Social realism definition

Social realism is one of the most famous and typical forms of British television and film. Social realism prides its self on being a more practical understanding and acceptance of the society we live in, rather then an idealised view of life. This genre tends to reflect what is happening in the real world in way such as social preblems

Social realism history

Realism originated in around the 1950/1960 Coronation street revolutionised British television when it started in the 1960s. It focused upon a working class area and therefore there storylines focused on social issues which made it successful. Realism soaps tend to have very strong regional identitys and this was saw with the introductin of emmerdale(yorkshire) in 1972, brookside(liverpool) in 1982 and then eastendetrs(london) in 1985

Social realism history

One of the biggest names in the realism genre is ken loach. Ken is famous for his work in directing social realism soaps and his accurate view on key social issues. Ken has worked on film such as kes and looking for epic.

Editing
The editing in a social realistic soap opera will tend to be very subtle compared to other genres. This give the soap a more natural feel and make the view feel like they are actually observing these characters lives.

CHARACTER STEREOTYPES

Black jumper and coat connote darkness and evil within this character Dark grey and black suit with open buttons represents untouchable laid back power

Plain navy overalls and lay on ground near car suggests ordinary working class male stereotype.

Black top connotes darkness whilst collision with the white shirt suggest a bright angel like presence suggesting one of the couple is a lot more dangerous than the other.

This mid-shot shows Phil Mitchells dark grey and black suit which connotes classic London mob-like power. The mise-en-scene in this shot includes dark washed, shady walls with shelves of alcohol and money, representing the dark aspects of his life and what is going on in his mind as the alcohol and money is in line with his head. As Phil throws his money down with his eyes closed, the use of a voice over of one of Phil's workers talking about money again portrays what's going on in his head which is clearly making him stressed.

This mid-shot shows this specific character looking upwards which automatically means someone is looking down on him and due to his jumper and jacket being both plain black suggesting he is a dark and evil character the shot insinuates he is being looked down on by God and as his clothes are black he is portraying a devilish character. The mise-en-scene in this shot is extremely basic with half a pale blue and half bricked wall and a menu laid on the table suggesting this is not the characters home but it is a neutral place for him to be present due to the plainness.

This mid high angle shot shows a character who by his clothes (mechanic overalls) connotes a regular stereotypical working class male but due to the amount of cash he is being handed from an unknown body in the shot this could mean he is being caught up in some form of illegal work which is benefiting him and he is being lured in from under the car (his work) in the mise-en-scene to this illegal work which would explain the black sleeved higher powered character to be a dark leader due to the colour he is wearing and the higher power the shot suggests he is by using the high angle.

In this mid over shoulder shot the female who looks concerned about the male in the picture is wearing black which again is a connotation of darkness and evil, whereas the male assuming he is the character in some kind of trouble is wearing white which is a reverse of where each character stands possibly suggesting that the female character isnt all as caring as she looks and that the man is actually the connoted angel of the scene. The mise-en-scene consisting of just a plain cream wall with slightly darker shadows on her side backs up this point of there being an unseen stand off in the shot between good and evil/light and dark which supports Levi Strauss theory in a clever and subtle way.