ANALYSING BRITISH

SOCIAL REALISM
Opening 2 and a half minutes of British Social Realist Film: Kidulthood
Theme 1: Violence
• A major theme used through ought the
film is violence. In the opening
sequence, we see a boy using a drill at
school, and we assume he is using it for
school work. But instead, he’s using it
to modify a gun. This foreshadows that
later in the film, there’s going to be
some gun related violence involved.
• An example of more physical & mental
violence in when everybody is in the
classroom, and one girl is bullying the
other, and hits her.
 Theme 2: Sex
• Within the first minute of the opening
sequence, sex is a theme that appears
more than once. For example, the boy
and girl that are standing behind the
tree are kissing through ought the
opening sequence.
• Another example of this theme in the
film is when two girls are talking in
the playground, and they start to
discuss their past sexual experiences.
Theme 3: Gender Roles
• In the film, gender roles are a very big
theme. All of the characters in the film
fulfil a typical stereotype of their
gender in some way. A lot of the male
characters play the role of rude
boy/gangster boys, who are constantly
getting into trouble and fighting.
• The girls fill the female roles by
standing around chatting about boys
and clothes, as a typical girl would.