DISCUSS THE DIVERSITY OF BRITISH FILMS IN THE 90'S

Diversity in films is obvious . Its the difference in the way we see the film. It can either be funny, sad,
realistic, scary or many genres in one. Such as Trainspotting. Its funny, its realistic and its also sad in a
sense to see people doing this to themselves. This point is made stronger by the fact that there is a baby put
in the middle of this situation. The baby is helpless and therefore cant do anything for its position, and we
therefore feel sorry for it. Other British films that have been about the same genre such as Lock Stock and
two Smoking Barrels and Get Carter which are both British gangster films may not have such an obvious
difference, but when looked at in detail we see they are very different. The narrative for instance in Lock
Stock is omniscient, meaning that the story does not come from one single source, but many so we know all
that is going on. Whereas in Get Carter the narrative is restricted, so it only comes from one source, and we
only know what he knows, so we come personalised to him.
The main diversity in British films can be seen from the time they were made. Representation of race in
films like East is East is very powerful. All the key characters (except for one) are all Asian and dominate
the film. But in Get Carter there is not many (if any) Black or Asian people in the film. This is because now
people from ethnic minorities are now more wholly accepted in today's society whereas 20 years ago there
was still a lot of racism going down in England. Also masculinity in British films changed. In get Carter the
central character is big, strong, powerful and overwhelmingly attractive to the opposite sex. But in a film
such as Trainspotting the male characters are weak little things and I imagine are not to attractive to the
opposite sex. This I think is the reason why not so many British films do so well across the pond. Big
American smashes find one idea such as, guy on a mission to avenge someone's death, saves the damsel in
distress, she then helps him kill the bad guy, and then them to end getting in on at the end of the film and
stick with it. But British films are a lot more diverse. A film such as The Full Monty is similar to the new
wave cinema of the 60's were much of the films humour derives from the stereotypical working class
communities, with lots of unemployment, with lost of young single parent families and commoners. People
a little better off laugh at the fact that this poor scum are willing to strip just to earn a little bit more pocket
money. But then you watch a film like Bridgett Jones Diary were the humour comes from the realism if the
plot. The idea that Bridgett Jones is overweight, unnactractive and perved on at work is humorous, because
although we would never admit it happens to all of us. Another major part of the diversity of films in
England in the 90's in locations. Most big American box office hits are set in glamorous locations like
California or Florida. But British films are m usually set in dreary, drab boring places like Glasgow,
Edinburgh, Sheffield or Nottingham. These help with the plat of all the films because overall they are
meant to be realistic and these locations help that. It is the main aspect that almost all British films have in
common. These help the films stand independent though, in a way too. When you think of inner city
Scotland like Edinburgh or Glasgow you think of tall high rise flats with junkies on the stairs and gangs of
youths on the parks and streets around the area. You think of Sheffield and you imagine rows upon rows of
council flats, with boarded up windows, and burnt out cars in the streets. And the you think of Nottingham.
You see crap on the ground, syringes all over children's play areas, beer cans and cigarettes butts all over
the place, with police sirens ringing all the time. These locations help with the flow of the film because it
gives off a very strong feeling of monotony.
Ideas of gender are very strong in British films. They are almost always based on the life of the male
characters with the female characters as just sideline aspects of the film. In Lock Stock there is one women
in the film, and she is just the card dealer. The men in the film are all the lead characters. This helps the
film be pointed towards the male perspectives and ideas. In other British films like Get Carter there is no
women lead characters. All the men dominate the roles. But lately this has been challenged twice. One
successfully, one unsuccessfully. In East is East the women is one of the strongest characters. She
challenges the mans power and gets the support of the kids behind her. But in Baby Mother the whole film
is from the perspective of the women. But is does not work in this film. The film flopped big time because
aside from being as boring as hell, there is no male dominant characters for the other characters to
challenge. Because Baby Mother had no dominant male character there is no excitement in the film. British
films with dominant male characters work because less women means more stuff to get away with. This is
why they work. But when there is just women, because they are portrayed as thinkers rather than doers, the
film is slow moving and with more talking than action which is what you want.
In conclusion the diversity in British films is what makes them original and most of then not to boring and
repetitive. As a lot of British people know what its like to grow up in poorish areas they can relate to the
events in the film. So we understand what they are going through. But people from other countries don't
know what its like growing up in the areas so they don't understand it and cant relate to it. So the difference
in the films is what makes them different from foreign films.