British Social Realism

MY THESIS Trainspotting is a postmodern, hyper-realistic production that is a response to and a continuance of the great cinematic tradition of British Social Realism.

MY THESIS Trainspotting is a postmodern, hyper-realistic production that is a response to and a continuance of the great cinematic tradition of British Social Realism. This tradition began with John Grierson and the British documentary movement of the 1920S -1940s.

MY THESIS Trainspotting is a postmodern, hyper-realistic production that is a response to and a continuance of the great cinematic tradition of British Social Realism. This tradition began with John Grierson and the British documentary movement of the 1920S -1940s. It was refined and fully developed by the directors of the “Free Cinema” of the 1950s (aka the “Angry Young Man,” “Brit Grit,” or “Kitchen Sink Manifesto” movement)

MY THESIS Trainspotting is a postmodern, hyper-realistic production that is a response to and a continuance of the great cinematic tradition of British Social Realism. This tradition began with John Grierson and the British documentary movement of the 1920S -1940s. It was refined and fully developed by the directors of the “Free Cinema” of the 1950s (aka the “Angry Young Man,” “Brit Grit,” or “Kitchen Sink Manifesto” movement) …and lives on in the psycho-realistic films of Mile Leigh, and the social reform films of Ken Loach.

“European cinema’s defining aesthetic is realism “European cinema’s defining aesthetic is realism. [It] has pre-cinematic origins in the nineteenth century European realist novel and in pre-twentieth century Western visual arts…as progressive attempts to represent a concrete ‘reality.’ The ideology of ‘realism’ is one of the means by which European cinema has traditionally sought to differentiate itself from Hollywood.” --Shohini Chaudhuri, Contemporary World Cinema

Social Realism in Crime Films

The Origins of Realism (It’s a European thing)

Late 1800s Industrialization of Europe Rise of naturalism and realism in the arts Questioning of tradition values Focus of art shifts from “kings and rulers” to the common man Themes of alienation, oppression, dehumanization, poverty Birth of existentialism CIVILIZATION ENTERED THE MODERNIST WORLD FAILURE OF INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION, WAR, POVERTY A term used to describe the characteristic aspects of literature and art between World War I and World War II. Challenges to Victorian order, 19th science Sense that Western culture had lost its bearings & values Revolt against dehumanization of industrialism Exposure of hypocritical moralism of capitalistic Christianity Popularization of evolutionary theory

1900-1950 World Wars I & II Marxist challenge to capitalism Oppression of workers and lower class Imperialism and colonialism Questioning of traditional worldviews in the arts and science (Freud and Einstein) CIVILIZATION ENTERED THE MODERNIST WORLD FAILURE OF INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION, WAR, POVERTY A term used to describe the characteristic aspects of literature and art between World War I and World War II. Challenges to Victorian order, 19th science Sense that Western culture had lost its bearings & values Revolt against dehumanization of industrialism Exposure of hypocritical moralism of capitalistic Christianity Popularization of evolutionary theory

Realism & Naturalism Naturalism: The idea or belief that only natural (as opposed to supernatural or spiritual) laws and forces operate in the world. Influenced by Darwinism Focus on common people Victims of industrialized society Abandonment of artificial literary conventions Loss of decorum CIVILIZATION ENTERED THE MODERNIST WORLD FAILURE OF INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION, WAR, POVERTY A term used to describe the characteristic aspects of literature and art between World War I and World War II. Challenges to Victorian order, 19th science Sense that Western culture had lost its bearings & values Revolt against dehumanization of industrialism Exposure of hypocritical moralism of capitalistic Christianity Popularization of evolutionary theory

Naturalism Naturalism was a literary movement taking place from the 1880s to 1940s that used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, and environment had inescapable force in shaping human character. It was depicted as a literary movement that seeks to replicate a believable everyday reality, as opposed to such movements as Romanticism or Surrealism, in which subjects may receive highly symbolic, idealistic, or even supernatural treatment. Naturalism is the outgrowth of literary realism, a prominent literary movement in mid-19th-century France and elsewhere. Naturalistic writers were influenced by Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. They believed that one's heredity and social environment largely determine one's character. CIVILIZATION ENTERED THE MODERNIST WORLD FAILURE OF INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION, WAR, POVERTY A term used to describe the characteristic aspects of literature and art between World War I and World War II. Challenges to Victorian order, 19th science Sense that Western culture had lost its bearings & values Revolt against dehumanization of industrialism Exposure of hypocritical moralism of capitalistic Christianity Popularization of evolutionary theory

