This Is England
This is England is a film about a young boy growing up in 1983. On his way home from school he is befriended by a group of teenagers older than him and they let him into the group. He grows close to them all and they become sort of like a family. The film follows Shaun's life with this group of people and their responses to the war occurring in the Falkland's.
Moral messages:
Gritty realism films usually aim to educate or inform its target audience about a certain type of lifestyle or issues that are usually overlooked my the media, Taking "this is England" we can see that the film was seeking to move the audience to try and think about what it would have been like to grow up in a poor community without a father.
A moral message that appeared to me was that all of the people Shaun befriended seemed to father him and look after him. To me this is important as it showed us that Shaun wont ever stop missing his dad and looking for someone to look up to.
This could be related to historical context because many young boys lost their fathers and maybe that's why there was so much anger in that community where Shaun grew up.
There is also a constant theme of friendship through the film as Shaun's friendship group changes around him and also he has to decide who are the best friends for him and that respect him and look out for him. This is raised when we look at the relationship he has with combo (played by Stephen Graham).
Conventions?
This is England is similar to the other gritty realism film we watched in many ways:
first of all, the lighting in both films is very similar and true to its genre in the way it looks dull and as if its been filmed in natural lighting. This is usually done by using a lighting technique called "high key lighting" which I mentioned in my previous post. This lighting is used to give the impression of natural light, with out having to depend on natural lighting in order to film which can sometimes prove difficult. Like many other gritty realism films Shaun finds himself trying to get away from something, in this situation it is trying to get away from combos racist and violent influence on him.
This in England is different to Bullet boy in the way that, although they both focus closely on a small group of people, this is England focus's more on Shaun instead of him and the impact on all the people around him. Also another contrasting factor would be the use of sound. An example would be the opening credits to the film. The song is played along with a series of violent scenes from the time of the film, this type of sound is knows as "contrapuntal sound", where as in Bullet boy the audio used was mostly parallel.
This is England is a film about a young boy growing up in 1983. On his way home from school he is befriended by a group of teenagers older than him and they let him into the group. He grows close to them all and they become sort of like a family. The film follows Shaun's life with this group of people and their responses to the war occurring in the Falkland's.Moral messages:
Gritty realism films usually aim to educate or inform its target audience about a certain type of lifestyle or issues that are usually overlooked my the media, Taking "this is England" we can see that the film was seeking to move the audience to try and think about what it would have been like to grow up in a poor community without a father.
A moral message that appeared to me was that all of the people Shaun befriended seemed to father him and look after him. To me this is important as it showed us that Shaun wont ever stop missing his dad and looking for someone to look up to.
This could be related to historical context because many young boys lost their fathers and maybe that's why there was so much anger in that community where Shaun grew up.
There is also a constant theme of friendship through the film as Shaun's friendship group changes around him and also he has to decide who are the best friends for him and that respect him and look out for him. This is raised when we look at the relationship he has with combo (played by Stephen Graham).
Conventions?
This is England is similar to the other gritty realism film we watched in many ways:
first of all, the lighting in both films is very similar and true to its genre in the way it looks dull and as if its been filmed in natural lighting. This is usually done by using a lighting technique called "high key lighting" which I mentioned in my previous post. This lighting is used to give the impression of natural light, with out having to depend on natural lighting in order to film which can sometimes prove difficult. Like many other gritty realism films Shaun finds himself trying to get away from something, in this situation it is trying to get away from combos racist and violent influence on him.
This in England is different to Bullet boy in the way that, although they both focus closely on a small group of people, this is England focus's more on Shaun instead of him and the impact on all the people around him. Also another contrasting factor would be the use of sound. An example would be the opening credits to the film. The song is played along with a series of violent scenes from the time of the film, this type of sound is knows as "contrapuntal sound", where as in Bullet boy the audio used was mostly parallel.
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