History of British social realism

Social Realism

Social realism, also known as socio-realism, is an artistic movement where life struggles such as racial and social injustices and economic hardship are portrayed through the visual. The subject depicted is often showing the working class and their activities as heroic. In the artistic movement, the image depicts a scene that would usually convey a political and social protest and would typically be edged with satire. This was reflected in the social realism movement in the cinema with Britain adopting it as its main cinematic style. The idea of working class hardships was portrayed in films taken from Dickens and Thomas Hardy. One of the first film makers to establish the change from pictorialsm to naturalism was James Williamson. His films are considered innovative as they offer a narrative which was not common in earlier films from this time, in 1902 his films became available in America and influenced other film makers to construct a narrative through a number of shots.

The social realist films typically show working class struggles and how they are dealt with in early day life. Mostly set in the north films such as ‘Kes’ and ‘Billy Elliot’ show the struggles of young boys from a working class background.