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Social Realism Codes And Conventions

From these examples of films we now know that social realism films have:

- A main character that is in the mid to early teens range and lives in or on a council estate which is male. The protagonist is normally from a low classed background and shows the everyday implications that they may come across are have to deal with. For example, the use of drugs and underage drinking is a popular theme in social realism as it is a common factor in Britian's lower classes stereotypically. However some of these issues that the higher classes see as implications they just make these seem like everyday life as these will more than likely be.

-The main character will most likely live in a big city such as London where council estates are common

-Will be about the characters day to day life struggles and how they live in a life of crime

-Are set in council estates for the realism aspects of the film

-Most sound in a social realism will be diegetic, meaning all sounds that are heard are likely to be heard if you were actually there

-Mostly use hand held camera to create a realism effect

-will have basic editing transitions to also create a realistic feel to the style of film

These aspects of films help social realism stand on it's own as being a genre rather than a style of films.

Fish Tank

Social Realism Films

'Fish Tank' is a British social film made in 2009. The story to fish tank is that the protagonist 'Mia' is a 15 year old girl living on a council estate. Her mother, Joanne hasn't been able to pin down a boyfriend and her younger sister, Tyler is precocious. Mia has been thrown out of school and therefore has time to spend her days doing whatever she likes, mostly dancing. Joanne's gets new boyfriend 'Connor' and Mia also takes an interest in Connor. After Connor and Mia have an uneasy relationship Connor leaves hoping to leave the problems behind him. Mia then finds Connor and he slaps her to the ground and then drives off. Mia goes to a dance she has auditioned for and realises it's for erotic dancers so she leaves. Mia searches for a boy she befriended called Billy and he tells her that the horse she tried to rescue died and that he is moving to Cardiff and she can come if she wants. She goes home, packs her bags, gets in Billy's car and the pair of them go to Wales.

The characters are represented very well in this film. The main protagonist Mia is represented as a troubled teen in a council estate. The character has the love of dance because she wants to become famous doing it. Something that teenage girls can relate too as they stereotypically want to become big pop stars. Joanne is shown well as being a loose mother like mothers that live in council estates are seen as. 'Fish Tank' shows the characters smoking and underage drinking, much like society would picture people living in those types of areas doing.

Fish Tank is written and directed by Andrea Arnold. It was funded by the BBC Fillms and the UK Films council.

The audience to Fish Tank are targeted to be British so they get the references in the film and so the plot would make a lot more sense as the audience will be able to relate to what is happening in the film as they have likely seen it all before. Fish Tank is also targeted for the younger generation from ages 15-25. This can be told by the characters included in the film and what there age is. The audience at this age range would be more likely to appreciate the film as they would have more knowledge of council estate areas than people who are older or younger. Fish Tank was distributed across the world. Independent films normally have limited or nationwide releases so for this film to be released in other countries as well as England was very impressive and somewhat unusual.

Independent Films normally are aimed at males. The fact that the protagonist is a female is a change in the target audience. While the target audience does include males it is more female focused then other independent films.

The filmmakers are saying about how people who live in situations like Mia are always trying to break free. This is why scenes include her dancing and she is eager to go on the road trip with her mothers new boyfriend. She is wanting to break out of the lifestyle she is in and will be leading to if she carry's on the way she currently is. The dancing shows that she is wanting to become famous and successful from something she enjoys doing so that she no longer has to live in a council estate with her family and can start a new life which is what people that live in council estates want.

The road trip with the boyfriend of the mother shows that she wants to do something different and away from the same location she is so use to. It helps show she wants to break out into something different and more interesting. This is why the countryside where she travels too where the river is where they catch the fish is more colourful, to show that it is breaking out of the plain, boring council estate and hungers for something new.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_Tank_(film)

Social realism films have been criticised by critics as they are considered as not being a stand alone genre and is just a style of film. However there are many different codes and conventions of social realism films that make them stand out as a genre not just a style of film. In this presentation, four different British social realism films will be analysed by genre, narrative, representation, institution and audience. Social realism films have an underlining message and a main point to their films. They have their own comments on modern society. Social realism films are generally aimed at higher educated classes then the class that the protagonist is in. People who are in the class that the protagonist is in may find social realism uninteresting as they either see what is in the film or are living what is in the film. The point of social realism is for the audience to relate to and to be real, hence the name.

