In the beginning of the film the introduction starts of with the history of Sheffield and tells us what happened during early 70’s when Margret Thatcher was prime minister of the UK. In the early 80’s people of Sheffield became unemployed and started living on benefits. This creates an affect on how the film is going to start off and also gives an idea of what people did to earn money in them conditions. Comparing to the Sheffield now it is unsuccessful and many people live in benefits with no qualifications. This affects with people as they would want to come and join in other city’s to earn money, also it would make the town less populated with many waste materials. In the movie now it shows an opening of the town with 3 people stealing from a mining factory. They got an idea from a men’s stripping club to employ themselves to be earning money, this shows that many people were desperate to earn money and they took any opportunities that came to them.
Camera angles have many meanings behind the characters representation because it shows the sympathy from sounds to camera shots. In this film many angles are based on long shots because when they are stripping they would be in a line to strip. In a single man shot they would use medium close up to present that they are the one’s who are talking. People who have been unemployed from a long time did not have enough qualifications to do jobs such as business man, teacher and etc. This made Sheffield a very poor town in terms of its state. Going on to the people’s status it has been constructed in the characters via what they do, what they wear and their living environment. Looking at ‘The Full Monty’ classification plays the most important role because the characters were stealing in the beginning of the movie which shows that they are homeless and are in need of money.
Introducing ‘Bend it Like Beckham’, directed by Gurinder Chadha was a big super hit by representing the social realism in Britain with a different culture but the same everyday problem. This film was made for people who wanted to know the everyday life of a citizen in Britain and what can happen in an everyday life. It was also made for people to see how different culture is with Britain.
In the opening of ‘Bend it Like Beckham’ the main character dreams about playing with England one day and meeting David Beckham. As in ‘The Full Monty’ the opening includes information about Sheffield in the past and later on shows the present day in Sheffield and how people live there. The opening includes father, son and friend stealing from a mining factory to live off and to feed them selves. In the film Britain was represented as less employment with more people leaving the city. The British citizens were free, no employment and willing to do any job which comes just to live with their family’s, the film also includes lies with their own family. Comparing with ‘Bend it Like Beckham’ Britain was represented as independent with many cultures ling in Britain itself. British people were represented as independent, could do anything and go anywhere so it can be a free country.
‘Bend it Like Beckham’ includes Punjabi cultured music which is called ‘Bhangra’ to show what the family is like and which culture living in Britain. The music which plays in ‘Bend it Like Beckham is very slow and sad which shows that in the movie there are a bit sad moments. This shows Britain as a multi cultured country with an Asian area location which the film is set. In comparison to ‘The Full Monty’ the music is R&B and Reggae to make them strip following the music. As for the location it was really perfectly set in Sheffield as what can the everyday life could be if there is no work to do and how desperate they were for working. This suggests Britain was a country with less work and more people unemployed.
In ‘Bend it Like Beckham’ the main characters were females because the girl loved football and wanted to play for a team one day but her parents did not let her because she was a girl in an Indian family. Indian families always stereotype with their daughters because they always want them home early, look out for them and they always start to worry about their daughters if their late. Indian families treat females differently because they are over protective and more caring with their daughters. The female characters were shown playing football when the men do it the most. Comparing with ‘The Full Monty’ the males were doing stripping rather than females doing it just to earn money and the females were doing other jobs to earn money for their family.
‘Bend it Like Beckham’ explores a different world to that explored in ‘The Full Monty’ because ‘Bend it Like Beckham’ looks at life of a different culture family living in Britain. ‘The Full Monty looks at life with no work and what can happen when you’re really desperate for working.
Britain has been given an impression of independence and free to go any where, the issues in ‘Bend it Like Beckham’ are very different to ‘The Full Monty’ but they are in the same genre. These films are different to each other because social realism can include many everyday problems and put into movies. Britain and British people have similarities and difference, as Britain is independent and British people would enjoy the freedom and be independent to do anything they would like. I think there are representations to show people how they can be aware of everyday problems and what can a person do to just to earn a bit of money and living it off. The normal things in ‘Bend it Like Beckham’ are; the parents not wanting the child to do anything that they do not like and the children telling lies to their parents. As for The Full Monty normal things are being unemployed and looking for a job or willing to take any job.
I think that Britain has been represented as a multicultural country which because it shows an everyday problem of citizens in Britain. From experiences of my life I have faced a lot of social problems and racism because I was a non British citizen. In my opinion every non British citizen has faced racism. These representations showed in the movies are very realistic as these days there are many different cultures such as Asian, African, American and etc. They are all joint together as friends, this show that as a British citizen anything can happen in an everyday life. Media could stereotype anyone as it is a realistic thing, as stereotyping a culture media could promote social realism and make it more interesting for the audience to watch a different cultured family’s going threw social realism. My own opinion of representations is; that it’s the way how people present themselves or their culture in a multicultural environment.
