I, Daniel Blake: Social Realism in a Time of Social Media. Introduction

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1 I, Daniel Blake: Social Realism in a Time of Social Media Introduction I, Daniel Blake is one of the most watched and most discussed of the 14 films written by Paul Laverty and directed by Ken Loach. It is also the first to be consciously promoted and discussed widely via social media and especially via the Twitter (in existence since 2011, but used more frequently since 2016?). This account is primarily used by the team from Sixteen Films, the company set up by Loach and Laverty with producer Rebecca O Brien in The account now has over 49,000 followers. I, Daniel Blake was the second Loach/Laverty film to win the Palme d Or at Cannes the most prestigious prize for international independent films in May It was released in October 2016 in the UK and became one of the team s biggest box office films in the UK & Ireland. When it finally dropped out of the chart after 29 weeks it had earned 3.2 million an excellent result but still below the total for France (where tickets are generally cheaper). The film won the BAFTA for Best British Film in the 2017 Awards. Although there is no easily accessible statistical evidence, it seems likely that I, Daniel Blake has been widely seen in non-theatrical screenings in community cinemas and other venues using Blu-ray/DVD. We know this because of announcements about screenings and comments from viewers appearing on Twitter. Partly as a result of the success of I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach has become more visible to a broader public and has taken a high profile role in encouraging support for Jeremy Corbyn. Despite having left the Labour Party many years ago, Loach has been active in supporting the current Labour General Election campaign. My initial reading of the film concurred with my colleague Keith With all on our blog: I ve slightly modified my view on a second viewing, but not fundamentally. Authorship and collaboration Ken Loach has always resisted the concept of the auteur and has instead stressed the importance of collaboration. Across his long career he has worked with a limited number of producers, writers and creative personnel. In a career lasting more than 50 years, it is perhaps best to think of the combinations of filmmakers such as Loach, Tony Garnett and Jim Allen, or Loach, Rebecca O Brien and Paul Laverty with creatives like cinematographers Chris Menges, Barry Ackroyd or Robbie Ryan. In these notes, Loachian or Loach s should imply one of these groups of collaborators. 1 of 9

2 Teaching I, Daniel Blake What might be the purpose of working on I, Daniel Blake with film and media students? The two most common assumptions about the films made by Ken Loach and his collaborators are: most young people will not have seen many (any?) of the films because they rarely show on multiplex screens or mainstream TV channels (with the exception of Channel 4 which has often part-funded Loach films by pre-buying broadcast rights). It s a Free World (2008) is the only recent Loach feature to screen only on TV though much of the earlier work in the 1960s, 70s and 80s was made specifically for TV and was not screened commercially in cinemas. in the case of selected Loach films, when students do watch the films they may well be surprised to find that the stories and characters resonate with their own experience (this is most likely to be true for students in Scotland because several of the films have been set in Scotland) Once students begin to engage with these films, the most used approach in analysing the films is to introduce the concept of British social realism a rather slippery concept, but one seemingly defined through the work of Loach and his team and then slightly nuanced in different ways by a range of British directors including Shane Meadows, Andrea Arnold and others. This kind of social realism is then contrasted with the conventions of mainstream cinema that follows the Hollywood studio model proving a useful strategy for exposing the forms and conventions of filmmaking. At its most basic, we can distinguish a number of familiar features in Loach s style over the past twenty-five years: the camera adopts an observational mode, often drawing back to offer long shots and to compose groups of characters in medium shots/medium long shot. Recent films shot by Robbie Ryan largely follow the style developed by Barry Ackroyd. films are set in recognisable communities, often in specific urban areas of the UK as far as possible, 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 specific culture of the region they must not be attempting accents/dialects which need to be learned although he does use well-known actors for certain roles, Loach has also consistently cast other kinds of performers, especially comedians in leading roles casting also includes local non-professionals the cast as a whole must carry authenticity in terms of setting/cultural milieu production crews are small by mainstream standards 2 of 9

