Essay plan

Essay Plan

The visual artefact I have chosen to discuss is the film ‘This is England’. This is England is a 2006 British drama film that depicts the lives of young skinheads in England in the 80’s. The film illustartes how skinhead culture was adopted by the far right movement, and how this caused a divide in the skinhead scene due to increasing numbers of white nationalists and white supremecists taking an interest in the subculture. Despite being set nearly four decades ago, the topics discussed in the film are still extremely relevant to todays society, such as poverty in the working class and racial discrimination. In this essay I will discuss how the stereotypes in the film have the power to perpetuate the negative stigma connected to white, working class males and how the portrayals in the film have the potential to promote toxic masculinity as well as how this may be harmul to the viewers. ​

The cast of the film is male dominated and conforms to a negative stereotype of working class males, perpetuating toxic masculinity by showing the characters part-taking in violent, racist and abusive behaviour. At the beginning of  the film when Shaun first meets they are seen to be engaging in stereotypical teenage delinquent behaviour such as smoking, drinking and vandalism. This is the first promotion of toxic masculinity we encounter as a viewer. ‘The gang’  is showed to us in a way that makes us believe that they are superiour to Shaun, Shaun has thus far been portrayed as weak and isolated, as we see him being picked on in the first scene of the film, however the unity and charisma of the young skinheads could make them a desireable social stance for viewers, especially as we see Shaun be accepted into their ranks. ​

Woody’s character in particular is an example of a positive male influence. He takes Shaun under his wing and is the instigator of Shauns intergration to the group. Woody’s temperement juxtaposes that of Combo’s character, who is introduced later in the film. Combo is relentless in his racism and is a very intense, aggressive presence from the offset. It’s clear from his first appearance that he makes the younger members of the group uncomfrotable, however Shaun is drawn to him, presumably because he’s a dominant male figure, which Shaun is lacking in his life. Despite Combo being consistently derogatory and offensive towards the group, he establishes himself as an alpha male which makes Shaun eagre to impress him.