Essay: This is England

I have chosen to analyse the film ‘This is England’ as it is a crime based drama, which is the genre I have chosen to work in with my production company ‘Insignia’. The story follows a troubled boy called Shaun growing up in England. It is about a generation of young adults, skinheads in particular. It also raises the issues and the influences that were around in 1983. The film is directed by Shane Meadows who bases it on his past experiences and tries to represent skinheads in a different light.

Todorov’s theory of every narrative having an equilibrium, disequilibrium and new equilibrium is applied in This is England. At the start of the film, we see Shaun going to school and taking part in every day life activities – such as getting ready and being picked on. Even though this isn’t an ideal situation it’s what Shaun has learnt to deal with and we get the impression it’s something that he has to face everyday of his life. This is shown through the use of dialogue, as boys mock his trousers, you can hear in Shaun’s voice it isn’t phasing him like it would someone that it had first happened to. As Shaun befriends skinheads his life seems to look up, this is another equilibrium – within the skinhead group. They are all friends. The equilibrium is interrupted a number of times, for example when Shaun argues with Gadget, he fails to return home on time and with a shaved head; resulting in his mom being upset with him. These examples are all part of the cycle and are what makes the film so intense, without the ups and downs in the narrative it wouldn’t be exciting for the audience. The main disequilibrium is when Combo introduces himself to the group and forces them to split and almost take sides, Shaun in particular. By the end of the film Shaun can see the person Combo is and can see he isn’t the role model he thought he was – this is the new equilibrium within the film and by showing this Shane Meadows has been able to successfully attack the perception of skin heads and show the variety within the subculture and put his views across.

Levi-Strauss’ binary opposites are also present throughout the narrative through conflict and drama particularly due to race. The film is driven by the conflict between people from other decent and immigrants in England and those that believe that England is ‘theirs’ and that people are taking their jobs. This is a binary opposite in itself within the film, which is accompanied with love vs. hate due to these views and means that certain people are generalised and seen as good and evil. Shane Meadows recognizes the skinhead movement within the film and shows the love and hate between cultures, through characters like Combo and his partner in crime. However, characters like Woody and Lol do not condone the violence, which means that there is a binary opposite within violence and non-violence itself. Combo is a perfect example of someone who thinks that violence is the answer and tries to enforce this on the weaker characters such as Shaun, and Gadget; until they realise there is another reason why Combo is filled with such anger and it could be due to the way he was treated as a child and uses immigration and the skinhead movement as a way of letting his anger out on people.

There are various character types that fit into Propp’s seven character types. For example, Shaun at the start was a ‘damsel in distress’ that needed saving from the bullying and needed support. For Shaun, Woody could be seen as his hero at the start as he gets him new clothes, new friends and a new image. He shows him a good time and invites him out, which means that he helps a lot in his life particularly because of the background he is from. However as the film progress’ we see that Combo tries to be the hero for Shaun, trying to lead him into things in an attempt to ‘make his dad proud’ and flatters him by telling him he was ‘just like him when he was a kid’; however this is false and he is actually an anti-hero. In the fight scene between Milky and Combo, it becomes obvious to Shaun and the audience that he isn’t a very nice person and he turns on those closest to him. He becomes the villain by the end of the film.

Barthes idea of a film being a tangled ball of thread links well with the film ‘This is England’, the film aims to try and attack the stero-type of a skinhead and show them in a better light. However, it isn’t done in a way that is unrealistic, it shows the thoughts and feelings in 1983 and leaves it open to the audiences out interpretation. For myself, after watching the film I saw a side to skin heads that I never thought existed before. They are stero-typed as racist, inconsiderate and violent people but characters like Woody and Lol go against this completely and in fact just want to make people happy and go about their own lives. For example, when Shaun comes into the café with his Mother after getting his hair shaved by Lol; she was very apologetic and considerate to his Mother. Roland Barthes theory suggests that texts are either open or closed and I think this is a very open piece of text, but has huge impact on your thoughts and opinions as an audience member. The culture code that Barthes has theorized links in perfectly with this film and does help to identify with the audience. Whether the audience were growing up in the era or are just interested in it, skin heads are a hugely interesting sub culture which means people will want to learn about them and find out about what they did; which is why the film is so popular to date.

The time that the film is based in is a huge part of the narrative, as it relates to the issues that were going on in the 1980’s and this is shown through the subtitles at the start of the film. It shows the major events that shaped England during the times of Margaret Thatcher. The film moves in a linear manner but parts of characters behaviours could date back further. The way that Combo was treated by his own parents, prior to the 80’s could have impacted on his outlook of life and his mentality as a person. The film is very linear due to focus around the 1980’s.