Social Realism Research
Social realism is the genre of film that recognises real life and tries to portray these true to life events in a naturalistic and realistic way in a film.
It originates from the end of World War One when many views suggested that the way to reach a national audience was through realism. This was a reflection of the view of the South Eastern middle class audience, as they wanted to experience what life was really like for those poorer than them.
Hollywood productions were favoured by the lower working class as it offered them a view into the glamour of Hollywood and American lifestyles. As a result of the audience of the genre of social realism, the genre has acquired the reputation of being intellectual with high seriousness.
Britain has been a leader in the genre of social realism since the 1930’s, with the producer Michael Balcon referring to the competition in Hollywood to be competition between ‘realism and tinsel.’
The overall goal of social realism is to create verisimilitude within the film and bring real life issues to the audiences attention. The genre deals with issues such as unemployment, alcoholism, domestic violence and poverty.
The two film companies BBC Film and Film4 both deal with social realism in many of their productions. Social realism films are almost always set within the poorer working class, telling the story of their hardships and way of life.
Verisimilitude is created through the technical elements to make the film as true to life and naturalistic as possible. Things such as naturalistic lighting and sound, a script and story line that it not over dramatized and a setting that fits within the genres conventions.
Analysis of other social realism films
The opening scenes of social realism films are differentiate from one another, however, they all use the same codes and conventions to create meaning to the text and explore the themes and issues of the particular film. They do this through the technical elements, camera, sound, editing and mise en scene.
The opening of the film Nil by Mouth is in a bar with a man standing and asking for drinks with people in the background smoking and drinking. The camera throughout the opening is handheld, and seems to be in the crowd, making the audience feel as if they are a part of the crowd. This use of camera conveys the social realism genre as it is handheld held, making the camera work seem documentary like, showing real life and making it genuine.
The camera work throughout the opening of Half Nelson is also handheld but begins with a close up of the character. The close up of an awake but clearly tired man shows that the character is restless as he is unable to sleep. A long shot of him sitting on the floor is also handheld but it is not held so steady. The unsteady camera shows restlessness in the character and the two shots that emphasise this restless give an early indication of the theme and issues of the film. The theme of the film is substance abuse and the early sign of restlessness represents the the issues related to this theme of substance abuse as substance abusers are often restless and unable to sleep.
Last Resort opens with a close up two characters, a boy and his mother, travelling, however the audience do not see what they are travelling in. The audience is told early on that the characters are mother and son because of the way that the woman ruffles the boy’s hair. The director has shown the characters travelling because his rationale is to show a journey made by the two people. By not showing what they are travelling in and by having the two characters sat apart, the director has given an illusion of the two characters almost gliding in their own worlds which shows anxiety towards whatever their journey is. Showing a journey in the opening scene indicates to the audience the theme of the film early on which is immigration.
The sound in the opening of Half Nelson begins with jazz music being played throughout the credits. However the music is not created with an instrument but a human mouth indicating a sort of dream world from the very beginning. When an alarm clock starts loudly the music is stopped and the audience just hear the alarm clock. The director uses sound in this way to indicate a dream world that the character is in. This shows the theme of the film as substance abuse is about being high and in a dream world so already the director has given the audience an indication of the theme before the credits end.
The sound throughout the opening of Nil by Mouth is mostly diegetic. The character speaks and in the background people talk and laugh. The director does this to create an atmosphere that the audience can relate to and make it more genuine and true to life. Another thing that this diegetic sound does is create a rowdy atmosphere that indicates to the audience that a fight could break out at any minute, the threat of violence from the beginning represents the theme of violence though out as already from the very beginning violence is a threat (this threat of violence is also created through the dark lighting). The character in Nil by Mouth also speaks in the local dialect and accent, which in this case is cockney. This emphasises the genuine and true to life genre of social realism.
The lighting used in the opening scene of Last Resort is dark and blue. There is no vibrant colour palette at all the colour scheme throughout is blues and greys, cold colours that show no life. The director has done this to show the audience how England is not much different from the countries that the characters have run from. It shows that the characters have travelled from a grim country (Russia) expecting a pleasant and warm country. However, by the way the characters are treated in the beginning of the scene, their perception of England changes and this is shown to the audience through the harsh and dull lighting.
The same sort of colour scheme is used in Nil by Mouth; however it is used to create a different effect. The dark and blue lighting it used to create a scene of a pub of nightclub/bar but it is also used to create atmosphere. The lighting creates a mood and atmosphere of tension. This tension is rubbed off onto the audience as the threat of violence created by the sound grows. The theme of the film is shown from the very opening scene through the lighting and sound combined.
The location in Nil by Mouth also implies towards the theme of violence. The location of a bar gives the audience an indication towards alcohol, an issue associated with the theme of violence.
Codes and conventions of the social realism genre are all used to create a theme to the opening of the film by exploring the issues related to the theme through the technical elements.
