Dissertation

How is race and ethnicity represented in UK cinema ?

Introduction:
I have been recently taking a deep dive into the UK film industry and more
specifically looking into how race and ethnicity is represented in UK cinema both on
the screen and off-the-screen too. There have been many questions about the UK
film industry and how it represents race and ethnicity and I will be intending to find
out the answers to these questions to give not only myself but the public a better
understanding of if they think there is a positive or negative representation of race
and ethnicity and also what changes should to industry do if they need to improve
how they represent these communities.

My intentions that I have set myself to find out are as follows: To see how race and
ethnicity has been portrayed in UK cinema both on and off screen over the years, to
see if there have been positive changes in the industry or negative changes and
finally to see what can be or is being done in the future to ensure that there is
change. To start off this investigation, when exploring very reliable sources in order
to get a better understanding about the representation of race and ethnicity both on
and off screen in the film industry as the ‘BFI report of race and ethnicity in the UK
film industry’ {J. Nwonka, 2020} and more specifically looking at the statistics of
race and ethnicity, by doing this it will massively helped with the progression in
getting valuable information about the representation of race and ethnicity. When
looking at the BFI report there were a lot of different statistics, statements and facts
that will give better understanding in the representation of race and ethnicity.
Something that is clear when researching through the BFI report is about how race
and ethnic groups are very excluded in the film industry and this is reinforced
through the BFI report as it says “Black and ethnic minority groups face tremendous
levels of exclusions in the film industry.” {J. Nwonka, 2020} and also “The data
revealed that that film productions were over twice as likely to represent gender
difference than race and ethnicity and other underrepresented groups across a vast
number of key on-screen roles and off-screen roles.” {J. Nwonka, 2020}. To further
reinforce this point of the lack of inclusion for people of a different race or ethnic
group it is linked to another quote from the BFI report as it says “ There remains an
extremely poor representation of racial difference from films made outside of
London, with some UK regions such as the East and West Midlands registering no
representation of race and ethnic difference in their off-screen workforce” {J.
Nwonka, 2020}. This point links to a different reliable source during my secondary
research which states “before working on Black Britain I was always either the only
non-white on the team or one of two at the most often acting as an intermediary in
areas where colleagues lacked knowledge or personal experience.” {K. Barling,
2022}. This further reinforces the previous statements about how there is a strong
lack of diversity in the film industry as there were as little as one or 2 people of colour
working on sets for big corporate companies such as the BBC. This also further links
and reinforces to the questionnaire about how the British film industry represents
race and ethnicity as various different members of the public were asked if they think
there is enough representation of race and ethnicity both on the screen and off the
screen to which “46.7%” said they do not think that there is enough representation,
“40%” said they they are unsure if there is enough representation and just “13.3%” of
people think that there is enough representation shown on-screen and off-screen in
the British film industry {M. McMillan, 2024}. There are also different statistics from
these reliable sources that showcase the misrepresentation of race and ethnicity and
how the space is mostly dominated by white people. The BFI report used gathered
various different graphs to show the percentage of film productions out of 235
productions that have included reference to race/ethnicity in their productions. {see,
fig A}

As seen by the chart shown above, just 50% of all productions have referenced
race/ethnicity in their productions {J. Nwonka, 2020}. This is important to know as it
is the second highest percentage out of the different URG’s (Underrepresented
Racial and ethnic Groups) but these different productions have referenced the
challenges with representing race/ethnicity which is also an important factor to
consider as this could not be as prominent in these films which will not make drastic
changes to how the film industry represents race and ethnic groups . This links in
with another reliable source which shows the statistics of audience members who
think that there is a “great deal” of work to be done in showcasing the authenticity of
characters in films portraying their background {Inclusive cinema, 2011}. From
looking at the statistics it says “the proportions from diverse audiences who say they
would watch more films if people from diverse backgrounds were portrayed more
authentically: 59% of the Asian audience, 66% of the Black audience, 54% of the
Eastern European audience.” {Inclusive cinema, 2011}. Before moving forward with
how the UK film industry represents race and ethnicity I firstly want to look at the
definition of representation as this will give a better understanding when looking for
answers to the question of how the UK film industry represents race and ethnicity.
From looking through the definition of representation in the world of film it states that
“Representation is how media texts deal with and present gender, age, ethnicity,
national and regional identity, social issues and events to an audience. Media texts
have the power to shape an audience’s knowledge and understanding about these
important topics.” {BBC bitesize, 2017}.

