British cinema Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

British cinema - Essay Example The society is always grappling with a lot challenges such as poverty, poor governance, disasters and such challenges dictates the context within which the films are made with the aim that they will of making the society better (Ashby & Andrew, 2000). Whenever the audience watches the films on various themes there conscious is pricked, and they get empowered through such films to fight for a better society. The influence of film to the society cannot be overlooked. This begs the need for the directors and all other stakeholders in the film industry to up their game and ensure that their content is based on the realities that exist in the society with a view to making the society a better place to live in and exist. Synopsis of the films Loach directed, and Sally Hibbin produced the 1990 film Riff Raff. The main stars in the movie are Robert Carlyle and Rick Tomlinson. The movie was such a hit and won the coveted European Film Award in the year 1991. The character Stevie (Robert Carly le) is having a rough time in London and decides to secure employment at a site as a builder. Stevie soon begins (Brunsdon, 2007) to make friend s at the building site; he meets Shem, Mo, and Larry, who offer him an empty makeshift flat. Stevie later bumps into Susan (Emmer McCourt) an upcoming actor and musician. Stevie begins to help Susan to get some support from his workmates at the site. With time, Stevie and Susan move in together, and they appear to be happy at least for some time. Larry appears to be a gallant critique of the Conservative Party and Margret Thatcher, who is the Prime minister at the time. Larry seems to be on his own; the rest of the crew are not interested in discussing any political affairs. To them, politics do not help their situation. At the workplace, the crew is working under despicable conditions (Blandford, 2007). Workers safety is not the priority of the management; people have to endure longer working hours on a meager pay. Moreover, there is no jo b security; the workers are dismissed on baseless grounds. In the meantime, Susan's relationship with Stevie hit a dead end and the two-part ways. The workers can no longer take the harsh condition at the workplace, especially after the sudden death of their colleague who falls off from the rooftop. Stevie leads his colleagues to setting up the building of fire. In Raining Stones (1993), Ken Loach puts into perspective a story of a devoted man who despite coming from a humble background is very proud. He is Bob; he is determined against all odds to find his little girl an expensive dress as a gift for her First Communion. This, however, gets him into trouble; he resorts to desperate measures in a bid to raise the money to secure for her daughter the dress. His desperate pursuit of money puts casts him on the bad light and compromises his image in the society (Bazin, 2005). This movie is prejudging by the fact that it won the Jury Prize in its maiden year in 19993 at the â€Å"Canne s Film Festival. Socio-historical and institutional Background of the films The films do not concentrate on the visual style so much but rather on the challenges that the society is grappling with. Such social issues include housing problems, poverty, bad governance, and disasters. In the 1960s and 1970s Britain was not a democratized society as it is today. So most of the films produced around that time targeted to sensitize the society against such odds.