Social Realism has been in the arts for many years. It began in art work, photography and paintings in the 1930’s. In its beginning, the art often depicted the struggles of life in the economy and in races around the world. It showed the realistic difficulties in life and problems which were all around us. As film allows us to create movies and not just a picture or painting, it allows us to look more deeply into the back bone of the story and tends to depict a society of people rather than just moment captured on paper.
In films, social realism was first depicted in the turn of the 20th century. Much like its previous use in art work, it focuses on the naturalism of human life. In 1905 Lewin Fitzhamon and Cecil M. Hepworth created a film called “Rescued by Rover.” The film depicted the struggles of child abduction and families affected.
As these films documented real life situations a new genre was created which linked documentary with dramatic story telling (the further merging of the two later became docu-drama.) Social Realism stems off of this. In 1932 the German theatre practitioner and playwright Bertolt Brecht broke away from the stage to create "Kuhle Wampe," a film which studied the issues involving unemployment and left wing politics in the Weimar republic; a piece of writing which dealt with issues similar to the stage work he has created in the past.
In the 1940s and 1950s social realism was adopted by Hindi films. This genre gave the company some of its most memorable films, such as Bimal Roy’s “Two Acres of Land” in 1953, which much like Brecht’s earlier work, explores the issues of debt and unemployment. India continued to create many more Social Realism films.
Despite America having the biggest film institute in the world, Hollywood, the USA was one of the last countries to use Social Realism as a genre. In 2004 young director Shawn Regurto created a film about American teenage culture entitled “Point and Shoot.”
In Britain we see Social Realism as our dominant cinematic style. In 2000 Pawel Pawlikowski directed the BAFTA award winning “Last Resort,” a film which focuses on the problems revolving around immigration into Britain. The social realism/drama hybrid has proven to be very popular too as it gives directors the opportunity to add more dramatic story lines to their films. Ryan Flecks 2006 film “Half Nelson,” dramatically depicts the issues of a struggling addicted teacher.
Multitalented English actor and filmmaker Gary Oldman created “Nil by Mouth” in 1997, a film that focuses on domestic violence and drug and alcohol abuse. English filmmaking ledged, Ken Loach, created two films with similar issues tackled, “My Name is Joe" in 1998 and "Sweet Sixteen" in 2002.
Social Realism films, proud for being naturalistic, are most often recognisable for their verisimilitude. This is often because the writer or director bases the script on a personal experience from their own life. Gary Oldman's "Nil by Mouth" is example of how his memories of alcoholism and violence around his family and friends was the inspiration to his script. Characters from the film are strongly based on people he knew and grew up with and events and issues throughout the film are a mirror image of those from his life.
Elements of Social Realism are incorporated into other genres forming hybrids. Mike Leigh’s “Secrets and Lies,” from 1996, deals with identity on loneliness, yet is a hybrid social realism/drama with elements of comedy. One of England’s most successful films, the 1997 Academy Award nominated and BAFTA Award winning film, “The Full Monty,” directed by Peter Cattaneo, is another example of this. Its realistic issues and depressing themes are presented to the audience in a comical and easy viewing way. This film is extremely well known in today’s society, which is rare for the Social Realism genre. Statistics would prove that mixing social realism with other genres to create hybrids, help to make the film a success and more memorable to the audiences who watch it. Generally light hearted films are received better on a bigger scale, as real life representations are usually to a niche audience who can relate to them.
England continues to make a lot of social realism films, which show off the countries small amount of poverty, rather than our richer nation. Films such as Danny Boyles 1996 ‘Transporting’ are a perfect example of Social Realism in English film and how it shows off a countries economically depressed society. Modern social realism films are Menhaj Hudas 2006 “Kidulthood” and Noel Clarkes 2008 “Adulthood,” both of which represent lower class societies of English culture.
Kidulthood is a 2006 film. It is a British drama and social realism hybrid, directed by Menhaj Huda. The film focuses on the difficulties and troubles of teenagers growing up in modern West London. It was followed by the 2008 sequel, Adulthood.
The opening shot of Kidulthood is a close up of a person’s feet, playing football. Along with the diegetic sound of children playing, the audience can immediately presume that the opening scene is set in a playground of some sort. The following hand held panning shot, shows teenagers in school uniform standing around and talking, now telling us that the action is in a school court yard. The teenagers are using slang words and street talk in their vocabulary, which might tell us that they are from less privilege upbringings. The fast moving and blurry hand held shots is a technique often used in social realism films. This enables the audience to feel as if they are there, watching the action as it happens.
The camera cuts to a still close up of a boy’s hands and some work tools. As it immediately cuts back to the scenes from the school playground, it leaves the audience questioning what they just saw.
Throughout us seeing both the teenagers in the playground and the boy working, we hear fast passed non-diegetic music, which encourages us to think that something might be about to happen. The camera follows a girl as she talks on her mobile phone, however still hand held as if we are watching her from a distance away. With a messy panning shot over to two boys talking to a group of girls, we then see another group of girls chatting. By panning round to show groups of people at very quick intervals at a time, it shows the fast passed atmosphere in the school playground and gives us an idea of how much is going on.
The action cuts back to the boy, his work tools and a drill which he is now using. It becomes clear from this that the director’s intention throughout this opening scene is to keep the audience in suspense as to what part this boy will play in the scene. Also, by constantly cutting back to the close up of the football, the teenagers talking and the boy drilling, the audience can quickly realise how much is going on in this fast paced opening scene.
Sweet Sixteen is a 2002 film, directed by Ken Loach. The film tells the story of a working class teenage boy from Glasgow, Scotland and shows his difficulties in raising money to start a fresh life.
In the opening shot of Sweet Sixteen, we see typography on the bottom of the screen during a hand healed medium close up shot of a group of boys. With a very dark background and the diegetic sound of traffic along a road, it immediately tells the audience that the boys are outside. Two taller and obviously boys are offering something to the group of smaller boys. All voices heard within the opening seconds are of a Scottish accent, which tells us that the film is set in Scotland. In the same shot, one of the smaller boys pays money to one of the bigger boys before walking over to look into a telescope. This would insinuate to the audience that the two older boys are charging the young boys to have a go on their telescope, in order to get some money
The next shot is a point of view taken from inside the telescope showing a close up of the stars in the night sky. As the camera cuts back to the first shot we see the young boys happy faces. Peaceful, non-diegetic music is gradually played in which could influence the audience into thinking that the two older boys are doing good deeds and acting very thoughtful. A wide angle shot shows the group of boys in the darkness, standing on top of a hill. The town is lit up below which helps to give the opening scene a peaceful and relaxing atmosphere. With the camera cutting back to the point of view shot from inside the telescope it looks up at the planet Saturn. The boys all look through the telescope and feel very excited. In the poverty that these boys live in, it could almost be thought that the very distant Saturn is a representation of their emotions. They wish to break away from their lives and get as far away from their town as possible. Only being able to see Saturn through a telescope is the directors way of saying that their longing for a break in life is just as far away.
The Full Monty is a 1997 film directed by Peter Cattaneo. Although the film is often regarded as a comedy, it touches on very important and serious issues making it a hybrid of three genres; comedy, drama and social realism. It is set in Sheffield, England and follows the lives of a group of depressed working class men, as they struggle to raise money.
The very first shot of the film is a close up of a television screen. On the TV is an advert talking about Sheffield in England. It points out the many great things about the town and what it has to offer. The clothes which the people are wearing in the advert tells the audience that it is from the 1970’s and notably years before the Full Monty was originally realised. As the advert finishes and the camera fades out, the typography on the screen tells us that it is now 25 years later.
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