Context:
Referring back to the previous point of the definition of representation in film it links
to Stuart Hall’s representation theory which gives a detailed understanding on how
films construct representation as it states “Stuart Hall’s REPRESENTATION theory is
that there is not a true representation of people or events in a text, but there are lots
of ways these can be represented. So, producers try to ‘fix’ a meaning (or way of
understanding) people or events in their texts.” {S. Hall, 2019}. In this source he also
states “Any time a producer of a text tries to ‘fix’ a meaning of a person or event –
this will usually reveal viewpoints and bias (political or otherwise) – usually
newspapers attempt to demonise groups of people. However, anti-stereotypical
representations also try to fix meanings too – so these groups of people who were
demonised in some papers might be presented as heroic in others.” {S. Hall, 2019}.
Stuart Hall's theory of representation links into some analytical work done on 3
different British films which are This is England, East is East and Bullet Boy. {M.
Mcmillan, 2024}. When reffering to the analysis, Hall's representation theory applied
to films and how they are different ethnic groups.

As seen in {This is England, 2006} the director Sean Meadows used representation
of ethnic minorities as it would have been back in 1980’s England where English
people were living through a recession. It was portrayed in the film and especially
seen during Combo’s speech that a lot of youths and young adults were left
unemployed as the economy of England crashed and people lost their jobs as others
from overseas came over to England and took jobs away from the average English
person which made the people of England angry as seen in Combo’s speech. The
way in which Meadows represented British people in this film was in 2 separate
representations as we seen the likes of Woody and Lol represented as quite laid
back and more calmer about everything that is happening around them which gives
the audience more comfortable feeling towards those characters whereas, we see
the likes of Combo, Banjo and Meggy in this film represented in a more negative way
towards the audience by using derogatory terms to describe someone of colour as
seen in the scene where he beats up Milky and they can also be seen as a threat
which can be further reinforced through the shop scene where the audience sees
Combo point a machete at the shopkeeper. Sean Meadows represented ethnicity,
especially the Pakistani community, in a negative way as he was conveying to the
audience the realism of how people of a different ethnicity were treated by English
people during the 1980’s. Throughout the film there are various different key scenes
which show how being of a different ethnic background or colour can cause harm to
your own life by living in England. For example, during the shop scene, the likes of
Sean, Combo, Meggy, Banjo and Gadget all robbing the shop and saying derogatory
terms towards the shopkeeper such as “P*ki”, “B*stars” and “filthy P*ki” {This is
England, 2006}. The use of weapons such as a machete used to threaten the
shopkeeper but another scene in which Meadows shows negative stereotyping is
during the montage scene where Sean, Combo, Meggy, Banjo and Gadget
confronting 3 boys of colour as they are playing football to which Combo once again
threatens someone of colour with a knife saying “I’ll slash you” and also using
stereotypes like “Mummy’s cooking curry” {This is England, 2006}. Negative
representations of these ethnic communities can provoke a negative response from
the audience as they could be conformed into thinking that those are realistic
stereotypes for people of Pakistan which provokes a negative impact on their lives
{M. Mcmillan, 2024}.

