How identity is reflected in British working class films

Technische Universität Dresden
Fakultät für Sprach, -Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaften
Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik
Seminar: Working Class Life in British Films
Wintersemsester 2002/ 2003

How Identity is reflected in British Working Class Films

by: Maxi Kirchner

1. DEFINITION 2

2. CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY  4

2.1. influencing power on construction  4
2.2. work in the films  5

3. MAINTENANCE OF IDENTITY 6

3.1. collective identity  6
3.2. leisure in the films 7

4. LOSS OF IDENTITY  8

4.1. Britain’s identity crisis  8
4.2. pit closure, unemployment, loss of prospects in the films 9

5. SUMMARY  10

0. introduction

The analysis of such a diverse cultural term lik e "identity" and its treatment in British working class related films will be the topic of this research paper. After having defined the term on its several levels, I want to show how identity is treated differently in, firstly, a popular film called "Bra ssed Off" and, secondly, an independent film produced by Amber Films called "Like Father". Bo th films are set in the 1990′s and deal with the problem of pit closure and unemployment of miners. While "Brassed Off" is promoted as a romantic comedy including a political message, "Like Father" seems to be more serious and problem-focussed. Scenes of actual work are very rare in both films. They rather deal with the consequences of unemployment and poverty of the working class than with work per se. Furthermore, they also concentrate on leisur e activities of the workmen. Concerning class consciousness, both films show people who wish to escape the constrictions of their class. Since identity is not only a quest ion of class, gender roles are considered in both films as well. The motif of identity is shown very differently in these films. I want to analyze how these films represent the construction, the maintenance and the loss of identity.

1. definition

Since "identity " is a very abstract term with in the cultural theory, there exist different definitions.

Stuart Hall composed three conceptions of identity, amongst others, the "post-modern subject" which provides that id entity is diverse and changeab le. Therefore a person can have "contradictory identities" 1 which include the psychologica l phenomenon of competence and performance. People know that they have several identities (competence), but the performance and realization of a certain identity depend on personal circumstances and situations. In this case, identity is not given by any institution or rule, but is rather influenced by the changing historical developments of a na tion. Hence, a national identity can be diverse as well, if several ethnic groups live together and build up a multi-cultural identity of the nation. The more ethnic groups live together, the more diverse is the nation′s identity but the more problems and conflicts may appear.

Furthermore, the interaction between an individual and its social circumstances constitutes identity. One the one hand, there can be a deviati on between the interior identity of a person and its objective appearance, on the other hand, the ability to adopt norms and rules given by one′s social surrounding can differ between i ndividuals. Hence, there is a differentiation between the internal / subjective and the external / objective identity. While objective aspects like nationality, language and religion can be recognized obviously, subjective features are hidden in the individual, for instance family-related aspects of identity or certain qualities of the person’s character influenc ing the formation of identity. Another conception of identity covers three levels: the individual, the collective and the national level. Individual identity means a kind of self-identification as a human being with cognitive and social capabilities, the "enlightenment subject" ¹ , the second conception of identity by Stuart Hall. This "very individualis t conception" concentrates on a "human person [...] with the capaci ties of reason, consciousness and action" 2. The third, more collective conception perceives people as an important and functional part of a community. In Hall′s words, a huma n being is a "sociological subject" ², whose identity is constructed through the interaction with a community.

The highest level, because it includes the highest number of people, is the national identity representing a community that identifies itself as a part of a whole nation. Some theorists postulate an "imagined community" because the "members (of a nation) will never know most of their fellow-members", but they adopt their traditions and customs³. These three conceptions of identity menti oned above, the enlightenment subejct, the sociological subject and the post-modern subject, will be applied to the films later. Another level of the distinction of identities is of geographical kind. It is a classification from the regional, national to the global identity. Related to the analyzed films which are set in the North of England, the regional identity would re fer to the employers of this manufacturing and industrialized area whose work has a great influence on their identities. They have a national identity with other E nglish and British people in common, but they experience the national identity in another way. It is another kind of "Englishness" people in Nottinghamshire would feel than these at Lon don do. A global identity is constituted by a union of several states, for instance the European Union.

2. construction of identity

2.1. influencing power on construction

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1 Hall, S. “The Question of Cultural Identity” Modernitiy and Its Futures. Hall, S., Held, D., McGrew, T. (ed.). OVP: 1992.

2 Hall, S. “The Question of Cultural Identity” Modernitiy and Its Futures. Hall, S., Held, D., McGrew, T. (ed.). OVP: 1992.

3 Schlesinger, P. Media, State and Nation: Political Violence and Collective Identities. London: Sage Publications, 1991, p. 162.