English realsim

There are several factors that have contributed to many films of the gritty realism tradition being set in northern landscapes. I propose a review of the evidence that Historical, Economic, Sociological, Political, Cultural and Gender based and Geographic factors explain why many films of the gritty-realist tradition being set in northern landscapes.

As the term implies gritty films are concerned with realism, however any realism in films is an altered, sculptured realism designed to fit into a constructed narrative with suitable plot turns and drama.

Dating back to the industrial revolution through to the ‘Thatcherite’ years of the mid-eighties the north has been seen as predominately working class. This is because it is the industrial center of Britain and therefore attracted unskilled poorly educated workers which then formed into close communities eventually becoming big industrial cities that are now the established north Films depicting events in the north naturally show working class communities dealing with working class issues. The working class is imbued with an inherent sense of realism. This is due to the need

Another economic factor is that generally people in the North have less money. There are very few centers of affluence and opulence such as the South. People who live in a world of economic comfort and freedom make up a very small percentage of the population and as such the audience cannot relate with them. The general view is that people in northern landscapes do not enjoy large amounts of wealth and as a result appear more real. In addition the lack of money also creates conflict and envy which are again base, gritty emotions loaded with a “real” subtext.

Economically, northern landscapes are suited to films of the gritty realist tradition. The South of England is considered the fiscal centre of Great Britain with the Bank of England and the stock exchange based in London. Those institutions appear to be a fantasy world very detached from what the “everyman” of Britain has to contend with. The North of England has very few if any comparable fiscal institutions and as such is a more real setting for any film therefore explaining the preeminence of the north in documentary realist films.

s and issues that the working classes deal with being related to the baser hunter gatherer ideals of food and shelter.

The economic, as well as many others, context of northern landscapes is suitable for creating what Higson refers to as Moral realism. “This we can name as moral realism, in that it involves a moral commitment to a set of particular set of social problems and solutions… inevitably, the claim for moral realism is in part bound up with the claim for surface realism- there is a moral thrust to iconographic commitment to the representation of ‘ordinary people’” (Higson, 1996, Pg136). The North is as I have mentioned before the established center of the ‘ordinary man’ in Britain and as such this idea of moral realism can be applied to nearly every situation any set of characters in the North and as such makes it a very good setting for documentary- realist films.

Higson discusses the magnetization of documentary style gritty realist filmmakers to the north due to cultural and gender reasons. ”The ‘South’ of England was in the process of being physically and cultural abandoned by male artists of all kinds as an increasingly feminized domain” (Dodd and Dodd in Higson, 1996, Pg 46). In short the unwillingness to change from the already established status quo made the North seem increasingly attractive to film makers who wanted to root their pictures in realism.

Some topics in this essay:
Billy Elliot, Cultural Gender, Dodd Higson, North Firstly, South People, Monty Simply, Brassed Relating, Pg136 North, King Higson, John Hill, northern landscapes, realist films, set northern landscapes, gritty realist, set northern, films set, documentary- realist, higson 1996, gritty realist films, socio economic, moral realism, documentary- realist films, films set northern, films set north, cultural gender,