The Selfish Giant and genre

A question that could come up in the A2 Media exam is 'how do your chosen texts use genre conventions?'. In order to answer this question it is essential to define genre, why it is important, and what issues can arise from its use, preferably in the introduction.

The Selfish Giant belongs to a very particular genre, and one that is defined by its dominant ideology.

Ideology

What is the dominant reading of The Selfish Giant? What are we supposed to feel after watching it? And what message or moral does this film have? Unlike many films, The Selfish Giant has a very clear ideological goal. It is designed to manipulate the audience into a certain point of view, and to raise awareness of people in desperate situations. This ideology is absolutely essential to the social realist genre, as it is one of its conventions

Generic paradigms of the social realist film

The Selfish Giant is an almost stereotypical social realist film. But what makes it a social realist film in particular?

Social Realism is an artistic movement that started in America in the 1930s. Originally taking the form of paintings, later films and other forms of media emerged that could be described as being affiliated with social realism. Social realist art often depicts working class characters as being noble or heroic.

Kes (Loach, 1969)

Watch the trailer to Kes, often considered to be the quintessential social realist film (and certainly one of the most popular)What generic paradigms do The Selfish Giant and Kes share? Make specific examples to visual and technical codes.


Watch any scene from The Selfish Giant that features Arbor, preferably one you have studied in class, and try to answer the following questions:

To what extent could it be argued that Arbor is “noble or heroic”?
To what extent can Arbor be argued to be working class?

While Arbor isn't a traditional hero in any sense of the word, his actions can be seen to be heroic. He's grafting to get himself, his mum, and his best friend out of poverty. While he may do this through breaking the law, he essentially has no alternative. In this sense, Arbor can be considered to be the underdog hero.

Documentary conventions

The Selfish Giant is not a documentary. It is a work of fiction. However there are several things that The Selfish Giant does in order to seem more like a documentary. Some documentary style conventions it uses include

• Shaky, handheld camera
• Simple, sparse narrative
• Less use of non-diegetic music
• Use of amatuer/untrained actors
• Naturalistic/rough performance
• Naturalistic settings (no film sets)
• Subject matter is far more relatable than something like Skyfall 
• Narrative focuses on real life struggle rather than entertainment value 

Director Clio Barnard gives insight into her casting procedure in this Guardian article:

Back in 2010, when Clio Barnard was shooting her first feature film, The Arbor, on the Buttershaw estate in Bradford, a young local lad caught her eye. "I first saw him when he was just 14, when I went to Buttershaw to do a workshop at a school," she recalls. "There was just something about him that was different from the other lads I met. He was a bit volatile, but enigmatic too and he really made his presence felt. When I went to Brafferton Arbor [the street on which The Arbor is set] for the first time, there he was, wearing his rigger boots and really dirty clothes. It was pure attitude, a kind of 'fuck you!' to anyone who dare call him a pikey.” 

So what do these naturalistic, documentary conventions give the film? In short, they give is verisimilitude and a sense of authenticity. Even though The Selfish Giant is a work of fiction, the same as Brave or Skyfall, using technical elements to intrigue, excite and position the audience within a dominant ideology, the use of documentary style conventions helps to connote to the audience that the film is 'real', raw, and set in a world that we recognise.

Socio-political context

'Socio-political context' refers to the social and political issues that affect a certain group of people at a certain time. Most critics would argue that films are a product of the time they are made. Many reviews of the film were keen to point out the post-Thatcher socio-political context of the film, and that the film could be read as a criticism of Margaret Thatcher's political policies.

Who was Margaret Thatcher? This BBC article gives a detailed rundown on her policies. In short, Thatcher believed in entrepreneurialism over state handouts. If an individual was poor, it was their own fault, and they could solve this problem through hard work. These two quotes from Thatcher elaborate on this principle:

“I think we've been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it's the government's job to cope with it. 'I have a problem, I'll get a grant.' 'I'm homeless, the government must house me.' They're casting their problem on society...”

"I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but should get you pretty near." 

So how can we apply Thatcherite ideology to The Selfish Giant? The entire film is about fighting against adversity, and finding work under difficult standards. Both Kitten and Arbor are arguably entrepreneurs. The issue here is that because they've been abandoned by the government, they are forced to break the law. So while in many ways they are shining examples of Thatcherite entrepreneurs, by committing illegal activities, the film can be seen as a criticism of these policies.

Conclusions

As a social realist film, The Selfish Giant eschews entertainment for hard truths, and presents flawed characters and a potentially unsatisfying narrative. This is because the film has a clear ideological goal, to change the minds of its audience, and to educate the middle-class target audience on the hardships endured by the working class in the North of England.