The second film studied for the representation of race/ethnicity in UK cinema was
{East is East, 1999}. The representation of East is East is slightly different
compared to This is England as the context behind the film was from the writer
Kahn-Din as he wanted the film to represent what his life was growing up in Salford
in the 1970’s and explores the disorienting experience of settlement in Britain for
Pakistani immigrants and their British-born children. The director of the film Damien
O’Donnell portrays the characters of East is East in different ways. For example,
George is represented as a very traditional Pakistani father and this can be shown in
different scenes of the film such as the scene where George goes out to buy his
sons Abdul and Tariq wedding clothes for the marriage that he has arranged. The
traditional representation in this scene through the use of the incidental traditional
Pakistani music which can be heard as he is walking through the markets, the use of
mise en scene with the clothing of the women using a head scarf which is traditional
for women of Pakistan and also the use of dialogue as George speaks in Pakistan
which shows to the audience the comfortability of his country {East is East, 1999}.
However, there is also a different representation which O’Donnell has conveyed in
his film. The use of the representation of George’s kids is a contrast to how he is
represented in the film as in the film that they are very against following in their
father’s footsteps as a traditional Pakistani as they have grown up in an English
environment with their English mother (Ella) and feel like they are British in their
following. This can be seen through the very opening scene of the film as all of
George’s kids walking with the Catholíc church which is not traditional ways of Islam
and not what George wants from his kids as he wants them to follow the traditional
ways of Islam. This is reinforced through the use of props as the kids are holding a
statue of Mary and banners of the Catholic church that they are walking for. This is
further reinforced as the kids are scared of their father’s opinion of them not being
traditional as in the opening scene they run off through the backstreets to ensure that
their father does not see them follow non traditional Pakistani beliefs {East is East,
1999} {M. Mcmillan, 2024}. Hall’s representation theory applies to this as the
director Damien O’Donnell represents the Pakistani community as a very traditional
community in their followings and beliefs and also that they expect their kids to follow
the same traditional beliefs as they do. Ethnic groups are represented negatively as
seen in the scene where George beats wife Ella in front of Sajid and Maneer which
can portray a negative representation of a male Pakistani to the audience and create
negative responses {S. Hall, 2019}.

The final film which Stuart Hall’s theory {S. Hall, 2019} applies to his “Bullet Boy”
{Bullet Boy, 2004}. The representation of “Bullet Boy '' also connotes negative
representations of race and ethnic groups and this is shown through how the
director’s (Saul Dibb) represents black people throughout this film. The use of
negative representations of black people in this film through the scene where
Wisdom first pulls his gun out on Ricky to show him {Bullet Boy, 2004}. In this
scene the use of stereotypical stereotypes can be seen instantly through the use of
mise en scene in the scene as seen with the clothing that Ricky and Wisdom are
wearing as Ricky is wearing a grey tracksuit which he came out of prison with but the
clothing of Wisdom is important in how stereotypes are used of black people in this
film as Wisdom is wearing a baggy vest top, baggy pants and a chain which is seen
through the film industry as stereotypical “British black people clothing” and this has
negative responses from the audience as this creates a false image to the audience
of how people of colour dress. This can be further reinforced with the use of props
used in this scene as the likes of the gun in Wisdom’s hand as he points it at Ricky
and also Ricky smoking cannabis in this scene which also creates more of that
stereotypical negative representation of black people for the audience {Bullet Boy,
2004}. The use of these stereotypical representations of black people in this film can
be seen as negatively for the black community as this gives other audience
members a false idea of the community and how they act, dress and behave day to
day {M. Mcmillan, 2024}. The representation of ethnic groups links to an interview
which was conducted with someone who is black as helps gain an understanding of
how they think their ethnic group is represented in British cinema {M. McMillan,
2024, Q8}. When answering this question the interviewee (Pipe) responded to this
by saying “the way that his ethnic background and race has been presented in a
slight more positive light over the past few years as back in the day the
representation was a lot worse with the likes of “This is England” and “Bullet Boy
which showcase the basic stereotypes and misrepresentations of these ethnic
groups but he feels like there has been more empowerment which is a good thing
but he also thinks that there is still some slight changes that still need to be made in
terms of diversity throughout the industry” {M. McMillan, 2024, A8}. This response
from the interviewee is very important in understanding how people from these
different ethnic groups feel like they are represented in British cinema and gives a
better understanding in how it has sectioned these groups into stereotypical
representations through films portrayal. To compare against this point from the first
interviewee, a second interviewee (Luis) who is white got asked the same question
to find out what he thinks about the representation of his ethnic group {M. McMillan,
2024, Q8}. Luis responded to this question by saying “the UK film industry
represents his ethnicity in a more positive light then they have made for other ethnic
groups which is something he feels that is unfair on these other ethnic groups as he
thinks they should not be more or less misrepresented then his ethnic groups and
feels that these big film companies should be able to showcase this in their
productions {M. McMillan, 2024, A8}. This response by Luis massively helps as this
allows to show the differences in how a person of colour and a white person think
about how the UK film industry represents their ethnic groups and also to showcase
the difference in responses as people of colour feel less positively represented
compared to white people. By gathering these 2 different responses from the
interviews this links to the questionnaire where the audience was asked how they
feel about how their ethnic group is represented as this will give more insight to other
people’s opinions on how they feel the UK film industry represents their ethnic group
{M.McMillan, 2024, Q5}. Various different responses were given from this question
ranging from people saying it is “represented well” and “white people are the most
commonly represented in UK film, especially in a more positive light” to other people
saying “it is wrongly stereotype” and “it has previously portrayed poorly”
{M.McMillan, 2024, A5}. This has allowed to understand a wider range of people’s
opinions of how their ethnic group is represented and also shows how there are
some good responses and some bad which makes us question whether the good
ones are of white colour or black and if the bad responses are either of white colour
or black.