Naturalism Whereas realism seeks only to describe subjects as they really are, naturalism also attempts to determine "scientifically" the underlying forces (e.g., the environment or heredity) influencing the actions of its subjects. Naturalistic works often include uncouth or sordid subject matter; for example, Émile Zola's works had a frankness about sexuality along with a pervasive pessimism. Naturalistic works exposed the dark harshness of life, including poverty, racism, violence, prejudice, disease, corruption, prostitution, and filth. As a result, naturalistic writers were frequently criticized for focusing too much on human vice and misery. CIVILIZATION ENTERED THE MODERNIST WORLD FAILURE OF INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION, WAR, POVERTY A term used to describe the characteristic aspects of literature and art between World War I and World War II. Challenges to Victorian order, 19th science Sense that Western culture had lost its bearings & values Revolt against dehumanization of industrialism Exposure of hypocritical moralism of capitalistic Christianity Popularization of evolutionary theory Wikipedia. And Williams, Raymond. 1976. Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society. London: Fontana, 1988

Neorealism in European Cinema Italian Neorealism French New Wave British Social Realism CIVILIZATION ENTERED THE MODERNIST WORLD FAILURE OF INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION, WAR, POVERTY A term used to describe the characteristic aspects of literature and art between World War I and World War II. Challenges to Victorian order, 19th science Sense that Western culture had lost its bearings & values Revolt against dehumanization of industrialism Exposure of hypocritical moralism of capitalistic Christianity Popularization of evolutionary theory

Andre Bazin (1918-1958) Liked films that focused on everyday psychological experience Italian Neorealism (The Bicycle Thief) Disliked modernist, expressionistic Disliked films that imposed a political ideology on the viewer Long takes, of surrounding environment Impact of environment on people (French determinism)

Italian Neorealism (1940-50s) Response to artificiality of cinema of the Fascist period Influenced by French poetic realism and American literary naturalism (e.g., Hemingway) Experiences of poor and socially marginalized “Slice of life”; things and facts in time and place (versimo) Ambivalence of everyday experience Some took strong social political stance Marxist, with a hopeful, humanistic dimension

Italian Neorealism (1940-50s) CHARACTERISTICS On-location shooting Long takes Natural light Medium and long shots Non-professional actors Working class protagonists Environment as important as actors

Italian Neorealism (1940-50s) CESARE ZAVATTINI “Some Ideas on the Cinema” (1953) 1. Portray real or everyday people, using nonprofessional actors in real settings 2. Examine socially significant themes 3. Promote the “organic” development of situations--the “real flow of life”--in which complications are rarely resolved

Italian Neorealism (1940-50s) CESARE ZAVATTINI “Identification with the common man in the crowd.” “Take dialogue and actors from the street.” “Reality in American films is unnaturally filtered.”

French New Wave (1958-64) Response to French “tradition of quality” (“staged” literary scripts) Cahiers du Cinema Auteurism Rebellion against authority & convention Existential outlook (post-WWII)

Zeitgeist: France, Late 1950s The Fourth Republic 20 governments between 1946-58 Algerian War for independence (people questioned colonial policies) More Algerians killed by French than French killed by Germans (ironic occupation) Failed occupation in Indochina Threat of nuclear war (Cold War)

French “Tradition of Quality” “Le cinema de papa” Producer-controlled studio system Required certification from national film school (Institut Hautes Etudes Cinematographiques) Highly institutionalized (15 studios, unions, apprentice system) “Beautiful images to illustrate screen plays” A “highly mannered style removed from everyday reality”

Zeitgeist: Culture & Popculture Sartre and Camus (existentialism) Influence of avant garde, “Beatnik” culture on society Hedonistic “youth culture” All-night dancing at jazz clubs Rejection of bourgeois values Fascination with things American: Hollywood Coca-Cola Blue jeans

Origins Sociological survey on the values of postwar French youth Clothing, habits, morals, values Generation wanted to be liberated from traditions of the past Obsession with the “new” (TV, appliances, automobiles) Emergence of the “new liberated French woman” (Bridget Bardot)

New Generation Candid attitude toward sex Young women identified with the Bardot image Rejection of parent’s values Accent of individual freedom and expression Infusion of American culture (jazz, cars and Rock-and-Roll)

