Teaching I, Daniel Blake in a Time of Social Media

Transcription

1 Teaching I, Daniel Blake in a Time of Social Media 1

2 DIRECTED BY KEN LOACH WRITTEN BY 2 PA U L L AV E R T Y

3 I, Daniel Blake was a successful film at the UK box office earning 3.2 million About 500,000 cinemagoers might have seen it. But its impact seems greater... 3

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5 Ken Loach has become a Twitter handle to follow - and I, Daniel Blake has expanded its audience 5

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10 Teaching the films of Loach and his collaborators Starting points: Most teenagers haven t seen a Loach film If they do see some of his films, they do recognise the characters and the issues the films aren t difficult 10

11 Often taught via the concept of social realism camera adopts an observational mode, often drawing back to offer long shots and to compose groups of characters in medium shots/medium long shot. films are set in recognisable communities, mainly urban areas of the UK shooting takes place on location and uses available light or attempts to achieve the effect of natural light actors are cast because of their authenticity in relation to the culture of the region they don t have to learn the accent 11

12 Casting 12

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14 Loach has consistently cast other kinds of performers, especially comedians in leading roles also local non-professionals the cast must carry authenticity in terms of setting production crews are small by mainstream standards stories must derive naturally from events in the local culture/community shooting scenes chronologically react naturally to events rather than act a part. 14

15 Loach and the politics of social realism Left-wing critics have claimed Loach shows social issues through personal stories rather than finding ways to challenge bourgeois ideology. Right-wing critics have challenged the authenticity of the representations and tried to dismiss the narratives as propaganda or not entertaining. 15

16 I, Daniel Blake has certainly had an impact on audiences. It has created a great emotional response, but is it political? The most commented on scene involves a food bank visit. Would students be able to analyse the social realist approach (the bullet points), describe an emotional response and how it is achieved? 16

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18 One way to bring out the key points of Loach s style is to make a comparison with a similar Loach narrative from an earlier period. 18

19 Cathy Come Home final sequence 19

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21 The difference is that Cathy was a TV play: The distancing devices the voiceovers and on-screen titles are linked to what in 1966 was recognisable as news report camerawork. The play was broadcast straight after the news on BBC1. Cathy was watched by an audience of 12 million. But what was its impact? 21

22 Loach and his producer, Tony Garnett, decided to drop the voiceovers and titles. But he needed a narrative device to introduce the arguments about social policy and political positions. John Corner (1996) suggests that leaky dialogue enables this. More strikingly perhaps is the placement of deliberate expository speeches in Loach films. 22

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24 Land and Freedom (1995) the land debate 24

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26 Loach s films enter the public sphere? With Sixteen Films active on Twitter, the success of I, Daniel Blake at Cannes could be promoted preparing the way for the cinema release. The film has had many non-theatrical screenings, sometimes with Loach and/or Laverty in attendance. Loach has become active again in support of Corbyn. 26

27 Does this activity and agitation that derives from the film make it more of a political text? Or is the new Twitter-generated audience simply a continuation of Loach s existing audiences? 27

28 We could look to audience theories for ideas about how audiences might use the film. 28

29 Uses and gratifications We assume an active audience who might wish: to be informed or educated to identify with characters in particular situations to be entertained to enhance social interaction to escape from the stresses of daily life 29

30 The decoding model for reading texts: The preferred or dominant reading The oppositional reading The negotiated reading 30

31 Because I, Daniel Blake is such an emotional film we might explore the idea of compassion fatigue: Categories of compassion: tender-hearted the suffering of the victim and the spectator s own sense of being filled with pity blame-filled indignation and possible blame of those thought to be responsible shame-filled a sense of guilt at not having acted on such images powerlessness-filled the recognition that it may be impossible to affect the scenes of suffering 31

32 Comparing Loach films as teaching/learning texts I ve loosely grouped most of Loach s films into these categories: Individuals fighting the system Fighting back Industrial relations Historical political Other political Various genres Could choose different films from different groups. 32

33 I haven t mentioned melodrama there isn t time. Many of Loach s films are melodramas (see John Hill s work). 33

34 These slides and detailed notes of today s presentation are available on the AMES website. Roy Stafford royitp@gmail.com 34