Representation of race and ethnicity over the years:

The representation in British cinema over the years has been very mixed and by
looking further it allows to gain a better understanding of how representation of race
and ethnicity has been portrayed on the big screen over a long period of time and
also to see if there has been any noticeable changes to how race and ethnicity is
portrayed over the years or if there has not been any noticeable changes. When
looking at the representation of race and ethnicity over the years some of the first
representations shown about race and ethnicity in UK cinema as this will give a good
understanding of some of the first representations and if they were positive or
negative. The first source used is an article all about race in 1960s British cinema
{Michael, 2012}. From this source there are many statements which showcases how
the early days of British cinema showcase the representation of race and ethnicity as
it says “during the 1960s, racism and the issue of multi-racialism was hotly debated
and views on what was morally and practically acceptable dramatically changed
during the decade. The public and politicians were often divided on issues such as
immigration and racial integration. Thus, British cinema depicted different views on
racism, from overtly anti-racist to subliminally and casually racist portrayals'' and “it is
the less obvious inclusion of black characters and mentions of blacks in British films
that have been left unexamined despite being potentially more enlightening about
attitudes to black people during the 1960s. One such example is Basil Dearden`s
1961 adaptation of Othello, All Night Long, which shows the black characters to be
highly sexualised, physically aggressive and irrational” {Michael, 2012}. Another
source from the British Cinema book has been used to gain more of an insight to the
early days of representation of race and ethnicity {R.Murphy, 2009, P118}. In the
book, it states that in the early days of British cinema “between an Englishman and
an African woman (played by a white actress in blackface, of course)” and also “ this
is thematized partly in terms of white racial prejudice and partly in terms of blacks
being represented as either ‘victims’ (Flame in the Streets) or as ‘social problems’
(Sapphire) {R.Murphy, 2009, P118}. By gathering these different sources of the
early days of how race and ethnicity is represented in British cinema it has helped
massively in seeing that there were still many problems in the early days of the
industry and how people of colour have been misrepresented through the film
industry for many many years. This is linked to the early years of representation to
compare it to how modern day representation of race and ethnicity is shown in
British cinema. When looking at various different reliable sources on how modern
day cinema represents race and ethnicity it helps moving forward to understand if
there has been any changes to how race and ethnicity is represented and if there are
still problems in modern day cinema in how they represent race and ethnicity {J.
Nwonka, 2020} {J. Bolger, 2021} . When looking at how modern day cinema
represents race and ethnicity it was found that “Black and ethnic minority groups
face tremendous levels of exclusion from the film industry, with the data revealing
that film productions were over twice as likely to represent gender difference than
race/ethnicity and other underrepresented groups across a vast number of key on
screen roles and off screen positions” {J. Nwonka, 2020} and also “the informality of
recruitment practises, the stronghold of ‘white gatekeepers’ and the combined effect
of racism and class discrimination have produced an industry landscape that has
structurally denied efforts to increase the presence of BAME workforces during this
period” {J. Nwonka, 2020}. Another reliable source to gain more information which
will be massively helpful in understanding how modern day cinema represents race
and ethnicity {J. Bolger, 2021}. When looking at this second source it was found that
“Despite nearly three decades of policy initiatives racial inequalities in the screen
industry in terms of workforce demographic and on-screen representations of Black
and ethnic minority identities remain a significant social problem” {J. Bolger, 2021}
and also “Black and minority ethnic communities experience multi-dimensional
inequalities and forms of discrimination. The issue pertains to inequalities in
employment, audience access and problematic representations.{J. Bolger, 2021}.
By gathering this information that there has not really been much change in the
British film industry in how they represent race and ethnicity and even though there
are more things happening to try and change it which is something positive in the
industry we can still see that it is very much a significant social problem. It is seen
how it is a significant social problem through the use of a questionnaire which was
conducted as it helps to find out if the public think that the British film industry
represents race and ethnicity well {M.McMillan, 2024}. When looking at the wide
range of answers that were given for question 6, 13.3% think that race and ethnicity
is represented well, 26.7% think that it is not represented well and 60% are unsure if
it is represented well {M.McMillan, 2024, A6}. With the 7th question of the
questionnaire conducted there was another set of responses which got more of an
insight to how well or not so well race and ethnicity is represented. There were a
wide set of responses which all have a common theme as it ranges from “I think
other groups are represented and others are not” to “room for improvements with
representation” {M.McMillan, 2024, A7}. When looking at these different answers
that the public gave it is seen that there is a common theme that there is still a
misrepresentation in modern day cinema like there was back in the early days of
British cinema and in my opinion I do still think there are problems of how race and
ethnicity is represented in British is still a significant social problem by using such
things a derogatory language, stereotyping and also less inclusion of people of
colour both on and off screen as the “ethnic minority represented in the UK’s film
industry’s workforce at less than 5% across the sector” {J. Nwonka, 2020} which I
think is extremely low and is something that needs to be a main vocal point of
change.

