Growing Up & Aspiration
Definition: escaping the lifestyle that you grew up in. To be better then your parents and aspiring to something better.
Examples: Adulthood, Billy Elliot, The Firm, Made In Britain and Sweet 16.
How ?Aspiring to do something that he really wants to do even though people are against him he is still aspiring to do it.
Storyline
Set against the background of the 1984 Miner's Strike, Billy Elliot is an 11 year old boy who stumbles out of the boxing ring and onto the ballet floor. He faces many trials and triumphs as he strives to conquer his family's set ways, inner conflict, and standing on his toes!
A talented young boy becomes torn between his unexpected love of dance and the disintegration of his family.
Race, Ethnicity & Cultural Tensions
Definition: Cultural tensions within the family. Racism and conflicts between different cultures in society.
Examples: East Is East, Snatch,Harry Brown and Rita, Sue and Bob Too.
How ? Cultural conflicts between different cultures shown through the different gangs in society a lot of violence.
Storyline
Turkish and his close friend/accomplice Tommy get pulled into the world of match fixing by the notorious Brick Top. Things get complicated when the boxer they had lined up gets the shit kicked out of him by Pitt, a 'pikey' ( slang for an Irish Gypsy)- who comes into the equation after Turkish, an unlicensed boxing promoter wants to buy a caravan off the Irish Gypsies. They then try to convince Pitt not only to fight for them, but to lose for them too. Whilst all this is going on, a huge diamond heist takes place, and a fistful of motley characters enter the story, including 'Cousin Avi', 'Boris The Blade', 'Franky Four Fingers' and 'Bullet Tooth Tony'. Things go from bad to worse as it all becomes about the money, the guns, and the damned dog!
Social Class
Definition: Working class and underclass struggle to do better. Underclass struggling to become working class trying to find work and strive to do become better people.
Examples: Fish Tank, Looking For Eric, Brassed Off and The Fully Monty.
How? Seeing the working class trying to become better people and not being a bum all their life's.
Storyline
Eric Bishop, a middle-aged postman working for the Manchester sorting office, is going through a dreadful crisis. For starters, his second life companion has not resurfaced although she was released from prison a few months ago. He is left alone with two stepsons to look after, which is no bed of roses since the two teens disrespect him and keep disobeying him. To make matters worse, Ryan, the older boy, fascinated by Zac, a dangerous gangster, has accepted to hide his gun in Eric's house. On the other hand, he is asked by Sam, his student daughter who has a newborn baby,to get back in touch with Lily, his separated wife. Now, Eric left her not long after she gave back to their daughter. As a result Eric panics... Having lost all his bearings, Eric Bishop soliloquizes face to the poster of his idol, another Eric, French footballer Eric Cantona, when the latter appears just like the genie out of Aladdin's lamp.
Violence (Often With Gangs)
Definition: Seeing an array of violence including child abuse, domestic violence and a lot of violent language. Mainly see a lot of gang violence this also comes in to football hooliganism.
Example: Bullet Boy, Kidulthood, Adulthood, Scum, Football Factory, Shifty.
How? Showing gang violence glorifying it so that people don't want to get involved in it often a lot swearing slang language.
Storyline
Six years after Sam Peel is released from jail for killing Trife, he realizes that life is no easier on the outside than it was on the inside and he's forced to confront the people he hurt the most. Some have moved on, others are stuck with the repercussions of his actions that night, but one thing's for certain - everyone has been forced to grow up. Through his journey Sam struggles to deal with his sorrow and guilt and something else he didn't expect - those seeking revenge. As he's pursued by a new generation of bad boys, Sam sets about trying to get the message across to his pursuers that they should stop the violence, much like Trife tried to tell him all those years ago. Can Sam stop the cycle of violence and make something positive from the destruction he caused or will his journey into Adulthood end here?
Sexuality
Definition: Hiding their sexuality from their family because they wont be accepted. Discovering sex for first time experiences. Paedophile and rape. Loss and lack of sex life.
Examples: My Beautiful Launderette
How? Having to hide his sexuality from his family because of their cultural background and he is first discovering sex he has mixed feelings.
Storyline
Much of the Pakistani Hussein family has settled in London, striving for the riches promised by Thatcherism. Nasser and his right hand man, Salim, have a number of small businesses and they do whatever they need to make money, even if the activities are illegal. As such, Nasser and his immediate family live more than a comfortable lifestyle, and he flaunts his riches whenever he can. Meanwhile, his brother, alcoholic Ali, once a famous journalist in Pakistan, lives in a seedy flat with his son, Omar. Ali's life in London is not as lucrative in part because of his left leaning politics, which does not mesh with the ideals of Thatcherism. To help his brother, Nasser gives Omar a job doing menial labor. But Omar, with bigger plans, talks Nasser into letting him manage Nasser's run down laundrette. Omar seizes what he sees as an opportunity to make the laundrette a success. An ambitious Asian Briton and his white lover strive for success and hope, when they open up a glamorous laundromat.
Gender Roles & Relationships
Definition: Focus on broken relationships in general. See a lot of betrayal see the love/hate in a relationship.
Examples: Fish Tank, Nil By Mouth and Once upon a time in the midlands.
How? Shows the love/hate and violence in a relationship see betrayal and cheating.
Storyline
The family of Raymond, his wife Val and her brother Billy live in working-class London district. Also in their family is Val and Billy's mother Janet and grandmother Kath. Billy is a drug addict and Raymond kicks him out of the house, making him live on his own. Raymond is generally a rough and even violent person, and that leads to problems in the life of the family and in the relationship.
Addiction
Definition: Vast majority of people drink and smoke. See a lot of addiction to violence and love. See use of hardcore drugs and very addicted.
Examples: My name is Joe, Trainspotting and Human Traffic.
How? Over coming the addiction to alcohol trying to better his life.
Storyline
Two thirtysomethings, unemployed former alcoholic Joe and community health worker Sarah, start a romantic relationship in the one of the toughest Glasgow neighbourhoods.
British Politics
Definition: How government treats the different social classes. Against British government views and issues
Examples: Four Lions, Hunger and Bloody Sunday.
How? Fighting against the government by doing protests see peoples views on the subject.
Storyline
Hunger follows life in the Maze Prison, Northern Ireland with an interpretation of the highly emotive events surrounding the 1981 IRA Hunger Strike, led by Bobby Sands. With an epic eye for detail, the film provides a timely exploration of what happens when body and mind are pushed to the uttermost limit.
Immigration
Definition: Aspiring to leave country showing the struggle of coming to new country a lot of motivation.
Examples: Bigga then Ben, Last Resort and Somer's Town.
How? Showing coming to a new country to shown how to exploit its ways.
Bigga Than Ben is a crime-fuelled tale of two likeable but wayward Russian "pieces of Moscow scum" who arrive in London intent on bettering themselves and amassing an easy fortune. But it's not long before Spiker (Andrei Chadov) and Cobakka (Ben Barnes) realise that, legally, they aren't going to get very far. So, aided by the dodgy Artash (Ovidiu Matesan) and sidekick Spartak (Hero Fiennes-Tiffin), they learn to shoplift from supermarkets, rip off banks, joyride on the tube and turn mobile phones into crack. . Finding themselves drawn into a shadowy underworld of backstreet drug deals, chav nightclubs, refugees and nymphomaniacs, life begins to turn sour. The highs begin to fade. Spiker badly misses his girlfriend back in Moscow, and seeks consolation in drugs. When he slips into serious addiction and Artash double-crosses them, Cobakka finds himself forced into making some life-changing decisions.
