Shane Meadows and Social Realism

Shane Meadows is an English film director, screenwriter, occasional actor and BAFTA winner. Meadow's upbringing could be classed as typically 'working class' with his dad working as a lorry driver and his mother working in a fish and chip shop.

Social realist films often portray the working class as being somewhat 'heroic.' Meadows may have been familiar with the lifestyle that is portrayed in these films, as at a very young age, his father found a body of a child murder victim. The vast majority of the films made by Meadows, are set in the Midlands, and they recall the kitchen sink realism of filmmakers such as Ken Loach and Mike Leigh, with a postmodern twist. Much of the films plots and storylines were actually based on his own upbringing, therefore showing that the working class lifestyle is very familiar to him and perhaps, a very significant aspect of his childhood. When directing his films, he approaches them in a very relaxed way, encouraging the actors to 'ad lib' in order to create a sense of reality.

His film Twenty Four Seven, was inspired by events that took place in his youth, both at boxing club and also playing in a local football club. Boxing and football can stereotypically be associated with the working class and leisure persuits that they may take part in. For Britains, social realist films are their main form of cinematic style.

A Room for Romeo Brass, was inspired by his youth and his best friend Paul Fraser, his best friend, neighbour and writing partner. When Paul had a bad accident and was bound to bed for two years, Meadows instead hung around with some of the town's more undesirable characters. Social realist films often show the struggle of the protaganist.

Dead Man's Shoes could be argued to depicit social realism the most out of all his films, as it is based on the more unpleasant side of growing up in Uttoexeter. The film was inspired by one of his close friends, who had been bullied at school, developed a drug problem and then committed suicide. Meadows later said 'I couldn't believe that, going back ten years later, he had been totally forgotten in the town - it was if he had never existed. I was filled with anger against the people that had bullied and pushed the drugs on him, and with despair at what drugs had done to that small community.' Judging by Dead Man's Shoes, Meadows grew up in the nitty gritty of working class culture and lifestyle, experiencing some of the disadvantages that working class individuals may face in everyday life. Through his own experiences, Meadows shadowed these memories into social realist films, towards the wondering eyes of the British public.

Meadow quoted recently about his film, 'This is England' becoming a four part drama series, saying 'I also saw in the experiences of the young in 1986 many resonances to now - recession, lack of jobs, sense of the world at a turning point.' This quote directly represents that throughout the years Britain has had a recurring theme of disadvantaged individuals, being represented as being hereos through television and films.