This is England
The movie, This is England, illustrates characteristics of England in 80s by focusing on the story of a 12-year-old child, Shaun who lost his father in the Falklands War. Shaun runs through new experiences and friends which give us a good deal of traces about racism, isolation, and socio-economic conditions of the era’s England. Although the movie touches on variety of issues, this essay is going to focus on three issues which, I think, act as the pillars of the movie. These issues are fear of poverty, racism, and boredom. Also, violence, politics and fatherlessness are the main reinforcements of those themes which are very connected to each other like a spider web.
In terms of economic indications, it is seen that the economic level of people are not very brilliant. At the very beginning of the movie there are some scenes which are peculiar to England of 80s such as rubic cube, pacman, riots, and the prime minister of the period. The riots depicted in the first scenes, most probably were protests against government’s economic policy or racial riots such as “Bloody Saturday”[1]. It is seen that, there were more than one riots during 80s and they were mostly based on racial and economic issues, as Scarman said in his report after the riot in Brixton; “complex political, social and economic factors created a disposition towards violent protest”[2]. So to speak, the riots are significant indicator of poor economic conditions and racism.
There are also some other implications of poverty in the scenes. For example, the house,in which Shaun lives, is in a poor condition. In the first scene, in which we see Shaun waking up, the wall is ragged. Another example, when he goes to the shop, he starts to read a magazine, but he does not buy it even though the shop owner warns him not to read it without buying. Also, he has to wear outdated pants even though other children “pick on him”. Furthermore, we see him washing a car which means he tries to earn some money.
If we look at the whole picture, it could be seen that Shaun and his mother are just a drop in the bucket.Indeed, poverty seems very common in this age. Again, the basic idea behind racism is economical and political. In one of Combo’s speech, Combo blames the immigrants for stealing their jobs and he sees them as “cheap and easy labour”. Then he goes on by blaming the government; “And that Thatcher sits there in her ivory tower”. Triangle of poverty, racisim and politics are constantly stressed in the movie. But poverty is depicted as the main reason for racism.
Another issue that is handled in the movie is loneliness which is a real cause for boredom. Before Shaun meets with the group, any of his friends appear on the screen. Also, we see Shaun wondering around lonely and aimlessly. He rides bicycle in empty streets, and he buys a sling for wasting his time on his own. He wonders around in deserted areas which awakens the sense of isolation. As the director himself has a similar childhood to Shaun, he depicts the environment very realistically and gives the idea of loneliness. Shane Meadow says in one of his interviews: “I think the characters are based very much around my youth growing up in the hills and small towns”[3] (Crossley) .
After he joined the “skinhead” group, he finaly gets along with some friends. But they also feel bored and find something interesting to do, so they find a deserted house and we see those long scenes about the destruction of the house by them. They scream in joy, while breaking, smashing, and breaking every piece of the house. For the skinheads –not those racist ones- this was a way of protesting the contemporary lifestyle. Jason Cowley, a columnist who experienced those years, says: “England was being convulsed by a social, cultural and political counter-revolution. There was violence on the football terraces and on the inner-city streets”[4] (Cowley) . Violence is a symptom of this convulsion.
So to say, racism, violence, and politics stick to each other and they are inseparable again. There is a cause and effect relation among those issues. Racism seems like a natural outcome of political and socio-economic conditions of the era. It is easy to see the critic of the government, especially Thatcherism, via Falkland and migration policy; “Far from achieving hegemony or being natural territory, the politics of nationhood again proved a difficult area for the Conservatives, raising conceptual, statecraft and policy problems across a range of key issues”[5] (Lynch) . There is a parallelism going on between social and political actions.
When Combo and his team go to a meeting, a serious man makes, most probably an important party member, gives a speech on “Being English” and raises the audience’s emotion to the peak. This scene shows a fair example for political effects on racism. While trying to gather the nation in one flag, it becomes vice versa, and racism gets accelerated.
Another cause behind racism is economic problems as I mentioned above. Through the end of the film, when Combo speaks to Lol in the car, we see laborers, who are mostly from different ethnicities, going to the work early in the morning. So to say, it is true, in a way, what Combo says about “cheap labor”. Of course, this is just an attempt to find a scapegoat for predicament of the government. For instance, People’s nationalist consciousness should be increased in order to keep wars such as Falkland.
Combo’s hatred is not really coming from his patriotism, but from his psychological traumas. In the last speech with Milky, we see that Combo hates Milky, because he is jealous of him, because Combo thinks Milky has everything that he wants; “you’ve everything. Haven’t you?” Also Combo has just been refused by the girl that he loves, so he is in a pathetic mood. He obviously wants to take revenge, and it does not matter who the victim is going to be.
Combo is stuck with the question about dad “what do you really think makes a bad dad?” He asks this several times which makes us think about Combo’s dad. Was he a child who has got nothing but a bad dad? The cause of Combo’s violence is not really Milky or any other ethnic groups, because he uses violence against his nationalist friend as well. Or this “dad question” may be a reference to the government. What makes a government bad? Just like Combo embodies his hatred in racism, the whole society finds unreal excuses for the issues like poverty, unemployment, and war. In my opinion, this fake reasoning is the main reason for racism.
Another fatherless figure in the movie is Shaun. He has similarities with Combo in terms of violence. They both get angry quickly. Shaun thinks, the place they lived were a better place when dad was with them, so now, he is not very happy with the situation. He grows up in a poor district and he develops some violence symptoms. I think, the director tries to depict a common generation flaw; the new generation grows fatherless and in violence.
When we come to the issue of “skin head” the director shows that there are two types of skinhead. One is like Woody and his friends. They have nothing to do with racism, they even have a black member in their group, and they listen to ska music which has ethnic roots. They just want to break the convention. That’s why they are dressed differently and act differently[6]. The other type of Skin head is the ones like Combo who have some psychological problems, inferiority complexes or infected by some nationalist propagandas. They have the features of neo-nazi groups. By showing two different types of skin-head, I think, the director tries to correct the misunderstanding.
To sum up, the movie draws a very definite pictures of 80s England and it touches on common movements of the era. Political conflicts, war, socio-economic recession, and racial issues are clearly studied by centering on a life of a 12-year-old boy. Fear of poverty which ignites racism turns into a violent movement and it is seen as a rebellion in society. Besides, boredom, isolation, and punk movements stick to the daily life of England.
Works Cited
Cowley, Jason. guardian.co.uk. 19th april 2009. 29th october 2011 <http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/apr/19/1980s-cultural-history>.
Crossley, Benjamin. ioncinema. july 27th 2007. 28th friday november 2011 <http://www.ioncinema.com/news/id/1245>.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/bbc_parliament/3631579.stm. Tuesday 27th April 2004. friday 28th october 2011.
Lynch, Philip. Politics of Nationhood. New York, 1999.
[1]Bloody Saturday, Time April 20, 1981.
[2] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/bbc_parliament/3631579.stm).
[3]ioncinema.com interview with Shane Meadows.
[4] http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/apr/19/1980s-cultural-history.
[6] http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/apr/19/1980s-cultural-history
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