Young Film Makers “40 who are under 40” Rejected French “tradition of quality” 1959 Cannes Film Festival (Existential novelist Andre Malraux was the Minister of Culture) La Napoule colloquium of young filmmakers Cine clubs in the Latin Quarter of Paris

Cahiers du Cinema Godard and Truffaut started as critics Met Andre Bazin Bazin was the “founding father” of film theory and New Wave cinema

French New Wave UNDERLYING PHILOSOPHY: Personalized existential visions Stressed “the individual, the experience of free choice, the absence of any rational understanding of the universe and a sense of the absurdity in human experience”

French New Wave UNDERLYING PHILOSOPHY: Characters seek to act authentically, taking responsibility for their actions, instead of playing roles dictated by society Marginalized anti-heroes, who act spontaneously and often amorally

French New Wave FILM AESTHETIC: “Low-budget” anti-Hollywood look Casual, natural appearance Location shooting (not studio) Ambient sound and light “Real,” often improvised dialogue (overlapping) Improvised scripting

French New Wave FILM AESTHETIC: “In the streets and cafes” “Bored couple having meaningless conversation in Paris café, smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee and absinthe” (Skutski) Mobile camera (tracking & panning) Jump cuts, “free” editing Admired Hitchcock & Italian Neorealism

French New Wave FILM AESTHETIC: Auteurism: the personal stamp of the director Long takes Flux and flow of time Breaks with common expectations of cinema Loose plots Self-referent

French New Wave: “Left Bank” More experimental & cerebral Philosophical investigations Fascination with memory Play with time and space Political left “Pre-postmodern”

French New Wave Jean-Luc Godard Francois Truffaut Alain Resnais Eric Rohmer Claude Chabrol Agnes Varda Louis Malle Alain Robbe-Grillet

Five Periods of British Social Realism DOCUMENTARY John Grierson BRITISH NEW WAVE Angry Young Men Saturday Night, Sunday Morning SWINGING LONDON Blowup CONTEMPORARY (Mike Leigh, Ken Loach) Secrets & Lies HYPERREALISM Trainspotting

A Question of National Identity THEMES / EMPHASIS 1930s – 1955: Nostalgia for Old England, the Empire Common heroes and myth British heritage films & literary adaptations “Englishness” British New Wave: Questioning of government’s vision Protest against consumerism, suburbanism and Americanization Class struggle (Angry Young Men) 1960s-70s: Counter-culture experimentation 1980s: Deindustrialization, unemployment Changes in social roles, masculine identity 1990s – 2000s: Multiculturalism, alternate heritages Hyperreality

John Grierson (1889-1972) Father of the documentary film MODERN DOCUMENTARY REALISM Father of the documentary film Film as an effective means of communications between individual and the state Purpose is to create social unity and encourage reform

John Grierson (1889-1972) MODERN DOCUMENTARY Focused on poverty, hunger, unemployment, and other social problems Intuitive/experiential films can enable people to understand social issues better than rational, cognitive analysis Use of realistic and naturalistic images to signify abstract realities Launched British Documentary Film Mob Movement (1940s--100 plus films) Part 1 Part 2

British Social Realism ZEITGEIST OF THE 1950s Collapse of British Empire Suez Canal crisis Cold War (Ban the Bomb) Working class / student protests Materialism and consumerism

British Cinema: 1945-54 “Several pressures prevented films from adopting more radical social positions in that period. Foremost was the industry's fear and suspicion of involvement in controversy. Behind this was the repressive form of censorship imposed at that time by the British Board of Film Censors. Attacks on the establishment were not only discouraged, they were actively forbidden. Social criticism, at least of things British, tended to be retrospective. Hence the flurry of historical costume pieces. It was all right to discuss the bad behaviour of the Victorians . --www.britmovie.co.uk

British New Wave (1950s-1960s) FREE CINEMA “Free” from the dictates and restraints of the commercial film industry and UK studio system Comparable to French New Wave rebellion against “cinema du papa” and tradition of quality Title of film program at National Film Institute in 1956: Anderson: O Dreamland Reisz/ Richardson: Momma Don’t Allow Mazzetti: Together “Kitchen Soup” Manifesto

British New Wave (1950s-1960s) Sight and Sound and Sequence magazines FREE CINEMA Sight and Sound and Sequence magazines “The camera eye they turn on society is disenchanted, sad, occasionally ferocious and bitter.” Signed films, with a point of view (not documentaries) Make films “in the streets”

