Masculinity

Masculinity is a key theme of the film ‘This is England’, as obviously a lot of the characters in the film are men. There are two main characters, in my opinion, which not only exhibit masculinity to the characters in the film, but also represent two types of masculinity in the eyes of the viewer. On one hand, you have Woody, who embodies the male in Britain at the time who was accepting of everyone, no matter of their appearance, age, gender or ethnicity, which is shown by him inviting Shaun in to his group despite being such a young age. Then you have Combo, who embodies the males who had very right wing views and who believed that through Britain caring for minorities that the white working class male had become a minority themselves.

Women

Women throughout the film of ‘This is England’ are shown to be caring towards the male characters in the film, such as Shaun’s Mum to Shaun, the girls in the gang to Shaun and Smell to Shaun. They’re also used in the film to portray some of the horrible that happened to women during that time period and still happen today. This is shown through the interchange between Combo and Lol in which Combo claims that the thought of their ‘love’ got him through prison. Lol then implies that Combo raped her whilst drunk, as she says that she’s been trying to forget about that night ever since it happened. They’re also portrayed as the more sensible characters in the film and soceity at the time, as shown by the second montage in the film where the boys are messing about and walking solemnly towards the camera, and also when Shaun’s mum takes him to the shoe shop and insists he gets a certain pair of shoes.

Young People

Young people throughout the film are shown to be quite impressionable to their surroundings, such as when Combo convinces a handful of Woody’s gang, including an extremely young Shaun, to join him in committing these heinous, racist acts that we see them do throughout the film. They are also actually shown to be more sensible than adults that we see throughout the film, and even though they do destroy an old abandoned house, that has a nice, friendly tone to it, as they aren’t hurting anyone and they’re bonding with one another over something. On the other hand, the adults throughout the film do horrible, disgusting things, such as prank Woody’s party with a machete. It is only once the young people find themselves under the adult’s tutelage that start to do horrible things, such as racially berate children and men and sexistly taunt women. This film maker showing the audience how impressionable the youth of that time was.

Older People

In terms of older people in the film ‘This is England’, some of them shown to be the caring parental figures in Shaun’s life, such as his mum and Combo, even though Combo does have malicious intent, he is shown to be caring towards Shaun at certain points throughout the film. Politicians, such as Margaret Thatcher, are shown to be, just like in real life, uncaring fools, shown by the graffiti on the side of the church, which is constantly shown throughout the film. Her lack of caring for the working class is the reason for the emergence of these subcultures, such as the ska movement that Woody’s gang follows and the right wing liberalism that Combo believes in.

English People

English people in the film ‘This Is England’ are portrayed in a majority of ways, one being the way in which they are portrayed as violent through the characters that support the political views of the far right, such as Combo. This portrayal is also shown through the opening compilation, in which there is quite a lot of footage that shows British people rioting. Another in which British people are portrayed are quite accepting other people no matter their age or ethnicity. This shown through Woody’s gang and how he invites Shaun, a child, into the gang/friend group as well as being friends with Milky, who is black. This representation though is contradicted later on by the far right characters who berate and abuse people of other ethnicities, such as the man who owns the corner store.

Asian/Black People

Asians and Black people are represented through the characters of Milky, the only black skinhead, and the Asian man who owns the corner shop and the group of Asian boys playing football. Throughout the film, these characters are constantly discriminated against, the most memorable examples for me being when Shaun calls the shop owner a paki and when Combo beats Milky nearly to death whilst berating him with racial slurs. This representation in the film shows to the audience the discrimination people of different ethnicities faced during this time period.

Place (the Midlands where it is set)

The setting of the midlands in the film feels like its own sort of character and as a way for the director to show to the audience the feelings that people had at the time towards those in power, evident from the mise-en-scene which portrays a run-down northern town, telling the audience that the government don’t really care about these people, which is why they’re angry at them. Another element which portrays this anger towards government officials is the ‘Maggie is a twat’ graffiti shown throughout the film.

Class

From the very beginning of the film, directly after the montage, the audience is presented with a clear image of a working class home, which is the opening scene of Shaun’s bedroom and the basic furnishings that it has. The audience is then shown the negative effects that poverty can have upon a person mentally, besides from the obvious effects such as lack of food, as Shaun is bullied for his outdated and ill-fitting clothes. Other images of class presented throughout the film are Combo and his defiant stance on society that the working class male has now become a minority, due to too much immigration, which even those is wrong, could be viewed as right in the case of Combo, as he has clearly had a poor education and where he lives isn’t the nicest of places.

Young people:

Young people are mainly represented in the beginning of This Is England, not only by showing the school that Shaun goes to, but also in the form of Woody and his friends, who are quiet young. It is revealed that Gadget goes to the same school as Shaun, as well as Smell. They are mainly represented as a rowdy sort of bunch, who are easily influenced which is evident by how quickly Shaun joins Combo. However, it is also shown that a lot of them don’t hold the same views as the typical skinhead does, as Woody is far more left-wing than Combo.

Older people (parents/authority figures/politicians):

There are multiple clips of Margaret Thatcher, as well as radio broadcasts of her, throughout This Is England. However, she is not presented in a good light; from the very beginning of the film, there is lots of anti-Thatcher graffiti, and then later on, Combo reveals his criticisms of her. Conservative politicians, especially Thatcher are represented in a very negative way, though it was mainly because of Combo’s white supremacist views.

There are other people of an older generation that are also represented in the film. For example, the National Front that are giving a presentation are all older men, who seem to be of a higher status and class due to their much nicer clothes. Combo and his friends are also of a generation older than Woody, which emphasises the fact that the older people in the film (apart from Shaun’s mother) are represented with far more right-wing views.

English people:

A lot of the English people in the film -despite whether they are white supremacists or not- seem to be somewhat proud of the country. However, a majority are represented as racist nationalists, which include Combo’s violent group, as well as the politicians that are introducing the National Front to Shaun for the first time.

Masculinity:

There is a bit of a theme in This Is England of masculinity, even though it is quiet subtle. There are no women at the National Front meeting, and none of the women in Woody’s group decide to join Combo, which suggests that the nationalist skinhead stereotype is very much associated with men. As well as this, when Shaun comes back in after Combo assaults Milky, Combo stops sobbing and notices that Shaun is crying a lot, which prompts him to shove a finger in his face to tell him to stop crying and say that ‘men don’t cry’.

People of colour:

The representation of people of colour in the film shows them as being a villain in Combo’s eyes. In his ‘This Is England’ speech he describes them using racist slurs, and talks about how they are ‘taking jobs’ from the unemployed in England. While they are represented in a negative way, they are clearly not shown to be the actual villains of the story, and the audience is seemingly supposed to sympathise with them. Rather, Combo and his group are presented as the villains.

Setting:

The setting of the film really seems to give an insight into what England was like in 1983. It is filmed on site, which gives it a sense of verisimilitude and in general, it just feels grimy, gritty and grey which represents the English weather very well.