Social Realism essay

Here is an essay set to develop our understanding of social realist texts, sorry to post it on here as it is not relevant to coursework but once my printer has been fixed i'll start printing homework off, rather than posting it on here

How do the full monty and brassed off demonstrate the characteristics of a social realist text?

A social realist text is a piece of text that presents the real problems faced by a society, mainly social realist texts presents problems such as unemployment, marital problems, lack of money, drug abuse, illness and in some cases death. Social realist texts often have an odd genre considering the subject matter, as they usually go for a comical spin and make the viewer laugh, this humour normally originates from the main characters, who despite their unfortunate positions usually have witty remarks or they see humour in their situations.

The theory of characters laughing and being humorous despite their troubles is evident throughout both ‘brassed off’ and ‘the full monty’ some examples of this from ‘brassed off’ is when two wives of miners who may be made redundant express the concern of their husbands ‘doing nothing all day,’ that’s when the camera zooms out to reveal a neighbour who has been listening to the whole conversation sitting in a sun lounger chair remarks how ‘you get used to it.’ ‘The full monty’ has many occasions similar to this, the whole storyline of the main characters, who are ordinary men, stripping as a new form of income.

There are many other factors shared by ‘brassed off’ and ‘the full monty’ that demonstrate the characteristics of a social realist text, such as the way the continuity of the narrative is upheld, both movies use television programmes that enable the audience to understand what was occurring at the time the film is set. This programme takes the form of a documentary called ‘Swinging Sheffield’ in ‘the full monty’ this documentary sets up the narrative for the audience as it is shown at the start of the movie, it details how Sheffield is a town on the rise and the steel industry in which was it’s main source of employment earned it the name ‘city of steel’ this documentary faded to reveal the ‘city of steel’ years on, the steelworks out of use and unemployment rife. This trick was used again in ‘brassed off’ when a news report on the pit closures, this is one of the first shreds of information the audience receive about the looming problem of unemployment, except for the ‘women against pit closure’ stalls outside the mines. The reason directors would include realistic programmes to enhance the narrative could be due to the fact the audience is more likely to lose sense of reality and get sucked into the storyline, thus increasing their sympathy for the characters and their hardships.

A third way both ‘brassed off’ and ‘the full monty’ demonstrate the characteristics of a social realist text is by setting the movie in a run down housing estate where the weather always seems to be slightly grey and miserable, the reason this is a common theme throughout social realist texts is because of the fact most social realist texts showcase British people’s economic struggle. The case of economic troubles is evident throughout both films; in ‘the full monty’ Gaz cannot afford the maintenance money for his son, this results in the threat of a court case to decide whether the mother should get full custody. In ‘brassed off’ Phil has economic troubles, which resulted in him seeing loan sharks, who he now owes twelve thousand pound, his trouble with money and dangerous men results in his wife leaving him and taking the kids with her. The fact both films are set in areas that look like they hold lower income families where the weather always seems to be add to a depressing mood is crucial to the development of social realism, as the audience see the poor living conditions and the bad weather and they feel for the characters, some of the audience may even relate to many of the character’s situations.

Another way both ‘the full monty’ and ‘brassed off’ demonstrate the characteristics of a social realist text is by having periods of extreme highs and lows throughout the movie, this is typical of most social realist texts as when the period of low comes the audience gets anticipant and almost anxious, as they believe there might be no fix for any of the characters. ‘Brassed off’ has a period of extreme low as soon as the miners realise that the pit has been closed, soon after this Danny’s lungs start failing worse than ever and he has to be rushed to hospital; all the boys lost hope in the band, the one thing that kept them together; the majority of Phil’s possessions get taken; Phil’s family leave him; Harry’s wife finally snaps and lets loose feelings that have been bubbling for a long time and; Andy and Gloria have troubles. ‘The full monty’ presents similar problems during it’s period of extreme low, as Gaz seems to be running out of time to get the money necessary to save all hope of seeing his son again; Dave’s wife is having huge doubts over their marriage; and the group formed within the movie seem to be splitting.

‘Brassed off’ and ‘the full monty’ do have their unique ways of demonstrating the characteristics of a social realist texts, such as in ‘brassed off’ when Andy and Gloria get together there seems to be some good come from a bad situation, however after finally making a move and them two showing their feeling for each other the miners discover that Gloria was sent to survey their mine and write a report about closure. Andy then cannot look at her and the rest of the men shun her from the group. This is a good way of demonstrating the characteristic of a social realist as when the two characters first meet there seems to be a connection, so the audience is going to be rooting for a relationship to form, when it does this would cause happiness in the audience and the characters life’s, however as is common in social realist texts this happiness cannot last long and the relationship deteriorates.

‘Brassed off’ also shows the characteristics of a social realist text by presenting serious illness to a lead character; Danny has ‘black lung disease,’ this fact is evident to the audience as we see him coughing when he is alone, this creates worry and spreads anxiety, as in most social realist texts this bad situation takes a turn for the worse when the mine closes and Danny is left hospitalized, this has a knock on effect to the other characters, and Phil is even led to attempt suicide, the fact the problems of one character is intertwined with another’s is another way of demonstrating the characteristics of a social realist text as in real society if a group of friends were going through hardships, one persons problems would be adopted by the others, this is a huge characteristic in social realist texts as it is evident in actual society.

‘The full monty’ also has it’s unique ways of demonstrating the characteristics of a social realist text, the fact some of the film is set in the old steelworks where a lot of the cast used to work is one, as it is a constant reminder to the audience of the hardships the characters are facing, the steelworks is a depressing scene, not only because of the fact the men lost their jobs from there but also because of the how grey and scummy it now appears, it seems to have lost all soul and life slowly after it was closed down.

A second unique way ‘the full monty’ demonstrates the characteristics of a social realist text is by showing how desperate the characters are to get money, the reason ‘the full monty’ can do this is because it is years after the closure of the industry, meaning the money they did have has gone. At some points Gaz and Dave are even seen stealing bits of steel from the old steelworks for ‘twenty quid a pop.’ This desperation is a common characteristic of social realist texts as some societies may be that low on cash they would be willing to steal, this means that theme is common in social realist texts.

In conclusion both ‘brassed off’ and ‘the full monty’ demonstrate the characteristics well, sometimes they mimic each other, such as the main characters all squeezing in one small car or presenting marital problems, sometimes however they present unique ideas and catalysts for showing the characteristics of a social realist text.