1. Samantha Lay said that film should be acknowledged by a large commercial medium rather than an educational tool.
2.William's observed that social realists texts generally focused on characters one would generally find in mainstream films. The representation of specific character types in realist texts.
3. The phrase “social extension” means, to include a variety of individuals and groups that are not always represented on the screens in mainstream cinema.
4 .Hallam and Marshment , noted that social realist texts entice characters who live in the margins of society, that would otherwise be in the background as extras’ in, huge Hollywood productions.
5. Hill points out that realist texts’ containing the social extension h as massively involved the representation of the working classes at precise points in time to include economic and social change. With this in mind Hill believed that specific social perspectives are products of acknowledged moments in time and they are also specific to the social realities of that given time period.
6. The social extension urge has led British filmmakers to relook at and rethink social and representational inequalities, relating to class.
7. Lay argues that social realist directors construct versions of ‘working class way of life’ from specific political points of view and that representations of these will be subject to change over a period of time.
8. Dodd and Dodd argued that the representation of the working class in the documentaries of the 1930’s gave them a hero status as many of the documentaries portrayed the working classes as heroes and victims of society; hence a counter- representation, extending the truth.
9. Lindsay Anderson’s opinion of cinema’s treatment of the working classes was that it was severely under-represented. He strived to inform how film-makers could improve upon previous conceptions of genuine realism during film making.
10. Anderson and his contemporaries work signalled a departure from what they believed to be stuffy and sterile documentary realism.
11. The representation of working class people in Anderson and his contemporaries’ films, were a lot more energetic and vibrant. The rationale behind this was that it was partly due to the film-makers’ fascination for newly emergent youth culture and the respect they initially had for the traditional working class.
12. The 1930’s and 1950’s documentary movements both shared an engrossed obsession with working class males.
13. The representation of women in the ‘New Wave’ films during the 1950’s and 60’s focused on their spiteful nature attacking their working class heroes and causing a threat to masculinity. This was often seen through the females’ obsession to settle down, marry and have babies.
14. Television made exceptions to the way women were typically depicted as previous man hunters. This caused controversy as displayed by the airing of Coronation Street during the 1960’s. Female characters represented a variety of the working class in society from Ena Sharples nagging and moaning elderly character to Elsie Tanner’s good natured, but tart like appearance. These characters contrasting what would be perceived as a sweet old lady and a regular Church attender.
15. There was a gender divide prior to the 1980’s, subsequently this needed to be addressed and women were represented as working class females, generating the importance of women in the workplace and in society as a whole.
16. The above situation changed again in the 1990’s with women being portrayed in social realism films as not supporting their husbands, victims of domestic violence, drug and sexual abuse.
17. Hallam suggests that there has been a shift from “representing working class characters as producers of labour to consumers of goods”
18. The significant change in narrative allows the film maker to visualise a wider scope of opportunity, relating to the story within their social realist text.
19. Higson ‘s contends that a feature of British realism is tied up with forever changing definitions of public and private space. Hill explained this by stating that there has been a shift from political issues to private ones to make the realism focus on personal and individual themes and issues.
20. Samantha Lay points out that British social realist text usually focuses on representing white working class males.
21. The above observation led Samantha Lay to observe that Britain is a multicultural and multi-faith extension within society and therefore new areas that representation could explore would be about refugees, asylum seekers, and illegal workers.
22. Lay’s conclusion in her final paragraph about representation in social realist film texts includes two contrasting points. The first one being that working class characters are within the framework of social extension, however they are mainly centred on the white working class male. The themes and issues associated with this type of character are typically about the problems they face battling against unemployment, violence and the addiction to alcohol or drugs. Lay believes more diversity is essential to eliminate inequality and as the move from public to private and political to personal occurs, the wider picture is lost from the frame that will in turn affect all in society, as only a narrow glimpse.
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