This Is England

'This Is England' is set in 1983 and is about a 12 year old school boy named 'Shaun' who gets into a fight at school as the boy 'Harvey' makes a offensive joke about Shauns dad who died in the Falklands war. Shaun meets a group of skinheads that are led by 'Woody' and they sympathize for him and invite him to the group. Shaun looks up to Woody as if he is a big brother and and develops a romance with 'Smell'. 'Combo' returns to the group after a prison sentence with a man called 'Banjo'. Combo expresses his racist views causing the group to split but Shaun sees Combo as a mentor. Woody goes into a separate group to Shaun. Combo becomes depressed and buys cannabis to console himself. He gets jealous when 'Milky' describes his family and relatives and invites him for a family dinner so Combo beats Milky into a coma. Banjo restrains Shaun as he watches in horror. Devastated by what he has done to Milky, Combo turns manic and glasses Banjo in the face. Shaun and Combo then drag Milky to a hospital, and at the end Shaun throws a St George Flag into the sea.

This social realism film has the main protagonist as slightly younger that the other films I have discussed but it still has the same ideas with gangs of young children/adults participating in violent acts against one another and other people.

Like the other social realism films it represents teens being violent and in gangs. It also shows that they are involved in a life of crime.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_England

Kidulthood

A Taste Of Honey

'Kidulthood' is a British drama about a group of teenagers aged at 15 years old and live in the inner area of west London. It was directed by 'Menhaj Huda' and written by 'Noel Clarke'. The characters are portrayed as being reckless and violent and don't obey the law. They commit crimes such as petty theft and serious violence. Kidulthood also shows how the characters engage in drug taking.

Like 'Fish Tank', Kidulthood focuses on 15 year olds living in council estate areas and do petty crimes such as underage drinking and petty theft. Modern British Social Realism films focus on these aspects as they make it part of the genre.

The audience for this film is the same for Fish Tank as it is the same genre as Fish Tank being a social realism. The audience of 15-25 year olds is commonly targeted for these genre films because they are at the age that the main characters are at. Making it more powerful to them as they have knowledge that content like what is in the film actually happens and that it is possibly happening to the people close to them. These films are also targeted for people living in those types of areas as they will know that what happens in the film is a very close example to what happens to them and there home life too.

The characters in Kidulthood are represented as the usual 'teenage thugs' that are portrayed in other films of this genre. Once again this is because it helps determine that this is a social realism film and social realism films do have young teens in that are sown as gang members, thugs and criminals

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidulthood

'A Taste Of Honey' is A British Social Realism Film made in 1961 and is an adaption to a west end play with the same name. Creator of the play 'Shelagh Delaney' adapted the screenplay with assistance from the director 'Tony Richardson'.

A Taste Of Honey is about a 17 year old schoolgirl named 'Jo'. Jo's mother 'Helen' is a 40 year old woman who is an alcoholic. Jo has a fall at school and has a grazed knee. She meets a black sailor by the name of 'Jimmy' and Jimmy invites Jo onto his ship and provides aid for Jo's knee. Jo and Jimmy have a short, brief relationship that is ended because Jimmy has to return to his ship and depart. Helen meets a new man called 'Peter' and this causes a strain on the relationship that Helen and Jo have together. Jo feels rejected by Helen so she finds a job working at a shoe shop and then rents out her own flat. Jo meets Geoffrey who is a homosexual textile design student Jo invites Geoffrey to move in wih her and he accepts. Jo finds out she is pregnant and Geoffrey supports her and offers to marry her saying "You need somebody to love you while you're looking for somebody to love". Helen shows up and tells Jo that her relationship with Peter has failed as he turns out to be selfish. She moves in with Jo causing tension between her and Geoffrey. Geoffrey can't get along with Helen so he moves out leaving Helen to care for Jo and Jo's future baby.

The audience for this film is most likely the same audience that enjoyed the play. The audience is probably around 15-30 much like 'Fish Tank'. This audience normally chosen for British Social Realism Films is around this age range because that sort of age range is most likely to get the references and relate to what is going on in the types of films.

A Taste Of Honey is a good example of a old British social realism film and has fallen in category of realism films known as 'Kitchen Sink Realism'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Taste_of_Honey_(film)

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