How are representations of class and 'Britishness' explored in Atonement and This is England?

 It’s quite the opposite for some of the characters in This is England. Combo portrays the working class as weak-minded hypocrites. The working class skinheads are easily swayed by the very biased arguments put forward by the National Front. They form very racist beliefs and which is obviously not a good thing to be recognised for. It’s very hypocritical of Combo to accuse the Asian population of not bringing anything positive to the community and living off benefits when in fact he’s the one without the job, but he’s threatening corner shop owners because of where they’re from. He represents the skinhead culture in a very negative way. He thinks he’s being a good British citizen but it is quite clear to the audience that he is doing the exact opposite by acting the way he is.

I think as well as Combo, Robbie and Shaun are also portraying the working class people as vulnerable. Combo and Shaun are because of how easily they side with the National Front and Robbie is because of his status in the family. When he is accused of rape the police are more likely to believe the higher class residents and proof of this is when Robbie is arrested before the police have even heard his side of the story. When this happens Robbie and the family bring a strong sense of ‘Britishness’ to the film. Robbie displays a typical English ‘stiff upper lip’ attitude to the situation; he accepts his punishment without any fuss even though he isn’t guilty. And the family do so by not talking about this again as they feel it is unnecessary and should be forgotten. This is England displays its ‘Britishness’ in a very different way. Combo is extremely patriotic and he holds his countries flag aloft with pride. When pukey refers to the National Fronts views as ‘all that shit’ we see how patriotic Combo really is in his reaction to Pukeys comment. He seems offended even when it’s just the National Front being talked about, not him. And also in the ending scene when we see how he reacts to Milky talking about his Jamaican family it is made very clearly to the audience that Combo is a very psychotic person. He believes so strongly that he’s doing the right thing for his country that he can’t see he’s clearly in the wrong. Back to the negative representations again, nothing positive can be said about Combo. This is because Shane Meadows is trying to create the very character that people accuse him of being, a racist thug who’s extreme loyalty to England has effected his judgement of British citizens.

 Patriotism isn’t as strong a theme in Atonement as it is in This is England. It’s a much more focused theme in the latter.  This could be because Atonement is more of a Heritage film and this theme isn’t really a convention of this genre. During the Dunkirk scene we see hundreds of thousands of soldiers who have been fighting for their country. I think it’s quite clear that they do not want to be there and that they’d rather be at home. Whilst in This is England Combo and co are ready to go to war, ‘Are you ready to shed blood’. This quote portrays the seriousness and somewhat stupidity of the National Front. They think they are going to war with the people who they blame for massive unemployment in England. They take themselves too seriously and are patriotic to the extreme.

 Overall I think that This is England has deeper and more meaningful representations of class and ‘Britishness’ than Atonement does. Although both portray their characters in a way that draws the audience in, gives them something to think about and also something to relate to.