DEFINING FEATURES OF SOCIAL REALISM

Defining Features of Social Realism

Defining Features of Social Realism

Problem Question

Samantha Lay describes the defining features of social realism (in a British context) as 'a high degree of verisimilitude, placing emphasis on ensemble casts in social situations which suggest a direct link between person and place,' films etc.

Introduction

Samantha Lay is of the view that although not in a discrete genre, the female ensemble drama is nevertheless aimed for the social Realism which is one of Britian's most consistent genres often incorporating film movements identifiable as a distinctive form of 'feminine-gendered' fiction that is largely written and/or produced by women, which focuses on particular communities of female.

Background

The reason of this text-based investigation of the feminine ensemble drama is to engage with a centered anxiety of feminist TV condemnation, that of the gendered persona of this particular newspapers pattern and the buildings of gender inside it given its association with women at these three sites of production, text and audience. Verisimilitude, however, 'refers not to what may or may not actually be the case but rather to what the dominant culture believes to be the case to what is generally accepted as credible to the female ensemble drama provides a useful case study through which to explore the cultural meanings and negotiations surrounding the intersection of gendered and classed identities given its status as a form of 'feminine-gendered fiction that is, a form of fiction that is associated with 'women' at each stage of meaning production. The relaxation of film censorship laws in post-war Britain had by the late fifties brought about many changes in British Cinema. The most striking of these changes being its rapidly increasing willingness to deal with issues both social as well as artistic, the more contemporary the better. (Badalley, W Hugh, 1975 Pp. 45)

While this group of dramas do not represent a discrete genre, with each drama having its own generic affiliations such as crime drama (Band of Gold, Daylight Robbery) and 'soap drama' (Real Women, Playing the Field), as finite serial dramas they are distinct for being that television rarity, that is prime-time texts that are largely written and/or produced by women; which diegetically focus on particular communities of working-class female characters outside of the genre, and thus parameters, of British soap opera, and which, according to Samantha Lay, are predominantly addressed to female audiences. Feminist academics in the subject area, have argued, for instance, that 'women's fiction' differs in two key ways from mainstream (and for the most part male-aligned) fiction. European movies directed at demanding the living monopoly of Hollywood. While it may arouse emotions, have a cathartic effect on its audience and challenge the existing status quo by raising some inconvenient questions, European cinema is too assembly exact in its topics to dispute the more universality of the topics in Hollywood narratives.

So is there a powerful independent tradition of filmmaking in Europe? Before we can response this inquiry it is first required that we understand what it ...