Social Realism originates from the work of artists such as Luke Fildes, Hubert von Herkomer, Frank Holl and William Small who produced artwork that showed concern for the poor during the Industrial Revolution. In 1874, a Russian realist painter - Ilya Repin - produced a painting titled 'Beggar' which was of a young girl who looks unhappy and tired. Her facial expression demonstrates how she's had her childhood stolen from her and is likely to have spent most of her time working. Her clothes also look dirty and ragged to show that she can't afford to buy new clothes and probably works in harsh conditions. These aspects of this painting highlight the living conditions and lifestyle of children, specifically of the working class, at the time. Poverty was much more common and therefore child labour was also predominantly used to support poor families. Social realism first started in the 19th century and the main problem was urban poorness. The first piece which showed this was a painting which was created by LLya Repin. As technology wasn’t created at that time, artist work was the only way too show social realism. There have been many changes, such as there are some artist from different countries collaborating with others in order to create a master piece based on this topic.
A group of realist artists led by Robert Henri formed what is now known as Ashcan School. They challenged American Impressionism and through their art, they portrayed the events of New York as a form of social realism.
The first well know social realism film was "Rescued by Rover" from 1905. The film revolves around a child that had been kidnapped but eventually saved thanks to her dog. At the time, there had been an increase in kidnappings and it was increasingly becoming more and more common.This led to the production of "Rescued by Rover" as it explored this daunting period in time where children were going missing in the blink of an eye.
Spare Time (1939) is a portrait of the post war working class, painting a picture of how industry workers spent their free time when they were not at work. Drinking, dancing and having a good time. The audience at the time find it intriguing to watch on a screen what they do in their own spare time. This helps the audience to relate to the film.
Harry Watts, during WW2 there were many bombing. Both from the British and German. This film is about how a RAF crew is pleased with the result of a bombing over Germany. The highlights the attitudes the public and the soldiers have to war. Mise en scene in the film shows the difficulty of the lower class people suffering at the time. People dressed in old, worn out clothes. Location shown were again council housing at the time also air raid shelters further emphasising the war effects. The British audience at the time would have related to the issues of WW2 as it was a national problem. Films like these would be been popular because the audience would have been able to relate to the problems of the characters in the film.
David Lean. This film portrays the lives of an ordinary lower middle class family who lives in London, between the two world wars. The films again highlights the difficulties the public faced when the country went to war.
Charles Crichton, a small train branch is threatened of clousure. A group of middle class people come together to run it themselves. This films shows that even those these workers were middle class they still thrived to run it as an independent branch. It also portrays the struggles the working class people face when almost becoming made redundant. The British working class audience would have
Karel Reisz. A factory worker, Arthur Season is having an affair with the wife of a friend from work. She becomes pregnant and he starts seeing a younger woman, Doreen. Eventually he settles down with Doreen, but he never really commits to her. Again this shows that the audience at the time enjoyed seeing other peoples love lives.
Ken Loach, this film is about a young boy who faces struggles both at home and in school. He often struggles to focus in school. He starts taking care of a kestrel and it becomes he closest companion. The bird symbolised hope and freedom for the boy. The bird dies at the end of the film. Which shows the end of the smallest chance of the boys freedom,
Mike Leigh. Working class couple Shirley and Cyril are contemplating on whether or not they should have children. They had a problem with 'yuppies' these were the young professional working class, like disliked the fact that they were moving into their neighbourhood. This shows that the people even then found it difficult to deal with change. And found it easy to blame other for the difficulties they were facing.
Mike Leigh, an adopted black woman finds out her real adopted mother died. This films shows how black people were treated in 90s. It also shows that the audience found it interesting to watch people keep secrets and to later watch how everything unravelled.
Shane Meadows. The film is about a young boy who's gather died the the Falkands war and ends up getting into trouble at school, as he comes across a group of skinheads and is accepted into their group. This film highlight how all humans crave is to feel like they belong. The film shows how the boy feel wanted and respected now that he is part of something bigger
Rebecca Johnston. This film is based on a 15 year girl. Who moves in a new neighbourhood. She mixes with the wrong crowd and faces some difficult situations. This movie conforms to some of the aspects of social realism films e.g. drugs, abuse, gang crime. The other issue that was shown in the movie was homophobia. The director decided to include this topic as homophobia is a controversial issue. The effect of including these issues means that the film is more relatable for the audience in effect making it a more successful social realism film. Including such aspects also show the development in society as older social realism films would not have displayed such topics such as homosexuality as widely.
Noel Clarke. This movie is a sequel to Kidulthood and Adulthood. The movie is based around drugs, money and gangs. The director has included all these topics in his movie to show what is happening in most estates in London. The costume used throughout the film fits into the stereotypes of social realism. Similarly the location of the film conforms to aspects of social realism films e.g. council estates. We see that the main themes and mise en scene of the film Brotherhood this film would be a typical modern day example of social realism. As the audience can relate to issues presented and the characters shown.
We'd love to hear from you. Please send questions or feedback to the below email addresses.
Before contacting us, you may wish to visit our FAQs page which has lots of useful info on Tiki-Toki.
We can be contacted by email at: hello@tiki-toki.com.
You can also follow us on twitter at twitter.com/tiki_toki.
If you are having any problems with Tiki-Toki, please contact us as at: help@tiki-toki.com
Close