3 the stories must derive naturally from events in the local culture/community this requires considerable research to guarantee authenticity the other well-known feature of Loach s filmmaking practice is the decision to shoot scenes chronologically and not to give the actors the whole script in advance this means actors are more likely to react naturally to events rather than act a part. Together these criteria lead Loach towards a practice which clearly has its roots in Italian neorealism. Loach has often also referred to the Czech New Wave of the late 1960s as an influence (e.g. the films of Milos Forman, Ivan Passer and Jiri Menzel which attempted social satires in the era of the Prague Spring. Over time Loach s work has changed from the look and feel of the best Czech films. Compare Kes (1969), which retains some of the more magical qualities of the New Wave, with a film like Sweet Sixteen (2002). What Loach productions have retained, however, is the comic potential of characters and situations in the narratives that are developed. (It should be noted that Loach s 1960s work used devices from the French New Wave and other modernist films see the comments on Cathy Come Home below.) The other aspect of Loachian social realism is its engagement with real social issues and this has been the element in Loach s work that has caused controversy and seen the films labelled as political. Politics and social realism Social realism is often associated with a liberal/progressive perspective on the world an aesthetic that seeks to expose the consequences of prevailing ways of organising society. However, it has at various times been argued that forms of realism are romantic or nostalgic or that realism has become an aesthetic largely recuperated by the mainstream. A certain kind of realism underpins the aesthetic of mainstream Hollywood. Another form of realism is massively popular as the basis for costume dramas on TV. In this context, Loachian social realism is particularly interesting. It was fiercely attacked from the left during the 1970s because it was argued that Loach s team showed events but didn t really analyse how or why they came about. Conventional forms of realism emphasise the personal rather than the structural questions about society. The criticisms were aimed particularly at the four-part Days of Hope in1975. (At the same time, these plays were attacked from the right as distorting the reality of events.) Loach and his writers later developed a strategy that to some extent seemed to answer this criticism. Land and Freedom (1995) sees a working-class Liverpudlian go to Spain to fight for the Republic against Franco in At one point the fighters have a debate about the ownership of land a genuine political debate with analysis of a range of positions. Something similar happens in the two films set in Ireland during and after the Irish Civil War of the 1920s and into the 1930s The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) and Jimmy s Hall (2014). In many other Loach films, there is a similar but less extensive sequence in which a character might make a short speech that encapsulates the political issues in the narrative. In his discussion of Loach s approach Jacob Leigh (2002: 7) references work by John Corner who described the leaky dialogue in a film like Carla s Song (1996). Corner equated this with British wartime propaganda pictures in which a character s dialogue has to leak background information to the audience for the narrative to work. 3 of 9

4 Carla s Song, with a narrative about the Nicaraguan revolution from the perspective of a Glaswegian working-class man, was very much a Paul Laverty project and seems to have been one of the most criticised of the Loach/Laverty films I don t share the put-downs. The response to these debates/speeches has come from left-leaning academics and from rightwing newspaper commentators who object not only to the content of the sequences but also to the very idea that a feature film should attempt to preach to its audience. Such reviewers/critics now often look specifically for this kind of speech, hoping it is there so that they can dismiss the film. Students could use the bullet points above, and the criticisms, and apply them to I, Daniel Blake. Is it recognisable as social realism by these criteria? Then they can move on to discuss what kinds of things the film wants to say about the issues it covers. Is I, Daniel Blake political? This film tells the story of an older unemployed man seeking benefits and a young single mother in a similar situation. The narrative demonstrates the flaws in the benefits system and provokes strong emotional responses in audiences. Released in the UK in the midst of further benefits cuts in the name of austerity policies, does this mean that the film is inherently political? Across the range of Loach s work it is possible to identify films that are similar to I, Daniel Blake in presenting individuals (or couples) who have suffered at the hands of the system. The most obvious example might be Cathy Come Home, the TV play from 1966, perhaps the most watched of all Loach s films/plays (screened on BBC1 at prime time). It has been argued that the charity Shelter was set up as a response to the housing crisis and the treatment of the homeless depicted in the play. As Shelter s website states: Watched by over 12 million people, [Cathy Come Home s] impact ensured public empathy and support for Shelter from our very beginning. Does this make the play political? In his autobiography, Tony Garnett (2016), casts some doubts about this impact. He suggests that when he, Loach and writer Jeremy Sandford were invited to meet the Housing Minister after the success of the broadcast, they hadn t really sorted out any kind of strategy and the impact of the play was lost. The minister, though sympathetic, did little as a result of the meeting. The lesson of Cathy Comes Home is that mass audience attention doesn t automatically lead to political action, but there is one other facet of Cathy Come Home that was important in creating impact, but which works in complicated ways in terms of realism. The production used both voiceover and on screen titles to give statistics about the housing crisis. These were first used by Loach and Garnett on their play featuring backstreet abortions, Up the Junction in These devices have been described as Brechtian because of their distancing effect on the audience. In that sense, such devices might be thought of as anti-realist in terms of how they affect the audience s engagement with the characters. But at the same time, as Garnett acknowledges, the play was broadcast immediately after the news, using news cameras and camerawork similar to that on news reports. Some viewers thought that the play was in fact a documentary prompting more criticism that Loach and Garnett were trying to deceive viewers. As Garnett remarks, audiences are less naive now, but I, Daniel Blake has itself created controversies around exactly how staff behave in benefits offices (i.e. job centres ). Now, audiences are very familiar with all 4 of 9

