This is England
This is England, the film by Shane Meadows which opened on Friday, is one I’ve been itching to see for a while. Face it, there are so many juicy issues to cover here: the collapse of working class cultures that fostered growth of the National Front / BNP; skinhead culture as a form of expression and how it has changed since (I shave my head too incidentally); the experience of ethnic minorities who faced “paki bashing” in the 80s and 90s etc.
I may post a review after watching the film but there are lots out there already. You can watch the trailer on YouTube. The Guardian published an interesting piece by Sarfraz Manzoor a few weeks ago:
I assumed all skinheads were racists. This, after all, was a time when National Front-supporting skinheads would march through our town centre on Saturday afternoons, and the news, circulated through the Asian community, would prompt our parents to ensure we did not venture into town. Memories of those fear-filled afternoons came rushing back to me as I watched This Is England, an astonishingly powerful and compelling new film from Shane Meadows. The 1980s were about more than Rubik’s cubes, ZX Spectrums and the New Romantics, and by recalling the dark side of the decade, Meadows rescues it from the lazy compressions of nostalgia.
Its associations with racism have meant that skinhead culture has inspired less cinematic affection than other English youth cultures. This Is England is, among other things, an attempt to rehabilitate the skinhead movement by reminding us of its links with ska and reggae, and to capture a moment when there was nothing oxymoronic about being a black skinhead.
BBC Magazine (via Jai) also published a feature on the film, a related photo exhibition, racism from those days and reclaiming the shaved-head look. Anyone seen the film or have related memories from those times?
Update: Rahul Verma reviews it, calling it ‘compelling’.
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Filed in: Media,Race politics
Been waiting for this myself.
Oh yeah in case anyone is interested Britain came in being on this day 300 years ago:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acts_of_Union_1707
At least you could see their ugly faces. Hoodies scare the shit out of me.
PS: of course not all skinheads are ugly.
This film looks very good. I caught Dead Man’s Shoes (one of Meadows’ earlier works) late one evening on tv and it blew my mind.
I remember as a kid, my dad as a newsagent running down the road after a couple of skins with a broomstick!
we had great relations with the mods tho, they were great support in fact.
lates 70s/early 80s – Ealing.
Its weird, just seeing the pictures sets a little flutter of anxiety off inside. I have strong recollections of having run-ins with skins when I was young (10-16). My own fault, the only Singh into the mod scene you couldnt help come across them, even though I knew the skinhead scene had its origins in black music, it didnt help.
The image is still one that does something to me but I’m glad to see the scene getting its proper history talked about. Must see.
Life was bleak in the 1980′s if you were Asian and lived near Skinheads. Even if they were at one time not racist, listened to reggae music, when the NF infiltrated them, they terrirfied Asians. Many were physically maimed and even murdered by them, quite apart from the constant racist abuse and verbal intimidation they put people through. I personally hated them, the amount of racism they put our way, my family, my Mum being spat on and called Paki.
I remember the skinheads from the late 60′s very early 70′s. It was definitely true that they were linked to black culture, liked reggae and had black people in the gangs. I also remember running from them because they hunted hippies. In fact I was scared of certain black youth in the same way that I was scared of skinheads as they were from the same sub culture. For some reason they called hippies yids.
It was a shock to see a tv programme in the mid 70′s in which a skinhead was shown to be strangly racist. The earlier skinheads were rough but they were not like this guy he seemed twisted.
Some people are talking as if the cycle of non racist to racist sub culture happened in the 80′s. Well I can bear witness to an earlier cycle. Does this mean that such things repeat themselves historically or/as well can also be prone to repeat themselves in localities. Shane Meadows film was influenced by his experiences in a small town in Staffordshire.
There were word of mouth stories going around in my own locality in the early 70′s which were that the Asian community etc definitely fought back. Very hard in fact.
Some of the behaviour in Meadows’s films is sickening as are a lot of the attitudes of many of the characters and groups that appear. I believe his portrayal of realism in this respect is spot on. There are people from the lower working classes (not all of course) who are as sick as that. Of course other people from other classes can be bad.
oh yes leon – good point! the act of union. i suppose the ‘british’ crew are celebrating?
I love movies like this. Made in England with Tim Roth and Romper Stomper (with that fat dude that recites poetry at innorpotune moments, whatshisname, was in gladiators). Anyhoo, this reminds me of when I arrived in 1985 as a 13 year old and my elders warned me to:
• Avoid anyone in a football scarf (hooligans!)
• Avoid anyone wearing bomber jackets (skinheads!)
• Avoid anyone with spiky hair (punks!)
