British Social Realism: From Documentary to Brit-gritBritish Social Realism: From Documentary to Brit Grit details and explores the rich tradition of social realism in British cinema from its beginnings in the documentary movement of the 1930s to its more stylistically-eclectic and generically-hybrid contemporary forms. Samantha Lay examines the movements, moments and cycles of British social realist texts through a detailed consideration of practice, politics, form, style and content, using case studies of key texts including Listen to Britain, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Letter to Brezhnev, and Nil By Mouth. The book considers the challenges for social realist film practice and production in Britain, now and in the future. |
Contents
social realism in the british context | 5 |
critics audiences quality | 25 |
the documentary movement and social realism | 39 |
19502 and 1960s social problems and kitchen sinks | 55 |
1970s and 1980s towards a social art cinema | 77 |
1990s and beyond contemporary social realism | 99 |
conclusion | 117 |
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Common terms and phrases
actors aesthetic argued Arthur audiences Beautiful Laundrette British cinema British film industry British New Wave British social realist camera Cathy Come Home Channel chapter class characters class culture concerns contemporary social context critics cycles documentary movement example explore feature films fiction film and television film production Film Unit film's focus Free Cinema Full Monty gender Grierson Griersonian Higson Hill Hollywood Humphrey Jennings influenced interest Ken Loach kitchen sink Letter to Brezhnev Lindsay Anderson Listen to Britain London mainstream film male Mike Leigh Murphy narrative Night and Sunday Nil By Mouth Oldman poetic realism political popular practice propaganda protagonists reality Reisz representation Saturday Night screen seen sexual shots social extension social problem films social realist film-making social realist films social realist texts society specific Stephen Frears style stylistic Sunday Morning television drama Thatcherism themes traditional working class Wave films whilst women