Just joined - (Social Realism in Shane's Films)

[stumpster]

hey hey all just joined the forum erm few reason one is love shane meadow films and second is might get bit of help for coursework if anyone can point me to suitable sources regarding the question 'How does Shane meadows films show social realism in Britain' be appreciated

btw if some of my posts are like hard to read im dyslexic ;p

[GR]

Welcome aboard, stumpster.

I'm not sure I can help much with that question, but I found this bit from the 'Dead Man's Shoes' production notes (posted on rottentomatoes.com) that you might find interesting:

"The character of Richard--part devil, part avenging angel, but mostly tortured individual--and Anthony, his innocent younger brother, came out of a conversation between actor Paddy Considine and director Shane Meadows. Both Shane and Paddy were appalled by the everyday atrocities that go unheeded in Britain's small towns. In particular, at the age of 17, a close friend of Shane's who had been bullied and was taking drugs, committed suicide. On returning 10 years later to the place where he had then lived, Shane discovered that his friend's death had been forgotten. 'There are a lot of small towns where these things go on, and although no one is directly responsible, crimes are forgotten,' says Shane. As Paddy puts it, 'These terrible acts are buried and ingrained into the community but never addressed.'"

www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dead_mans_shoes/about.php#notes

[RichK]

Hi Stumpster, all the info you could possibly need has already been discussed on this forum..

Dave, how about an "education resources" section, where threads such as this one could go? Seems like we're getting quite a few of them these days.

[Dave]

Welcome Stumpster...

That could be a good idea Rich. Let's have a think.... hmmmm..... all the thread titles are a bit vague usually aren't they? You don't always know what the thread contains until you take a look in it. Perhaps I could change the thread titles so that they explain their contents (if they don't do so already).

[RichK]

Well, yeah, exactly.. these threads just kind of develop, but there do seem to be a rash of them at the moment.. once a thread gets a bit "involved" as it were, shift it over to the resources section maybe.

[stumpster]

Cheers Gr and will look at that other site

[GR]

You're welcome. I hope it helped!

[Skeetone]

Hi Stumpster (and everyone)
I might be able to help you with that, if it's not too late.
There hasn't been much academic stuff written about Shane's films (yet). One thing that does talk about Small Time in terms of social realism is a chapter by Claire Monk called "From Underworld to Underclass: Crime and British Cinema in the 1990s". Its in a book called British Crime Cinema edited by Steve Chibnall and Robert Murphy, published by Routledge in 1999. It's a little old but might give you some ideas. Shane gets a mention, although not from a social realist point of view, in "Pathways into the Industry" by Kate Ogborn in a book called British Cinema in the 90s edited by Robert Murphy (published by the British Film Institute in 2000).

If I can think of anymore I'll post them here.

Hope that helps.

[abbythepixie]

There is book called Splice- studying contemporary cinema- volume 2 number 2 spring 2008

theres a whole chapter on social realism and this is england!

hope thats kinda helpful

also have a look on www.mediamagazine.org.uk

and search shane meadows.

[mrsfruit]

Hi guys
Just joined tonight and have been reading a couple of your threads. Think it's also worth mentioning the way in This Is England Mr Meadows uses his characters to represent the different ways in which people in this country think about issues he addresses. He slots some into their stereotypes (BNP far right Combo for example), has a catalyst in Woody who is the face of reason and acceptance, with the main discussion being centred around the inclusion of Milky. Milky has already been accepted by his peers (hence the name Milky) but as soon as Combo takes authority everything comes to a head. It's like watching Big Brother when the bitches are outed! In an ideal world Woody would have stood up to him and told him to "jog off", but the reality was that he was too scared. I'd say Shaun is representing the next generation - he's clued up enough to realise the difference between right and wrong, and that nothing is as black and white. He could have been brainwashed by Combo, like Combo had been brainwashed by the generation before, but Shaun had been bullied at school and on the other side of the fence.
God, his films bring up loads of discussion points about social-realism - the effect war has on families, even after it's over, the establishment of hierarchies and leaders in groups, the absence of the police/authorities, the absence of a father or parental discipline, the pressure to feel accepted, initiations and uniforms.
He also uses the landscapes - country/city backdrops and rooms to reflect how people move/socialise these days. The characters feel free when they can swing a bat or two around!

If you haven't already, I'd watch the following films to use as comparisons: Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory and A Clockwork Orange and Mathieu Kassovitz's La Haine.

I can't recommend any books I'm afraid, coz I can't read.
Felicitations,
Mrs Fruit

[benstatman]

hey guys, i am doing a similar dissertation along the lines of Shane Meadows acting as the pioneer for representing Social Realism in British Cinema in our current era kinda thing. Has anyone heard of any more articles on his work?

I recently found an article named: "Good intentions, high hopes and low budgets: Contemporary social realist film-making in Britain" Although i do not have access to read it so am currently trying to find a way to gain access to the site

[Gareth]

he's not acting as the pioneer (a person who is among the first to explore or settle a new country or area.)

to do a dissertation you have to have an argument or debate going on, its not just a case of writing about something,

[ryankent1984]

I was going to write my dissertation on British Social Realism, which would have included a discussion of This is England. However, I eventually wrote one on auteurism in the Dardenne brothers films.


You may like to know that my lecturer, Bruce Bennett, is co-writing (with Imogen Tyler) a critical study on social class and Shane Meadows. It's an 'article on the asethetics of white trash, which will draw on the films of British director Shane Meadows as a case study. See our forthcoming 'Celebrity Chav: fame, femininity and social class''

So look out for Celebrity Chav: fame, femininity and social class in the near future. I'm sure it'll be an interesting academic study on class in Shane's films.

[ryankent1984]

Mar 15, 2009 20:24:30 GMT benstatman said:

hey guys, i am doing a similar dissertation along the lines of Shane Meadows acting as the pioneer for representing Social Realism in British Cinema in our current era kinda thing. Has anyone heard of any more articles on his work?

I recently found an article named: "Good intentions, high hopes and low budgets: Contemporary social realist film-making in Britain" Although i do not have access to read it so am currently trying to find a way to gain access to the site

Have you read Samantha Lay's book 'British Social Realism: from documentary to brit-grit'? She has several case studies on these films, including Nil By Mouth and Letter to Brezhnev. It's very informative.

Also read 'Fires Were Started: British Cinema and Thatcherism' by Lester D. Friedman, 'British Cinema in the 1980s: Issues and Themes' by John Hill (in fact he has written some more books on the subject). There is also a book called 'British Cinema of the 1990s' edited by Robert Murphy. Has some very good chapters on 'New Laddism' and the crisis of masculinity in the 1990s (see The Full Monty, Brassed Off, Raining Stones etc).

You can always get books on the films of Mike Leigh and Ken Loach and all them lot too.

Try looking at online journal databases such as JSTOR and SAGE. Hopefully your university will have access to them, just ask. Also, try seeing if your uni library has copies of Screen journal. It's very academic and sometimes impossible to read but it has some very good essays on cinema. Though I think I remember not finding much on British Social Realism when I did a little research into it.

Hope that helps.

[ryankent1984]

Actually I just re-read your post and you were specifically interested in acting... I'm not sure what books would be helpful with that, but the one's I listed might help in some aspect or other.