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.