Keeping it real...-ism. British social realism

Shane Meadows is well known for his gritty, raw depictions of Britain in his films films Eg, Dead Man's Shoes, A Room For Romeo Brass. This Is England conforms completely to that pattern. The film is set in the early 80's in the Midlands of England where Mods, New Romantics and Skinheads were the main subcultures. Skinheads are the focus, making this a very cultural film. This was a time and place where racism was raging, immigration was increasing and a certain group of people weren't happy about it.


This scene is a very raw and quite disturbing representation of the racism culture of 1980's skinheads, unfortunately it's a very realistic representation, the scene has not been censored or cut, it's as real as it gets. People that are familiar with the subcultures shown could identify with this representation, people victimised by these groups could also identify with it. Parents with young easily influenced children would also be able to identify with how young boy is pressured and influenced into fitting in with a certain social group, something that is still a big problem in current British society.

Guy Ritchie is well known for his rather glamorous representations of British culture, usually focused on London and the Ganster genre. Although he does a very good job of realistically representing 'Britishness' with our loves for "Fish, chips, cup'o'tea, bad food, worse weather, Marry fucking Poppins"



He also unrealistically represents London as a glamorous scene for gangsters, making their lives seem humorous and light when really London's crime is a serious, dark scene that shouldn't be glamorised.



This would appeal to a non-British audience as this is the usual stereotype that non-British people are used to, this doesn't conform to the British Social Realism genre as these gangsters are not shown in a dark, gritty, raw way. How ever a British audience would also identify with the base of the characters even though they may not be represented in a completely realistic way.



Conclusion


I think the main difference between these films is that This Is England is more a film to inform and maybe shock viewers, it's gritty representations of Britain are raw and uncut where as Snatch's main purpose is to entertain and not really worry about how realistic the representations of Britain are.