5 kinds of reality TV and determining the authenticity of the benefit office scenes is very difficult (although certainly well-researched by the Sixteen Films team). A similar situation arose in 1994 with Ladybird, Ladybird written by Rona Munro with several plot elements familiar from I, Daniel Blake. In this Loach film, the comedian Crissy Rock plays Maggie, a single mother who has suffered abuse from multiple partners and whose children from these relationships have been taken into care. When she begins a new relationship with Jorge, a refugee from Latin America, she hopes for stability. But when they have a daughter together, she too is taken by Social Services on the grounds that Maggie is not a fit mother and Jorge was once involved with a militant group and may be violent. Social media and the public sphere I, Daniel Blake s audience in cinemas has been much smaller than that of Cathy Come Home on TV. Perhaps 500,000 people saw the film in a cinema (the total box office was 3.2 million and the average ticket price is now around 7). However, those 500,000 are now able to broadcast their emotional response towards the film to a much larger group via social media outlets such as Facebook or Twitter. Students may have encountered the concept of the public sphere usually associated with Jürgen Habermas. This is the concept of a public space in which people can exchange views the very basis of a democratic society. Originally a physical space like a coffee house, various media institutions in the 20th century have been seen as providing such a space as part of their broadcasting, but only with limited access to the general public. Social media promises to make access much easier for the majority of people. However, the reliability and authenticity of social media exchanges are open to is able to inform Twitter users about I, Daniel Blake and the issues it raises. (There is as the account for the film itself.) It can also link users together via retweeting to create a large virtual group of people who can watch the film and use the emotions that are aroused for political purposes. On one level, Twitter is simply a promotional tool for the film, on another it is a means of organising around a shared viewing. But to what extent is this just a case of preaching to the converted? How familiar are students with the different ways in which Twitter is used? Who would be likely to see the Twitter feed of Sixteen Films? How would they find it unless they were actually looking for it? Would it be more effective if the film was shown on a mainstream broadcast TV channel when people who did not know Loach or much about the politics behind the film stumbled across it? Sixteen Films used to operate a YouTube Channel, but that now appears to be defunct. There is a company website at: This is certainly useful in providing some information about some of the films but it doesn t say much about the company or what they do. This was available in the past but the energy now seems to be going into Twitter and personal appearances. 5 of 9

6 Audience theories I, Daniel Blake may be a good case study film for work on active audiences. The so-called uses and gratifications model was developed in the second half of the 20th century and became important in early television studies. More recently it has been extended to consider social media usage. In simple terms, the suggestion is that media users may find gratification in several different ways grouped under these headings. They might seek: 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 Students might consider if any of these help to explain what audiences get from watching I, Daniel Blake. Why do people feel compelled to say how much they have been moved by the film? Do they learn something about how the benefits system works or doesn t work? Do they feel empathy for Daniel and Katie? How important is engagement with the characters and does the filmmakers approach help or hinder this engagement? Does watching the film encourage them to take action such as donating to a food bank or helping out in some way? Does watching a film like this cause viewers to vent anger as well as feel support for those concerned? It has been suggested that social media is used by some users to let off steam by releasing negative comments. Do we enjoy shouting at the officious and seemingly uncaring bosses in the benefit office (and the patronising workshop leader)? How do we equate this sense of individual viewers fulfilling their own unique set of needs vis-a-vis watching a specific film with any sense of the political outcomes of the film itself or the process of watching it? The clamour to put on screenings suggests that audiences want to watch the film with other people. This might lead to students considering another approach, the decoding model associated with the work of Stuart Hall, Dave Morley and others. This suggests that instead of individual responses groups of audience members may read media texts within the context of their own already-formed views of the world which might come from family, workplace or elsewhere. These shared views might lead them to adopt one of three positions. The preferred or dominant reading The oppositional reading The negotiated reading These were formulated mainly on the basis of audiences watching TV news and current affairs broadcasting and they correspond to ideas about watching within a framework of acceptance or rejection and the possibility of a position somewhere between. In the case of a public service 6 of 9