British New Wave (1950s-1960s) Lindsay Anderson O Dreamland (1953) Reisz / Richardson Momma Don’t Allow (1955) Jack Clayton Room at the Top (1958) Tony Richardson Look Back in Anger (1958) Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) Karel Reisz Saturday Night, Sunday Morning (1960)

British New Wave (1950s-1960s) Soup Kitchen Manifesto (1956)

British New Wave (1950s-1960s) ANGRY YOUNG MEN Protests by college students and working class Questioning of the “myth of the British Empire” Frustration over lack of class mobility Loss of traditional moral and cultural values Females depicted as “clinging, entrapping” individuals, forcing men to stay in home town, raise family and buy new consumer products Alienated youth

British New Wave (1950s-1960s) New Left Review ANGRY YOUNG MEN New Left Review Called for a fundamental restructuring of the British economic system Attacked: Unfair labor practices Middle class values Immoral popular culture Class structure

British New Wave (1950s-1960s) ANGRY YOUNG MEN Part of a larger social movement, assailing the British class structure and calling for the replacement of bourgeois elitism with liberal working-class values.

British New Wave (1950s-1960s) Frank approach to sex and other taboos ANGRY YOUNG MEN Frank approach to sex and other taboos Protest against the mechanization of life The “sadness of urban life” Found Board of Censors overly-protective and obsolete

British New Wave (1950s-1960s) Room at the Top “The film coincided with the upsurge of discontent with Britain's direction, distaste for the government and anxiety over nuclear involvement which produced the CND and the Aldermaston marches. Room at the Top, with its opportunist hero screwing the establishment of his northern town and the inn owner's daughter, provided a readily identifiable index of reaction for the suburban filmgoer. “ --www.britmovie.co.uk Room at the Top

British New Wave (1950s-1960s) The People D. H. Lawrence Ah the people, the people! surely they are flesh of my flesh!   When, in the streets of the working quarters they stream past, stream past, going to work;   then, when I see the iron hooked in their faces, their poor, their fearful faces   then I scream in my soul, for I know I cannot cut the iron hook out of their faces, that makes them so drawn, nor cut the invisible wires of steel that pull them   back and forth to work, back and forth, to work   like fearful and corpse-like fishes hooked and being played by some malignant fisherman on an unseen, safe shore where he does not choose to land them yet, hooked fishes of the factory world.

Swinging London London center of counter-culture revolution Music, fashion, art, film Recovery of the British economy from the post World War II austerity Creation of alternate view of reality (beyond rebellion of “angry young men”) “Don’t get angry, get crazy”

Swinging London Emphasis on hedonism, free-love, drugs, experimentation, mysticism and “the East” (vs. West) Also focuses on the lost, isolated individual alienated from tradition and convention, out of touch with Swinging London values (e.g., Alfie, Morgan, Georgy Girl) Georgy Girl

Swinging London www.youtube.com A Decade to Remember-The Sixties http://

Current British Social Realism MARXIST SOCIAL REALISM Expose social injustices, poverty, crime, etc. Economic determinism PSYCHOLOGICAL SOCIAL REALISM People forced to live in horrific conditions Society dealt them a bad hand Still human beings with free will

Current British Social Realism KEN LOACH (Marxist) Film as medium for social reform Location shooting & non-professional actors Class inequality, unfair labor practices, child welfare, poverty, crime Marxist political perspective “Not an exemplary example of cinematic realism” “Characters tend to be innocent victims, often cardboard figures” (Skutski) My Name is Joe

Current British Social Realism MIKE LEIGH (Psychological) “Master of psychological cinematic realism” Social commentary without sermonizing “This is the way life is, the way people are” Characters are the key Unique approach to filmmaking All or Nothing

Mike Leigh: “All or Nothing”

Opening Toilet scene Scotland scene Final scene

Brazilian Cinema 1960’s Cinema Novo: political themes Government withdrew support in 1990 Restored in mid 1990s Globo Television created commercial film division (partial support of City of God) Co-productions/US distribution Common themes: Police corruption Favelas “General malaise in society” “Unviable nation” "a…celebration of violence-for-good that plays like a recruitment film for fascist [police] thugs.” Weissberg, Jay. Variety, 2008. Source: Nagib, Lucia, ed., New Brazilian Cinema