Social Realism

By Harry Golding

Narrative conventions for SR films• The normal conventions of SR films usually involves a lower class urban landscape

you filled with troubled people and the antagonist is usually a gang of some type.• The plot tends to be about a vulnerable individual who angers or enters into a

conflict with the antagonists e.g. Harry Brown (Daniel Barber, 2009) Harry’s friend Len is killed and he takes it upon himself to dish out some vigilante justice. The ending of the plot is the protagonist beating the antagonist with the exception of Kidulthood (Menhaj Huda, 2006) where Trife (main character) is killed by Sam.

• The themes of these films often include money, sex, prostitution and sex are quite usual in modern contemporary social realism films as well as class, religion and political views.

http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/social-realism-timeline this is a timeline for social realism films

Kidulthood (Menhaj Huda, 2006)• The narrative of the film revolves around the life’s of group of 15 year olds who live in the rougher end of

west London. • The main protagonist in the film Trife who seems to be the leader of a group of troubled youths, the two

others in the group are Jay and Moony. • The film hits its disruption when Sam the antagonist takes one the boy’s gameboy and then later they go

to his house to get while there they take his weed and Jay has sex with his girlfriend. When Sam come home they beat him up and then escape the tower block.

• At the same time Trife’s girlfriend Alisa, who has recently found out she is pregnant and her friend Becky have decided to get drunk and high before going shopping for shopping for a party later on.

• Trife goes to meet his criminal uncle who tells him to torture a man with a stanley knife. Trife does what is ordered but then flees the house. Meanwhile Jay and Moony have gone to meet Becky and Alisa at the mall.

• While there Jay tells Alisa that Trife doesn’t want to be with Alisa and that she should stay away, after being told this she decides to go home while they go to the party. She is later convinced to go by another boy at the party.

• Trife goes to the party and tells Alisa that he will stay to look after her and the baby. At this point Sam arrives and they fight. Sam then kills Trife with a baseball bat, the police turn up then.

This is England (Shane Meadows, 2006)

• The film is set in a in a northern industrial city but it is not specified. It follows the life of one member of gang Shaun.

• The film starts with Shaun being bullied at school and as he is walking home a gang of skinheads take pity on him and induces him into their gang. Who aren’t so much a gang but a group of skinheads who just hang out and enjoy the fashion of skinheads but aren’t into the political side of it.

• Shaun is starting to like his knew group of friends as he is now being invited to parties and he now has a girlfriend. It is fine until at one party Combo arrives with Banjo who are racist skinheads and supporters of a ‘white’ Britain. It is awkward as one of members of the gang Milky is black so when Combo is telling a racist story it makes the whole group feel uneasy.

• Over time Combo replaces Woody as the leader of the group and only the people who follow his right wing ideas stay in the gang. Shaun and the rest of the gang go to rob the local corner shop as the owner is an Indian man. They go to white supremacists meetings.

• The remainder of the gang are at Combo’s house and he is discussing racism and the Falkland's war and he touches on a nerve for Shaun he starts hitting Combo but because of Shaun young age they forgive each other.

• Later on Combo is out in the street and he runs into Milky and they go pick up an ounce of weed and they all go to Combo’s house and get high. They are all having a good time but then Combo snaps and beats up milky and no-one stops him.

Harry Brown (Daniel Barber, 2009)• The film starts off when Harry’s wife is dying in hospital and as he is walking to the hospital he is too

scared to go through the under path where are these hoodies are, he has to take the long way round and misses his wife’s death.

• Harry’s friend Len decides to go after the gang as they have been harassing him, the gang kill him. The police arrest the gang but they are let off as Len was carrying a knife when they killed him.

• Harry takes it upon himself to beat this gang, he then has to get a gun so he goes to a drug dealers house and as they are abusing a girl he kills both the drug dealers and takes the girl to the hospital.

• He then kidnaps one of the gang, he then processed to torture him in order to get information on Lens murder. He then goes down into the underpass and has a gun fight with the gang but the leader of the gang Noel escapes.

• The next day the police start a massive operation to stop all the gangs in the area and this leads to a massive riot in the council area. Harry and some police officer hide in Harry’s Friend’s pub, but find out that he is Noel’s uncle. Noel and his uncle then Kill one of the police officers but then Harry kills Noel and snipers kill his uncle.

Characters models in SR filmsThe protagonist of SR films is usually a vulnerable character but with a darker side e.g. Shaun form ‘This is England’ he is vulnerable as he is child but he is a bit of an exception as he hangs around with Combo who is a violent racist. Another example of a vulnerable character Harry Brown from ‘Harry Brown’ who is a old man but he manages to fight off a who gang of youths. Also Trife from ‘Kidulthood’ is also vulnerable as he is just a kid who is being told what to do by his criminal uncle, through listening to his uncle he told to make guns and torture an individual.

The antagonist of SR films is usually a gang member who disregards all types of authority. E.g. Noel winters and his gang in ‘Harry Brown’ who have no trouble in killing an old man and are involved in various drug activities.

Characters of Kidulthood (Mehaj Huda, 2006)

• Trife Is the main character of the film. He is typical of the genre as he is portrayed as this character who isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty to get the job done E.G. Fighting, stealing and torture. He is also typical of protagonist in a social realism films as he is vulnerable in certain ways. As he is only 15 he is still quite obedient/loyal (not to authority) towards his family, so he is forced to torture a man.

• Sam Is the main antagonist of kidulthood, he is typical of the antagonist role in social realism films as he is seen picking on kids at his school and he is older than the other characters until the scene where Trife and his friends beat him up. After this point he is seen as this less threatening character, but he surprises the audience when kills Trife in the final fight.

Left: TrifeRight: Sam

Characters of This is England (Shane Meadows, 2006)

• Shaun is the protagonist of This is England, he is typical of the genre as his from a working class background. This is confirmed in one scene shaun is complaining about his trousers and his mum tells him that they have no money for new ones. Again like Trife from Kidulthood, he is vulnerable because of his age; his mind and ideas are very malleable to the racist/right wing/skinheads ideals of a ‘white Britain’.

• Combo is everything a social realism films antagonist needs to he is scary, a psycho and as white working class as they come. He hates all immigrants as he feels they do nothing for the country and that white British soldiers died so that they could live here. He threatens people, robs shops and goes to white power rallies, backing up the idea that he is a neo nazi skinhead.

Characters of Harry Brown (Daniel Barber, 2009)

• Harry Brown is quite a typical protagonist as he is an ex marine so he has the combat skills to fight the enemies. He is quite a poor character as he is living in a council tower block in the middle of ken that is terrorised by youths. He is also vulnerable because he is an old man who despite his military training cannot keep up with his younger attackers.

• Noel winter is a typical antagonist as he is from a working class background in an extremely poor area of Kent. He is heavily involved into the heroine trade within the film, he is also the leader of a drug dealing gang that have no trouble killing and mugging people. The implies that he and his family have always been involved in this line of criminal activity.

clipshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TunQD2ZDz7Q&feature=related Kidulthood

disruption: This clip show the scene where Trife and his friends are in Sam’s flat and beat him up and rob which is the disruption in the film as it lead to the final confrontation between them two.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PuC5V7fIUU Harry Brown disruption: This clip shows Harry talking to Frampton I feel this is the disruption as in this scene Harry realises that the police are going to help him deal with the gang so he begins in his vigilante justice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPyXq7jy-kc&feature=related This is England disruption: I feel like this the scene show the disruption as it shows Combo’s racism shine though which paves the way for the rest of the narrative.