Did you guys get warned about punks? It’s such a shame they got tarnished with the same brush. All the ex-punks I’ve had the pleasure of meeting have been among the sweetest people around.
It’s good to see two decades on that anyone with a football scarf is most likely to be a corporate toff
and most beautifully of all,
anyone wearing bomber jackets, bovver boots and a shaved head…
off to heaven nightclub for a glorious gay fest!
Joy!
Oh yeah, I also stayed away from The Clash thanks to the This is England tune, thinking they must be racist. Fool
And I avoided the pistols for a while after seeing a pic of sid vicious in a swastika. But I see how that was used ironically
I was bang on the money with screwdriver. He was suggs’ pal you know. I felt sorry for Madness with all those NF twats crashing the stage
It’s a pity the shaved head 2-tone thing that loved black culture so much got sabotaged but I suppose it worked out nicely in the end cos the music won
Hm. Dig out some buzzcocks methinks
I work for an anti-racism/conflict resolution group called Aik Saath. Annually, we organise the Same Difference Film Festival and this year This is England was our opening film.
It’s a brilliant film but it’s very difficult to talk about the racism it contains without giving away too much to those who have not seen it. Anyway, I’ll try- The racism within the film isn’t just perpetrated by the ‘bad guy’- the way he manipulates others or convinces others to do some pretty evil things is quite convincing. One of the things that surprised me was that one gang attends an NF meeting and they use the same arguments as modern day BNP supporters- “we’re not racist we just don’t like immigrants” etc. I thought that was quite a modern shift in BNP propaganda (towards being anti-immigrants, rather than say, white supremacist). If it was happening in 1983 then that’s surprising to me- I thought they were still in their ‘no black in the union jack’ mode.
Apparently Shane Meadows wanted the film to be used educationally but he believes the 18 certificate will make that impossible. I think it’s going to make it difficult without very sympathetic schoolteachers / youth workers. This is a shame- the ignorance involved in racism shines through- as well as how illogical it is. I think it’s a really excellent film.
One of the best movies I have seen in years. One of the best British movies ever made. Film of the year, film of now. Speaks to us deeply about so much of the past and of the present — iniversal in message and emotion. Unmissable. A movie with true soul.
Shane Meadows is the best British filmmaker of his generation. I hope that one day a British Indian filmmaker can emerge to tell our stories with the same brilliance, art and soul that Shane has.
iniversal = universal
i inderstood first time.
3. “I caught Dead Man’s Shoes (one of Meadows’ earlier works) late one evening on tv and it blew my mind.”
this film is one of my all time faviorites! if you havent seen it and you like the realism of This is England then it is a must see. its been on film4 all week but i dont know if it’s still showing.
dead man shoes is a brilliant film. This is England is better. Watch it. superb. It is very strangely unsettling being taken back to the 1980s and the spectre of skinheads and the NF. It’s easy to forget how different the climate was 20 years ago.
could anyone tell me where ‘this is england’ is meant to be set in regard to the town?
My mates tell me its meant to be Grimsby, yet the accents of a few of them are clearly scouse.
Shaun was played by a kid from Grimsby, but the movie is based on Meadow’s memories of Nottingham.
Wot a lot of utter garbage this film is…..PC propaganda at is absolute most deplorable worst!
Starts of giving a wildly inaccurate and heavily glamourised account of the skinhead movement….all about bonding….hugging….kissing….sharing…..carin g….tolerance….feeling sorry for those less foruntate than themselves….wishing to make the world a better place…..albeit through the medium of smashing things up and underage smoking and drinking…even a spot of paedophilia although thankfully it was the ‘right’ way around…(overager was female)..
BUT THEN….the BIG BAD NASTY National Front get involved….at which point, most of the gang break away from the national front all except the groups social weakling and the heroine of the film who has pent up anger due to the death of his father in the Falklands…(which of course proves indesputably that it is only cowards and those with a chip on there shoulders who would ever subscribe to far right politics)
Anyway…to cut to the chase….English or British nationalism or patriotism is apparently a product of misguided angst and frustration displaced onto any vulnerable group or person who happens to get in the way of it. The only reason that anyone may have non-PC attitudes or be Pro-English is because they got knocked-back from the lady of their dreams and had a bad upbringing.
However, fortunately their is a solution should you be fortunate enough to realise the error of your thinking. By simply throwing your nations flag into the sea, you can put all the negative non-PC values that being proud of your nation, racial background amounts to and the consequent racism, safely behind you in preparation for a happy clappy multicultural society with the added bonus of potential conversion to Islam.
