Social Realism

1. Social Realism • Definition • Social Realism, also known as Socio-Realism, is an artistic movement , expressed in the visual and other realist arts , which depicts social and racial injustice, economic hardship, through unvarnished pictures of life's struggles; often depicting working class activities as heroic.

2. Social Realism Character’s He’s almost your typical villain. He starts off mean and he ends up mean. There is a point where he weakens slightly with his girlfriend Claire (Madeleine Fairly), but it’s just for a second. It’s a tough journey for him, because he’s all about male pride. He makes his choices. Sam is one of those people whose a bully because it happened to him. Pretty early on he probably had to make a stand, but instead of becoming someone who just went quietly about his business, he went the other way. It’s a case of “if you can’t beat them, join them!” There’s a specific guy that he is based on. He tried to bully my friend – who the Moony (Femi Oyeniran) character is based on – and me at school, but we weren’t having it. Ricky, a black teenage Londoner (played by Ashley Walters from , leaves prison with thoughts only of going straight, but before even going back to the flat where he lives with his single mother and 12-year-old brother Curtis, his friend Wisdom (Leon Black) has already unwittingly led him on the first few steps down a depressing and ultimately tragic path

3. Miss-ene-scene Social realism films are usually based in council estate areas where there’s a lot of crime and poverty. You rarely see nice houses in this genre because its meant to be gritty and compelling because of how the character’s seem to survive in the conditions and situations they live by on an everyday bases. Because of these conditions, the main character’s are seen as heroes battling their way to a better life. Hoodies and tracksuit bottoms are very typical for social realism films because they are seen as the uniform for rebellious teenagers. Many social realism films like Kidulthood and bullet boy use these costumes for their main character to inform us audience what class and social group the character represents.

4. Props In social realism films you see a lot of crime and drama and the character’s are mainly identified by the way they talk and dress. In this genre its almost inevitable to not use props at some point in the film, for example, In Adulthood and Kidulthood, they use a baseball bat and a gun in some scenes and these are the main props that are used to identify the character’s in these films.

5. Fish Tank review At first I wasn't sure what to make of this movie. Having watched "Red Road" by Andrea Arnold, I needed to watch Fish tank. It wasn't quite as good as Red Road but somehow it had something that mesmerized me. The movie tells of a 15 year old girl living in a rather socially deprived area of Britain who is passionate about dancing. Her mother is a drunk and brings home a new boyfriend one day. Right from the start there are scenes that are hard to take. These scenes felt quite real for me, maybe thanks to the Director or the acting. There is not much of a storyline other than that the girl gets involved with her mother's boyfriend and everything gets even worse after that. I thought that Michael Fassbender's performance was brilliant. He seems to be star in the making. This movie makes difficult watching because of the harshness of the lives that are depicted here.

6. Adulthood Review • I found ADULTHOOD to be a decent film and one which actually surpasses the original. The reason is that I prefer the plot: I find the story of a sole character's redemption on the mean streets of London to be more focused and compelling than the multi-character narratives of the first film, KIDULTHOOD. At times, ADULTHOOD feels like nothing less than a modern-day western, with characters forming alliances and battling it out in a virtually lawless society.

Noel Clarke goes from strength to strength, undertaking not one, not two, but three separate roles here. First and foremost he directs, giving the movie the kind of gritty realism it desperately needs. Secondly he writes, crafting an interesting tale populated by engaging characters. Finally he acts, and delivers a fine performance as a man struggling to come to terms with his identity and place in society.

The supporting cast are fine – some delivering over-the-top performances, others more restrained and heartfelt, as the script requires. Overall, ADULTHOOD has a refreshing honesty about it that stems from the lives of the people it depicts: it tells their story in an unpretentious, almost documentary style, with plenty of natural humor and a great deal of emotion.

7. Setting Social realism films are usually set in council estate areas with large blocks of flats all squeezed into a small area. Usually the films have a natural and unsaturated look, which is too give the it a real and believable atmosphere. Most social realism are shot in the day when the light is very subtle and bright enough to show the area.