7 broadcaster charged with maintaining impartiality, the preferred reading struggles to deal with the pressures of the dominant ideology. An oppositional reading suggests a desire to change the political system in some way. How would such positions work with readings of I, Daniel Blake? Would the preferred reading be that the system is heartless, but that there is no coherent alternative, only attempts to ameliorate the conditions? Might a negotiated reading be concerned about the blame being laid only at the door of the benefits office staff and the mysterious decision maker. What is the oppositional reading that the film needs to expose the underlying ideologies more effectively? Compassion fatigue Gill Branston (2010) uses the work of Birgitta Hoijer to explore compassion in response to: news events which feature visuals and within them ideal victims (notably women, children and the elderly) and suggests four 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 Are these ideas relevant to how we might feel watching I, Daniel Blake? A teaching strategy It s unlikely that teachers will have the time to study several films in detail, but it may be difficult to tease out the issues about how I, Daniel Blake presents its story without comparison with other Ken Loach films. It may be possible to just study substantial extracts from other films. In the list below I ve loosely categorised the Loach films since the 1960s (most are now available on DVD). The categories are simply there to help choose titles you may well want to create different categories or move titles about. My suggestion is to choose one title from the same grouping as I, Daniel Blake and one from either the Historical Political, Industrial Relations or Fighting Back categories. Cathy Come Home, as indicated above, seems similar in terms of its focus on a highly political social issue and on the presentation of its victims. The style of its presentation has both changed dramatically and stayed much the same. We ll look at the ending of Cathy Come Home during the workshop. We ll also look at the land debate in Land and Freedom as an example of a discussion about political values and strategies. 7 of 9

8 Loose categories for Loach films Individuals fighting the system I, Daniel Blake (2016) My Name Is Joe (1998) Ladybird Ladybird (1994) Family Life (1971) Poor Cow (1967) Kes (1969) Cathy Come Home (1965) Historical political Jimmy's Hall (2014) The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) Land and Freedom (1995) Days of Hope (Four episodes, 1975) Other political It s a Free World (2007) Carla's Song (1996) 11'09''01 - September 11 (2002) (segment United Kingdom ) Fighting back Looking For Eric (2009) Sweet Sixteen (2002) Raining Stones (1993) Industrial relations The Navigators (2001) Bread and Roses (2000) Riff-Raff (1991) Rank and File (1971) The Big Flame (1969) Various genres The Angels' Share (2012) Route Irish (2010) Tickets (2005) Ae Fond Kiss (2004) 8 of 9

9 Hidden Agenda (1990) Fatherland (1986) Looks and Smiles (1981) The Gamekeeper (1980) Black Jack (1979) Price of Coal (2 parts 1977) References and further reading Branston, Gill with Stafford, Roy (2010) The Media Student s Book (5th ed), London: Routledge Fuller, Graham (ed) (1998) Loach on Loach, London: faber & faber Garnett, Tony (2016) The Day the Music Died: A Life Lived Behind the Lens, London: Constable Hutchinson, Pamela (2016) Review of I, Daniel Blake, Sight and Sound, November Johnson, Trevor (2016) Desperate Measures, Sight and Sound, November Leigh, Jacob (2002) The Cinema of Ken Loach: Art in the Name of the People, London: Wallflower McKnight, George (ed) (1997) Agent of Challenge and Defiance: The Films of Ken Loach, Trowbridge: Flicks Books I DANIEL_BLAKE_Transmission_Films_Production_Notes.pdf (typical right-wing press review) (on Ladybird, Ladybird) Roy Stafford 31/5/2017 royitp@gmail.com 9 of 9