Explaining Britishness

Explaining Britishness

In my opinion Britishness is having a stiff upper lip and being able

to laugh about your problems and to carry on no matter what. British

people are usually very warm, welcoming and a very forgiving country

but we are fast becoming known and represented as a thuggish unkind

country.

In cinema representation as a concept is how a particular director

shows certain types of people even if it is not an accurate portrayal.

For example: in modern films teenagers are represented as

hoodie-wearing, chain-smoking granny-beating young thugs but this is

unfair because most teenagers today are much different and find it

difficult to prove otherwise because of the stereotyped image people

have in their minds.

There are lots of stereotypes linked to British people and everyone

fits into at least one group. Stereotyping helps directors because

they don’t need to create smaller characters they can just stereotype

them leaving them more time to focus on the major characters. The

setting and social period of a movie may also affect how people are

stereotyped

Wartime cinema

Around the time ‘In Which We Serve’ and ‘Brief Encounter’ were made

there was a second world war in 50 years going on so movies of that

period were made to boost spirits and to promote the war effort. In

‘In Which We Serve’ there are two very different class families who

both have people either in the army or the navy. The working class

family are very happy and close whereas in the other more middle or

upper class family the woman speaking is pouring her heart out to her

friends and family and they are laughing at her because they think

she’s joking. In the end these two families pull together

demonstrating the true war spirit needed at the time. In ‘Brief

Encounter’ the lady is having secret liaisons with a doctor but even

when she falls for him she doesn’t follow her heart. This was the

attitude of the time – that you should do what is morally right not