Context in This Is England

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How does TIE reflect the political and social contexts of the 80's? Make sure you refer to film form in your answer, especially Mise-en-scene (costume, setting, performance ect. ) and sound (especially music).
Context

  • Political (Thatcherism and Capitalism)
  • Social (the dual representations of Skinhead culture, disaffection of youth, racial tension and riots)


This is England reflects political and social content in the 80's by the graffiti that we see throughout such as Combo and Shaun were actually doing the graffiti themselves which was all against Thatcher and her policies and what she stood for. We can also see in This is England that the Capitalist views are clearly frowned upon as they are working class which then leads to the Skinhead culture with them dressing the same and having shaved heads and liking the same music which is the original Skinheads which were multicultural and didn't discriminate because the music they all enjoyed was brought from Jamaica and was mostly Reggae which then united people together liking the same clothes and enjoying the same music together which was Woody's gang. Whereas the newer Skinhead which were racist and that is where Combo comes into it and was all for the National Front and people followed him which meant he made an massive impression on Shaun and what he called people that weren't white for example the shopkeeper who is Asian and he calls him awful names that no one should be called. Thatcherism is the political and economic policies advocated by the former British Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, particularly those involving the privatisation of nationalised industries and trade union legislation. Capitalism is an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state. 

Comments

  1. A Bateman25 April 2018 at 02:29

    This is good Keighley and nicely explains the links between the film and the capitalist state in which the film exists, however you should explain in more detail how the main characters in the film are the product of Capitalism, they are the ones that Capitalism doesn't serve, the inevitable consequence of when the rich get richer, and explain how this is shown through the mise-en-scene and the characters. Can you also explain the triangular relationship between Shaun, Woody and Combo and how Shaun is caught in the middle of the two different branches of skinhead culture.

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  2. Film studies Keighley Garside25 April 2018 at 02:50

    Shaun is caught in between to type of skin head culture because Woody stands for one thing and Combo stands for something else. Woody is more of an original skin head who likes all races, likes music and likes the way they dress. On the other hand Combo is the newer skinheads that people remember the Nazi version of the skin head culture and Shaun is pulled in by the speech Combo makes about the Falkland War which his dad fought in and died in. He has been taken in by Woody at first just to give him meaning and feel like he can be somebody whereas Combo changes that to a racist little boy who has been lead down the wrong path in the skin head culture. The main character in the film are a inevitable consequence of Capitalism because they have just become more working class and more poor which is inevitable in the ruling of Thatcher which meant there was a high amount of unemployed people which then meant people were living on council estates which nobody wanted to admit they were working class but that was the consequence of Thatcher's new policy that every would have to work for themselves if they wanted to become middle or higher class. This is what Combo was fighting against which then led to the National Front becoming part of skin head culture, this is also what Combo introduced to Shaun which at the age he was meant he would believe anything and do anything he was asked.

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