White domination in the industry:

Referring back to the last point, the next topic that will be looked at is how the UK
film industry is dominated by white people and has been for many years now which
is something that stood out to me straight away when it came to researching about
the UK film industry. Looking at different statistics from very reliable sources about
how white people have been dominating the space will be very beneficial in
understanding how white people have dominated the industry. The sources that were
used was the BFI (British FIlm Institute), an article from Kurt Barling and also an
article from Andreas Wiseman {J. Nwonka, 2020} {K. Barling, 2022} {A. Wiseman,
2014}. Firstly, looking at the BFI, there has been a white domination of the UK film
industry as in the report it states “ethnic minority represented in the UK’s film
industry’s workforce at less than 5% across the sector” {J. Nwonka, 2020} , “the
informality of recruitment practises, the stronghold of ‘white gatekeepers’ and the
combined effect of racism and class discrimination have produced an industry
landscape that has structurally denied efforts to increase the presence of BAME
workforces during this period” {J. Nwonka, 2020}. By reading this report from the
BFI there is definitely a white domination in the film industry as the BFI have
described the industry’s recruitment practises as “white gatekeepers” {J. Nwonka,
2020} which is very negative towards people of colour as this portrays the British film
industry as very heavily dominated. The second source to further reinforce the point
of white domination in the industry is an article from Kurt Barling. In this article it
gives different statements about how the industry is very heavily white such as
“However, there is one area, along with other broadcasters, where the BBC has
been seen consistently to fail to make serious headway. This is not so much in its
coverage, but rather its lack of coverage and inadequate representation of ethnic
minority groups within British society”{K. Barling, 2022} , “Until the 1990s, the BBC's
programming culture largely omitted the lived experiences of minorities unless it was
in the context of problems associated with race relations” {K. Barling, 2022}. The
final website that I used was an article that was used in order to showcase the
different facts and statistics about white domination in the UK film industry was titled
“All white at the top” {A.Wiseman, 2014}. From this article there are various different
statements and quotes that have helped understand how white people have
dominated the industry by saying “A survey of the UK’s leading film companies
reveals a remarkably white workforce, particularly in the executive ranks
{A.Wiseman, 2014} and also “none of the companies are led by a non-white
executive. Few have BAME (black, Asian, minority ethnic) executives in their most
senior ranks” {A.Wiseman, 2014}. When also looking into this article there was also
a quotation from Michael Foster stating “Film in the UK is the preserve of the white
middle class like no other media sector” {A.Wiseman, 2014}. By gathering these
different statements about how the UK film industry is dominated by white people, it
has created a better understanding of the use of misrepresentation of race and
ethnicity in UK cinema and how it is still to this day a significant problem. These
articles can be linked to what the BFI has had to say on how they can combat this
misuse of representation of race and ethnicity as this will allow people to see what
the main institution has to say on how they can make change to the British film
industry. It states various different valuable facts about the misrepresentation of r