Until you have renounced any sentiment of national pride, burned your countries flag, and converted to Islam, then I am afraid that you are a frustrated bitter twisted soul who cant score with chicks, therefore expressing your misguided angst through being proud of your country and heritage….oh yes…and by hating ‘Coons’ and ‘Pakis’
NONSENSE!
Assuming you were commenting from the position of a nationalist; what makes you resort to such collectivism?
@#21 Kulvinder.
I am not commenting from the position of an English Nationalist, I am commenting from the position of someone who reacts badly to having his intelligence insulted.
My mind is my own my mind and I do not take kindly on any attempts to shepherd my thinking nor to being swindled out of £7 to go and sit through an hour half long political correctness brainwashing session. Had it been theatre, I would have been hurling rotten veg at the actors saving a big lump of solid turnip for Shane Meadows head himself.
BobBobson
Sort it out please.
The inportant factor here is that this is some boys Story. made in to a film.
It may not be your experience of the 80′s England and it may not have been the case for many people but it was for this story so just accept it.
Don’t let your politics influence your ability to critique this story. I’d be interested to know what films you think are great Bob.
@#23 Constantlyawake.
Take any propaganda film from WW2, be it an allied film or nazi film, and you could apply the very same argument. i.e. “Its not about the politics…it is about the plight of the heroine”
I am sorry, but leaving the blatant politcally correct overtones of the film to one side, this film just made my skin crawl. The way the characters related to one another was totally unreal and cringe inducing…all the cuddling and caring….it just wasnt the done thing in pre MDMA Britain…and it aint the done thing now….except when kids are on E.
Oh yes….and the bit about the psycho racist hard knut NOT GETTING THE GIRL (which proves racist angst has its roots in some kind of rejection…..apparently) …..I think in a rough area of any British city…..the psycho hard knut has fanny dripping all over him….regardless of how unpleasant a personality he may have…..trust me…..this is the cae on every harsh council housing scheme and every rough market town across the UK.
Good films are
Donnie Darko (spoke to the heart of the maladjusted misfit in us all)
Natural Born Killers (stylish and thrilling cultural satire)
Trainspotting (Witty rendition of an excellent British novel…..a real British film classic.
Diasporean African subcultures and their products, be they political, literary or recreational have always fascinated and inspired the other(s). Whether its Dub Poetry, the Blues, Tap, ringcraft, social protest, fashion, rap, sport.. activities at the Black margins have always fed and sustained the mainstream and other margins. The tragic irony, of course, is that our great genius for redefinition and surprise (in the face of all out stereotyping)is treated by some as a gift to the world, rather than being recognised as something sacred that has evolved as a result of our peculiar history. So, the Jamaican skinhead movement could be usurped, shamelessly by the racist white working class, and it becomes theirs. Rock and roll, our folk music, was hijacked by some of the worst critters thrown up by the white working class here and in America – the Teddy Boy- while in some parts of Birmingham anti-african racism is openly mouthed by young swaggering Asians whose car speakers blare out the latest tunes by Snoop Doggy Dogg.
Funny that.
So what you saying Ramiie?
Blacks make great singers and even better dancers?
no BobRobson… blacks sing black and dance black…then comes cultural theft followed by rampant commodification.
Ramiie
“Rock and roll, our folk music”
Rock and roll while having expressive and stylistic elements from black culture is tonal diatonic which of course can be traced back to good old Pythagoras.
it seems to be more of a syncresis of cultures.
Unless you composed something youseld i’m not sure how you can attribute ‘theft’ from a ‘people’. It’s achievement through association and its meaningless.
‘white people stole rock and roll from black people’
‘black people stole the use of classical white instruments from white people to make jazz’ etc
Well said Kulvinder….
I really hate that ‘all modern music and dance culture was stolen from black music and dance culture’ arguement.
However, I can see the intelligence behind it. 50-60 years ago, Black people had by their very nature, more beligerence and irreverence towards the heavily regimented social, cultural, and artistic confines that whites were crying out to be liberated from. So true enough, as far as pop culture is concerned, in Britain, it was Jamaican black pop culture that opened the door for the mainstream pop culture embraced by native Brits.
I think it is also fair to say that black people are on the whole more ‘physically’ talented than people from other racial backgrounds. They are better athletes, they are inherently much more intune with bodily rythm, the structure of the African mouth/throat/vocal chords gives them much more powerful voices. It is true…I used to go out with a black girl….amazing voice she had….and she never even considered herself a singer, it was just natural.
So I beleive the arguement is not without substance. However, I would rather be a Jew pointing out that a disproportionately high number of the worlds leading intellectuals and scientific geniuses were of Jewish origins, than a person of African descent highlighting that ‘his people’ were at the forefront of pioneering an element of human culture predominantly focused towards adolescents and young adults.