A trip into the country

[tonyyeboah]

Shane obviously has a thing for the country. In Romeo Brass. DMS and TIE there are scenes with the characters driving from the suburbs to the countryside. (usually in a stupid car ) And then the characters fall out ;D

[anonlytwin]

massive theme within social realism. since the british new wave working class characters have escaped the city with trips into the country... british new wave films have been heavily criticised for their use of this device because of the bourgeois suggestion of a need for escape, which patronises the life and environment that the working-class characters normally inhabit. i honestly think that shane does it in a much different way though, insofar as the country is not entirely a space for escape... the trip to the seaside in room for romeo brass is loaded with threat and menace, as is sonny and the lads trip into the country in Dead mans... and the best example of how shane subverts the notion that the country side is a place for escape is the national front meeting in TIE.... hmmm, sorry of that bored anyone, its just a subject i find really interesting

[anonlytwin]

.... actually the perfect example is the trip to the country that the lads take anthony on... would love to know if shanes treatment of the countryside is a reaction to earlier social realist uses of the same environment...

[jill]

I have no idea what I'm talking about....

.....but your post made me think about Blake's utopian socialism -dark satanic mills and green and pleasant lands v's Marx's on the proletariat (however miserable at least) being saved from the 'idiocy of rural life.' There's absolutely no point to this post anonlytwin except to say that I've never before thought about the urban/rural space distinction as politicised in British film until I read your post-made me think!!!

[jill]

Anonlytwin, Im not drunk, but I've been in the pub tonight so not completely compos-mentis ...so take this or dismiss this as you will...but re above rambling thoughts on rural imagery in Blake....the centrality of Blake to the 2Oth/C construction of English identity...the centrality of English identity/nationalism themes in TIE... the appropriation of Blake (wrongly-boo) by English nationalists/fascists..... there's maybe more that could be said about the setting of the NF meeting in the countryside in TIE beyond the film literature? Really don't know-total ignoramus about these things...just a thought...

[anonlytwin]

jill, i am drunk.. so will save my real reply until tommorrow... for now, raymond williams 'country and city' is a great book on this subject...

[jill]

I'm not quite sure what I meant now-ha, ha-I suppose I was on about rural imagery in literature about Englishness and identity and how that scene subverts such romanticism ? I don't know. Will look out for the Williams book!