A-Level exam answer: How useful has an ideological critical approach been in understanding key characters in This Is England and We Need To Talk About Kevin?

Both Shane Meadows’ This is England and Lynne Ramsay’s We Need To Talk About Kevin centre around the difficulties associated with teenage boys approaching adulthood, however whereas This Is England revolves around Shaun as the central protagonist, …Kevin pursues an alternative perspective, using the title character as a focal point to explore the identity of his mother, Eva. Although the spectator will automatically form their … Continue reading A-Level exam answer: How useful has an ideological critical approach been in understanding key characters in This Is England and We Need To Talk About Kevin?

Breaking free from heritage: ‘My Beautiful Laundrette’ and ‘Trainspotting’

   The British film industry of the 1980s and 1990s was dominated by the ‘heritage’ film, to an extent where such films often overshadowed examples of different types of filmmaking. The 1980s in particular where characterised by the success of such films as Chariots of Fire (1981) and A Room With a View (1985), and this was a pattern which continued into the 1990s, with … Continue reading Breaking free from heritage: ‘My Beautiful Laundrette’ and ‘Trainspotting’

‘Britishness’ and British Film in the 1980s and ‘90s

   The 1980s and 1990s were a time of rapid social change; as class barriers shifted, attitudes evolved – towards class, but also towards the different nationalities that make up Britain. Devolution of power to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly in the late 1990s was an important step in undermining what Peter J. Taylor called ‘the English presumption’ – the automatic equation of ‘British’ … Continue reading ‘Britishness’ and British Film in the 1980s and ‘90s