Social Realism in the British Context [4]

British Social Realism – From Documentary to Brit Grit by Samantha Lay

1. Social Realism in the British Context

 

Form and Style

 

For what reason is the term ‘form’ being used in this text?

• The term ‘form’ is being used to signify the shape or mode in which social realist texts exist, whilst also referring to the types, kinds, and ‘arrangement of parts’.

 

What do social realist filmmakers employ, and for what reason?

• Social realist filmmakers employ specific formal and stylistic techniques, to capture, observe and analyse the workings of society.

 

In British cinema, what does social realism focus on, and why?

• In British cinema, social realism focuses on characters, which are impossible to separate from place or environment, because of their large attachment to it, due to social realism not being connected with religion.

 

What do social realist texts work towards?

• Social realist texts work towards enlarging the representations in art and popular culture, of previously under-represented and less important groups, looked upon as out of the mainstream. They also worked towards dealing with issues and problems that mainstream cinema had previously shunned and ignored.

 

What brings together the work of well known social realist filmmakers and producers?

• Gary Oldman, Ken Loach, Lindsay Anderson, and John Grierson all had different intentions, but what bought together their work was their presence of intent which they valued more than searching for fame and income.

 

What was the second conception of ‘form’, in terms of social realism?

• The second conception of form is a careful thought of the diversity of artistic forms, which employ social realist practices and techniques.

 

How has the range of social realist texts changed overtime?

• Since the 1930s, when short documentaries were screened, there has been a vast amount of change in what is screened. In the 1940s documentaries became more popular, in the 1950s feature films came into play and have done ever since, with soap operas, docu-soaps and ‘Reality TV’ programmes, coming into the picture over this period of time.

 

What is the main difference believed by social realists, between documentaries and programmes?

• Documentaries are judged to say about ‘things as they really are’, which in other words means that they offer a slice of life to the viewers. Programmes on the other hand, are judged to be screened to simply entertain the viewing public, which is not offering a view of life as it really is.

 

What is the noted about how the mainstream texts work, and how are they different to social realist texts?

• Mainstream texts tend to differ from social realist texts, as the narrative structures focus on a central protagonist, whilst working in a linear or cause-and-effect way. The mainstream texts always usually tend to work towards the defeat of certain antagonists in the text, with the protagonist coming out on top, surviving, being the hero, and so on. A notable difference between the two texts is that social realist texts tend to run regularly, with no final outcome or ending of the text coming into play, as they are ongoing. The continuous storylines of the texts are often negative, though it should be noted that the degree of resistance and resolution varies widely between different texts.

 

What was James Park’s contention?

• James Park contented that British cinema had failed, due to low goals and ambitions of the cinema, and that the cinema screenings were too televisual.

 

Style

 

What was considered to be ‘naturalism’, so some?

• Some people considered naturalism to be British social realist texts preferring to associate themselves with content, instead of style.

 

In social realist context, what can the term ‘gritty’ be defined as?

• The term ‘gritty’ describes the surface realism of landscapes inhabited by the characters, the way in which they are both filmed, and the attitude and behaviour of the character.

 

What was Higson’s point of view on the works of Humphrey Jennings?

• Andrew Higson views Humphrey Jennings work as ‘an undercurrent to the educative sociologistic tendency within the documentary movement which acknowledged and foregrounded the aesthetic aspects of the texts’. In other words, he views Jennings work as a tendency which underlies the significant documentary movements.

 

What was used to create poetic realism?

• A number of stylistic techniques were widely used to create poetic realism, including the sequences of establishing shot sizes, namely wide-angled and long shots of urban landscapes.

 

What was the hostility between sociologistic and poetic impulses within British social realist filmmaking?

• There was a huge amount of tension between these two impulses, which was easy to see within separate texts, and also within the tradition itself.

 

What was the outcome of social realist styles becoming involved with film?

• Social realist style has been put to use across a number of different genres, for example, horror, comedy, and science fiction, and some of the techniques are consequently part of mainstream cinema, such as hand-held techniques, noticed and represented in the film Jaws.