Social Realism in the British Context

Realism or ‘Realisms’?The genre of ‘socialrealism’ is given to manydifferent texts without

much thought given tothem, which causesconfusion surroundingthe definition of the term.

The critical consensus about ‘realism’ is that it makes sense to the audience the whole way through, with consistent logic, rather than including events that make no sense, therefore deeming it ‘unrealistic’.

Realism was given context due to factors that existed whilst the country was experiencing a period of social and structural change. This includes workers moving to the city to support the growing infrastructure and new political ideas to provide answers for the working class.

Realism was developed

in the 19th century

by discussionsbased on

literature that named realism as

a form of oppositional

expression or way of seeking change.

Carroll suggested that the word ‘realism’ should only be used with a prefix, such as ‘social-’ or ‘neo-’. The prefix would determine which movement the text is a part of, and when and who was believing it to be ‘real’.

For example, in ‘Last Resort’, Pawlikowski is addressing the real issue of a lack of rights given to asylum seekers, or immigrants in general to try and seek change in the social world.

Realism and the CinemaPhotography brought the new possibility of capturing images

that portray ‘life as it is lived’, as photoslooked very similar to what people saw through their own eyes.

The common quest shared by all media was to present the ‘truth’.

At the end of the nineteenth century, the arts had adopted methods of creating ‘realist’ texts, using different approaches and devices to edit the style and form.

Realism and the CinemaSiegfried Kraucer believed that film was able to present reality and that they should all adhere to ‘realism’ without using clever devices to deceive audiences.

Emile Zola believed in ‘naturalism’, which suggests that even fiction should be created with the a similar aesthetic of ‘realism’.

These two theories believe that the texts should not distract from the ‘real’ look

Gerhardie believed the goal of naturalism to be creating an illusion of reality by adding the characteristics from the ‘real’ subjects and adding them to the fictional subjects.

However, André Bazin’s argument disagreeswith theothers, in that he believes that ‘realism’ is onlypossible through using devices designed to trick the audience into thinking it is ‘real’.

All of these approaches aim to create ‘realism’ through using the associated codes and conventions to represent the ‘truth’.

Branston and Stafford mentioned that for it to be a ‘realist’ text rather than just ‘realistic’, the filmmaker’s intentions must have been to present the experience of the actual event portrayed and/or to send out a message about the social world through the use of realist conventions.

Defining Social Realism

Early 1800s late 1800s 1910s 1920s-30s 1940s-50s 1960s-70s 1980s 1990s-early 2000s modern day

Social realism is difficult to define because it depends on the era in which it was used. As time goes on, society changes, and so does the definition of ‘social realism’.

Samantha Lay suggests that a key aspect of social realist texts is the way in which they use characters and settings to explore the reality of contemporary life. This defining characteristic is described by Hallam and Marshment as a term used to describe films in which the setting shows impact on character development, emphasising the connection between location and identity.

Lowenstein describes social realism as being ‘bound up with moments of social crisis’.

Hill suggests that although social realism texts from the past aren’t necessarily what we’d see as real now, newer ones are referencing past ones to try and get closer to ‘realism’ now.

Raymond Williams’ Four Criteria for Defining Realist

Texts:

Realist texts do not surround superstition and mysticism but more reason and logic.

The setting, characters and social issues are those that we could believe are found in the present day

The range of characters and topics is broadened to those that are less seen and/or represented in other genres

They are influenced by the political intent of the artist

‘Last Resort’ adheres to all four of Williams’ criteria, and so, according to him, it can be defined as a realist text.

o It doesn’t include features that are ‘realistic’ to only those who are superstitious, or believe in mysticism.

o The characters and settings can be deemed as those belonging to present day, as we see news of immigrants and refugees in the media regularly.

o However, we don’t usually see asylum seekers represented in film or TV, and so we can agree that the characters are those that are less represented in mainstream films.

o This film is likely to have been influenced by the politics of the filmmaker, as Pawel Pawlikowski has had experience of the events mentioned in the film, as he moved to the UK from Warsaw when he was 14, due to his parents claiming for political asylum.