Submitted by Zahra Adiukwu

What makes The Selfish Giant a Social Realist

Film?
The Selfish Giant is a film Directed by Clio Barnard; it was based off a Childrens
book by the author Oscar Wilde bearing title of the same name. The Selfish Giant
was screened in the directors fortnight section at the 2013 Cannes Festival
where it won the Europa Cinemas award; in total it has won 14 awards in various
places. The story follows the lives of two 13 year old boys, Arbour and Swifty,
growing up in working class families in Bradford, Northern England. After an
incident at their school both boys get expelled they decide to earn money for
their families by collecting and selling scrap metal. However, the activities they
are doing are illegal and it lands the two boys with tragic consequences. In this
essay I plan to uncover what makes The Selfish giant a social realist film and
what effect this film might have on its audience.
Mise-en-scene refers to everything that appears before the camera, such as the
composition, sets props, actors costumes and lighting. In a social realist film the
mise-en-scene probably plays the biggest part in portraying the feel and the
correct atmosphere of the film. Social realist films are synonymous with the
working class background and other social issues such as; violence, narcotic
abuse, bullying and losses of some kind, these are actually some conventions of
a social realist film. The Selfish Giant obeys these conventions quite closely. The
film is set in the North of England which stereotypically poorer and has a lower
standard of living and economy than say, the South. This little northern town of
Bradford is surrounded by an industrialised countryside with a juxtaposition of
pylons and sheep. The town itself is filled with terraced council houses most of
the housed are derelict and the shops are mostly closed down because the
tenants cant afford the upkeep.
Many children of working class backgrounds have unchecked behaviour so they
usually end up doing whatever they want such as sneaking around on train
tracks at night, stealing horses and smoking at young ages. Props and the
costumes also play a big role in conveying social status. Arbours clothes were
worn and torn mostly faded in almost everything he wore had stains in them or
were coming apart at the seams. He wore his uniform scruffily however Swifty
mostly wore his blazer over the top of his uniform. Their costumes are also an
indicator their different personalities.
The lighting thorough out was used in this film and usually in most social realist
films the way writers use pathetic fallacy in books, to denote the mood situation
and feelings. Everything has mostly a greyish hue to it to show off the struggle
and the bleak situations of the people living in these conditions. The selfish Giant
also utilized the ambient light in the surrounding for the film to make it as real
feeling as possible.

The actors used in this are not widely know the only largely recognizable face
was the actor who ironically plays Kitten from E4s hit TV show Shameless
which is a more comedic take on social realism. The characters in TSG use
course and explicit language as well as having an idiolect that pertains to the
north of England. Arbour has ADHD which makes him a rather unstable character
his brother is addicted to narcotics and tends to steal his brothers medication to
get high. The way the men speak to and treat their wives and own children is
also an effect of the hardships the families suffer. All this is done to portray the
dark yet very real lives of some of the people in the country.
A convention of social realism is very long takes and slow paced editing and TSG
conforms to these conventions. There are no special effects and transitions that
you would expect in any other genre of film because social realism is to portray
real life of the working class man. Their lives arent fancy they are simple, gritty,
bleak. So there is no need for transitions other than basic cuts.
Camera movements also need to appear realistic, so there are no whip pans or
high speed tracks or any other fancy camera movements because the focus isnt
on the action but on the characterisation of the characters. The movements of
the camera tend to reflect the situation. Most of the shots were either close ups
of the characters faces especially Arbours When swiftly was killed via
electrocution on a job that kitten had sent Arbour to do, and on Arbours bodily
movements to emphasise the fact that he has ADHD. The audience tends to feel
like they are in the movie as if they were eavesdropping or watching from a
distance, unless close ups are needed. The audience feels like this because there
are no cuts from angle the scene tends to just unfold in front of the camera in
one long take. This was especially evident in the trampoline scene where the two
boys have a small glimmer of fun and feel brief but true happiness despite their
situation. The audience feels as if they are standing on the other side of the
fence watching them.
As with the camera movement and editing, the sound is mostly diegetic, sound
that belongs in the scene. Whether its heightened or not i.e. the sound of Swifty
being electrocuted is another case. Social realism relies solely on narrative and
dialogue to get the point they are trying to get across. Non- diegetic sound is
really features as it could distract the view from the issues on screen.
The fact that has been demonstrated in the previous paragraphs TSG conforms
to the conventions of social realism shows that the selfish Giant is a social realist
film. This film is a real eye opener especially in the latter part where an innocent
13 year old boy dies because of his circumstances. It probably left the more
sensitive part of the audience in tears and had the rest of them empathising with
Arbour and Swifty's mother. Films such as this urge us as a society to do
something about the conditions our fellow human beings are living in, because
no one wants to end up down this path of loss pain and regret which seems to be
a running theme in social realist films. TSG didnt end happily but it ended
hopefully with arbour and Swifty's mother hugging and arbour taking care of the
horse Swifty loved so much. This is another convention. Social realist films tend

not to have a happy ending but a resolution because life isnt fir for the working
class in real life and this genre is supposed to portray like in the bleakest most
real way possible.