Use of themes in British Social Realism

What is the link between British Social Realism themes and the real world?

The themes shown in British Social Realism films are based on what happens in real life. Some of the themes that we see in the films include: Violence, Drug/Alcohol abuse, Childhood, Petty Crime, Isolation and Sex/Sex abuse.

These themes are typically of what goes on in British life and most relate to real life. The news also gets its aspiration from these types of themes that happen in real life. For example, recently this month, a 16 year old boy was murdered after a brutal attack by a gang. He was beaten and stabbed in the

chest. This shows themes of violence and crime, which is in many British Social Realism films like Kidulthood. Kidulthood has a lot of violence and crime going on, and the characters are in gangs, which is similar to things that happen in real life like the story that was on the news above.

What is unique about how themes are explored in British social realism films?

The themes shown in British Social Realism films are explored in a unique way. As the films are based on real life, and they try to make it seem as real as possible so the audience can relate to many things in the film, then when themes like violence and sexual abuse are involved, it makes it much more affective. For example in the film Nil by Mouth there is a scene where a man is beating hes wife while a child is sitting at the top of the stairs. This affects the audience much more then say a Hollywood Horror film, because in a horror film they cant relate to many things so its not realistic, but in BSR films as they can relate to many things of the characters, when they see this scene it becomes very emotional and they start to feel like what they would if they was actually there. So British Social Realism films  really try to portray the themes realistically, which makes it unique as it emotionally affects the audience.

                           

Is there any themes which are essential to all British social realist films? What are they? Why are they essential?

Some themes in British Social Realism films are essential. One theme which we would see in every British Social Realism film is poverty, and economic hardship. This theme is shown in all BSR films because it is a problem in life that more people can relate to. Most people in Britain are working class, so making films with characters have a lot of money wouldn't relate as widely as the characters in poverty. Also, being in poverty also arises most of the other themes, like petty crime and violence, because they style of living wouldn't have been very good and they grow up bad areas. For example in Fish Tank they live in rough areas, which influences them to steal things and be violent, but if they weren't in poverty they wouldn't be living in that area and wouldn't have grown up having a bad lifestyle. So i think poverty is an essential theme to British social realist films, and is the main one of all these films.