigrant status / Alienation
• Integration / Separation and Belonging
• Conflict and Identity – challenges of
multiculturalism.
• Notions of Englishness – what it means to be
English


Opening Sequence

• The Culture clash is captured in the first scene: the
Khan kids join a Catholic ceremony, marching down
the back-to-back terraced streets of Salford,
sporting banners, crucifixes and wreathes.
• When their father unexpectedly returns early from
mosque, their mother, Ella (Linda Bassett) goes to
warn them.
• As Ella and George watch the rest of the march, the
kids sneak down the alleyways and rejoin the head
of the procession.


Opening Sequence
• East is East opening sequence
• The sequence cleverly uses a mix of humour and drama to
set up the overall tone and feel of the text. The audience are
shown the Khan family – at a distance initially to show they
are just one part of a larger procession.
• George appears – disrupting their happy time and causing
them to all run off behind him before re-joining the
procession further down.
• George is happy to watch from the sidelines but will not get
involved – and from the children’s response, it is implied he
does not want them to be involved either thus neatly setting
out the film’s overall theme.


Opening Sequence

• Running down the alley ways behind their father
signifies one of the central themes – that the
children are fully integrated into English society
(carrying Christian religious imagery, voluntarily
joining in with a local traditional festival, being part
of the community)
• The fact that this action takes place behind their
father’s back (both physically and metaphorically)
and with the tacit approval of their mother – who
acts as a ‘lookout’ - demonstrates the dichotomy of
their identities.


The Khan Children
The children are certain of their identity as 'English' and defy George's
determination to raise them as Muslim-Pakistanis:
• Meenah (Archie Panjabi) prefers playing football in the street to a demure life in
a sari;
• Saleem (Chris Bisson) pretends to study engineering (a Pakistani father's dream
vocation for his son), but is really at art school;
• Tariq (Jimi Mistry) calls himself Tony, kisses English girls and gets drunk;
• Abdul (Raj James) potentially the most balanced – works at a garage, complies
to his father’s wishes but sees himself as English with his ‘stag do’ in the local pub
(on his own)
• Maneer (Gandi) (Emil Marwa) the most loyal Muslim of the children – seen
praying regularly and always traditionally dressed. The others refer to him as
Gandi in reference to his peaceful, un-rebellious nature
• Sajid (Jordan Routledge) is yet to be circumcised and plays with the grandson of
a racist, Enoch Powell-supporting neighbour;
• Nazir (Ian Aspinall) abandons his arranged marriage at the start of the film and
is erased from the family (vanishing picture). Seen initially as a response to his
disobedience but latterly the heavily implied homosexuality could serve as reason
for his banishment.


George Khan
GEORGE – CLASSICALLY KHAN – TRADTIONALLY ASIAN
REGAL ENGLISH NAME SURNAME
• But the cultural conflict is greatest in George himself, who
insists his sons marry Pakistani girls.
• His children see him as a hypocrite as well as a despot
because he left his first wife in Pakistan, came to England to
make his fortune and married an English woman.
• (Tariq acutely asks, "If English women are so bad, why did
you marry my mum?").
• But he enforces the Pakistani / Muslim way aggressively
(even violently) and considers himself a Pakistani rather than
English.
• And yet this viewpoint is challenged by a number of factors:


George Khan

• George studiously follows the India-Pakistan war on
the radio in whilst in his chip shop, 'George's English
Chippy',
• His poor English is punctuated by the colloquial
swearwords and slang of a local, used incorrectly.
• But having forgotten to circumcise Sajid, he buys
him a watch in Arabic to mollify him.
• George's last words in the film reprise his recurring
desire for 'half a cup' of tea.


George Khan
Half a cup of tea
The continual reference of half a cup of tea by George refers
implicitly to his inability to fit in. He can only ever commit to
half a cup of this most English of beverages.
George’s Fish ‘n’ Chippy
Even more indicative of how much he has become
assimilated into British culture, George and Ella run a fish 'n
chip shop - and though George complains about how racist
his British neighbours are, he himself is a bigot, not only
against the English, but also those of Indian descent, (eg
Sajid’s Doctor) as a result of an ongoing war between
Pakistan and India.
George is something of a paradox


Conflict and Identity
• The conflicts dramatized in East Is East are universal, as they
bring into play the gaps between generations and cultural
identities. The children, who have spent all their lives in a
British society, want to have nothing to do with their
heritage, and want to become even more 'British' such that
they can better 'fit in' and not be subject to schoolyard taunts
(much like Shaun in This is England)
• On the other hand, George's insecurities and cultural
upbringing manifest themselves in the form of pathological
pride, blinding him to his own hypocrisy and the torment he
inflicts on his family.
• As a result, George finds himself at odds with the world
around him on more than one occasion, and his perceived
loss of control only makes him more entrenched in his beliefs.


One of the areas covered by East is East is the notion of
alienation and acceptance (belonging). Even though
the Khans (except George) seem quite comfortably
integrated, they are continually reminded of their
‘alien’ status. Reinforced by the inclusion of ‘alien’
imagery (left – The Clangers) and Enoch Powell’s
(below left) support in the white majority telling them
they don’t ‘belong’.
The racist bigot supporting Powell in the film is ridiculed
by his grandson being Sajid’s friend and being quite
taken with Meenah. Ironically he is far more accepting
of the Khans than they even are of him – implied by
Meenah’s teasing and George’s offhand dismissal of him
when he tries to greet them in Arabic.
George’s cheerful Allah go with you to the local
Catholic priest is also met with much confusion
suggesting a lack of understanding between the
cultures.


Tariq is the most rebellious of the Khan
children. He sneaks out at night, drinks and
smokes, dances and fools around with girls.
He particularly seems to enjoy the rebellious
excitement of relationships with white girls.
His main ‘girlfriend’ is also the daughter of
the local NF supporter and it is implied in
places that this serves as an incentive for
him to keep seeing her.
Tariq – a known figure on the Club circuit, indicated by his
being on first-name terms with the bouncers – also goes by
the pseudonym Tony to further integrate himself into the
English community. His identity as a local ‘player’ is built on
the idea that he is English. He also rejects his Father’s plans
for him far more violently than Abdul (“I won’t marry a
paki!”)


International Marketability
East is East was distributed by Miramax
as part of their arrangement with Film
Four
It is interesting to note the differences
between the UK release (below) which
clearly indicates the ethnicity of the
central characters and the multi- cultural
themes of the text.

Now look at the U.S release poster
(above). What evidence of
ethnicity and multiculturalism can
you see?
Why do you think this is?

Exam Paper Narratives & Identity

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