This document discusses the features and themes of social realist films. Social realism aims to depict the real or truth in its content and style. Social realist films are typically independent, low budget films that focus on working class struggles and address issues like exclusion from school and bullying. Many social realist films from Britain use children as central protagonists to explore social issues and the relationship between characters and place.

3. SOCIAL REALISM
• Problems with defining realism
• An oppositional form of expression
• Pursuit of the real (the truth)
• Refers to content, concerns and style of a film

4. SOCIAL REALIST FILMS
• “ Social realism has always been a somewhat marginal,
sometimes oppositional mode of expression that has
relied – to varying degrees – on its otherness from
more mainstream film products as a distinguishing
feature.” (Bromley, 2000: 233)

5. F E AT U R E S O F S O C I A L R E A L I S T F I L M S
• Independent
• Low Budget
• Directed to art house/television/DVD market
• Non professional actors

6. REALIST TEXTS (WILLIAMS, 1977)
• Secular
• Grounded in the contemporary
• Social extension
• Political Intent

7. F E AT U R E S O F S O C I A L R E A L I S T F I L M S
• In British social realism - link between character and
place
• Place and identity
• Exploration of contentious issues or moments of crisis

8. BRITISH FILM REALISM
• Significance of landscapes
• Shooting is a “place bound experience” (Aitken, 2007:
78)
• Sites of working class struggle

9. KES

10. THE SELFISH GIANT

11. R AT C AT C H E R

12. GREGORY’S GIRL

13. CHILDREN IN SOCIAL REALIST FILMS
• British Social Realist cinema & working class children
• Concern with children?
• Often children are the central protagonist

14. I S S U E S F O R A D U LT A U D I E N C E S
• How can we identify with the child protagonists?
• Is the film addressing us as adults/parents/potential
parents - distance from the childhood depicted
• Are working class parents being addressed?
• Are middle class audiences reminded of their distance
from the characters?

15. • “If nothing else, Barnard’s film will claim the world
record for what we might call the expleted imperative:
characters telling each other to ‘Fuck off you daft [cunt
/ twat / wanker / etc].’”
• Corless, 2014

16. THE SELFISH GIANT &
R E P R E S E N TAT I O N O F E D U C AT I O N

17. EXCLUSION
• You’ve been excluded,
permanently
• He’s at school, he’s better
off there
• What yer doing sat here,
get out n make some
money
• Yer a kid, I want better for
yer

18. SCHOOL
• Discipline
• Bullying
• Friendship
• Medicalisation of
Childhood

19. CHILDREN AS VICTIMS
• “At worst, these young people are victims not just of
their peers but of a system which cannot protect
them” (Fisher, Harris and Jarvis, 2008: 106)

20. REFERENCES
• Aitken, S.C (2007) ‘Poetic child realism: Scottish film and the construction of
childhood’, Scottish Geographical Journal, 123(1): 68-86
• Bromley, R. (2000) ‘The theme that dare not speak its name: Class and recent British
Film, in S. Munt (Ed) Cultural Studies and the Working Class, London: Cassell, Chapter
3, pp 51-68
• Corless, K. (2014) Cannes 2013: Three morality tales for our times, [online) Available at
http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/comment/festivals/
cannes-2013-three-morality-tales-our-times [Accessed 30th January 2014]
• Lay, S. (2002) British Social Realism: From documentary to Brit-grit, London: Wallflower
• Lay, S. (2007) ‘Good intentions, high hopes and low budgets: Contemporary social
realist film-making in Britain’, New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film, 5 (3)
• Williams, R. (1977) Marxism and Literature, Oxford: Oxford University Press