How Britain was represented in theFocus films

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Mark Hughes

How Britain was represented in the

Focus films

The three focus films we watched all portrayed a much more realistic view of Britain than a lot of previous films which seem to convey a chocolate box image of Britain in order to appeal to the American Market.  

        Our three focus films were ‘Trainspotting’, ‘The Full Monty’ and ‘Brassed Off’. All of which seemed to represent Britain as a nation in turmoil or this at least seemed to be the case for the working class. The films addressed real problems in Britain for working class men, such as the mines being shut down in ‘Brassed Off’ and the steel mills closing in ‘The Full Monty’. Each of the films seem to have some sort of political message in them, ‘Brassed Off’ seems to be extremely anti conservative and condemning of ‘Thatcherism’. The film is largely based around the pit closures, however, it a part of the storyline will still appeal to the American market with the chocolate box view of Britain, which follows the rise of an orchestra. This area of the story is one that you would normally consider with the upper-classes; however the majority of the members of the orchestra are working class miners on the verge of losing their jobs. ‘The Full Monty’ also deals with ‘Thatcherism’, in particular the privatisation of the British steel industry, which leads to the closure of the steel mill that the characters worked at. Britain is represented in the films as it is going through changes that no one living in it seems to agree with, this suggests that the nation is on the verge of a revolt. This would be a massive shock to the international audience, as they would not be used to seeing Britain represented in this way.

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        Looking at ‘Trainspotting’, the only one of the films that is set mainly outside of England, we again see a largely pessimistic view of Britain. This time however, it seems to be focused more on Scotland than the rest of Britain. The view is summed up in the scene where ‘Renton’ (Ewan McGregor) makes a speech about being Scottish and the, in his words, ‘sorry state of affairs’ that the country is in. The main points in his speech are about how the country has no control over its fate as it is being governed by the English. Also that ...

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