My focus films are 'This is England', 'Somers Town' and 'Once Upon A Time in the Midlands'. 'This is England' will be my main focus film as the characters are directly affected by the political and social climates of the time period (Summer 1983) e.g. the Falklands War, the National Front rise, skinhead and nu-wave sub-cultures ect. 'Somers Town' was chosen as it is a study of the social environment of the Somers Town are of London, and with the new developments in transport in recent years, St.Pancras/King's Cross station is going under heavy re-development. A Polish character, Mariuz find work in this field. The appearance of English, French and Polish characters also shows a wide range of characteristics in the London setting. My final film, 'Once Upon A Time in the Midlands' is a mirror to the spaghetti western films, but is set in Nottingham, East Midlands (the wild west of Great Britain). There are a strong array of accents in the key characters (Scouse, Scottish, Welsh and Cockney) and this is subject to question weather Meadows is being relevant to his Midlands setting.
Meadows is clearly aware of all of the social environments he creates, basing the settings on his own experience of the areas and times he films in. 'This Is England' shows political accuracy and how this effects individuals. 'Somers Town' shows the wide range of nataionalites that can be found in London.
Really good analyis of how he has thought about the time period (Summer 1983), and it is ovious you have researched alot into what was happening at the time like skinheads, natilnal front rise. Also I like the final paragraph about how each film is diffrent and about diffren subjects.
ReplyDeleteThis is good. I'm sure there must be lots in the press about Meadows' comments on society.
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