The film Tyrannosaur (2011) falls into the social realist genre and aims to represent working class life in a realistic way rather than provide escapism. It focuses on personal relationships between the protagonist and others, including an unlikely friendship with a charity shop owner and relationship with his dying father. While the protagonist is flawed and audiences are not meant to aspire to be like him, the film encourages empathy by explaining his difficulties. Though fictional, the film aims to inform audiences about real hardships faced by some in the UK through its gritty portrayal.

1. Uses and gratification theory
applied
Looking at an example of an indie production
Tyrannosaur (2011)

2. Examples of U+G
Tyrannosaur – Warp (2011)
• Escapism
• as this is a social realist film, more like the one we are creating, there is not a lot of escapism
• This does not fit the genre, nor would the film have the budget for it
• Personal identity
• The protagonist is an unemployed, racist, sexist, heavy drinking middle-aged man who kills his dog in the
opening scene
• This does not allow for a wide variety of audiences to identify with, nor aspire to be like him
• But, the film focuses on explaining why he is like this, and the difficulties in his life, allowing for empathy
• Personal relationships
• There is a friendship which grows between the protagonist and a charity shop owner, who is struggling in an
abusive relationship
• There is also the relationship between the protagonist and his dying father
• The friendship between the protagonist and a boy across the street, who is afraid of his mum's boyfriend's dog
• Information
• The film is fictional, but as a social realist aims to reflect the darker parts of real life, so in giving an accurate
representation of the difficulties many working class UK citizens face it does somewhat inform people who are
less aware of these hardship and evokes a strong audience reaction

3. Escapism
• The film falls into the social realist genre, so aims to represent life in a
realistic way, not allowing for much escapism
• Furthermore, this film has darker themes and content (alcoholism,
domestic violence and abuse, religion and nihilism, brutal hardships of
working class life, unemployment, racism)
• There is an element of escapism as some people will not have been
challenged by these themes in such a raw and gritty way, and there is still a
linear plot to follow, but this film only appeals a very small demographic

4. Personal identity
• The audience is not encouraged to aspire to be like the
protagonist, though they are encouraged to empathize
with him – the incidental acoustic music which plays after
he kicks his dog evokes this
• The protagonist is a 3 dimensional character, shown doing both
stereotypical masculine things, and counter typical (images on
the right)
• The other most prominent character is a middle-aged,
working class, female charity shop owner – more
identification is here, as she is kind to the protagonist
when he barges into and hides in her shop (showing traits
more people would be inclined to want to identify with)
• The opening scene is shocking for audiences, but as the
film goes on you are encouraged to, if not identify, then at
least empathize with the characters

5. Personal relationships
• Friendship
• An unlikely friendship grows between the charity shop owner and
protagonist, which though the audience may not be able to identify
with, is entertaining none the less
• The protagonist goes to the pub with his friends throughout the film -
identification
• Romance
• There is the relationship between the charity shop owner and her
boyfriend, and though they aren't in the film together for many scenes,
the abuse seen is a realistic portrayal of domestically abusive
relationships, and allows for audience identification form some, and
evokes a strong reaction from those who cannot identify
• Family
• The relationship between the protagonist and his dying father is
important, and some audiences could identify
• The protagonist does not have any children, but he looks out for the
young boy living across the road by killing the dog of his mum's
boyfriend – he is somewhat of a father figure

6. Information
• The plot of the film is still fictional, but the social realist genre aims to
represent life realistically
• Though it isn’t a documentary, it still shows things that many people would
not know – e.g. collecting unemployment benefits