1. AS Film Studies FM2:
British & American film
Section B: British Film
Thatcher’s
Britain
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2. Content
FM2 is the second of two modules at AS Film Studies. You will study three
key areas.
Section A: Producers and Audiences
For section A of this unit, candidates will study the UK and US film industry, the
audiences for films produced by these industries and their interrelationship.
Section B: British Film Topics
The study of at least two films with a focus on how macro elements of film,
particularly narrative, construct meanings and raise issues.
Section C: US Film – Comparative Study
Two films must be chosen from a specific genre or dealing with a specific theme.
Since this is a comparative study, the two films selected should enable sufficient
comparison and contrast to be made. One way of ensuring this is to select films
made at different historical moments.
These three elements will form the basis on a three-part exam in the summer.
We will be starting with British Film Topics, focussing on ‘Thatcher’s Britain’.
This module will look specifically at Britain in the 1980’s under Conservative
rule and how film reacted to this period. As we will come to recognise, this
period saw significant changes in Britain, and not all for the better. Rising
unemployment, strikes and poverty contrasted against individual success,
growing economic markets on a global scale and a new found patriotism. The
results saw a society divided and a country changed and cinema of this period
reflected this.
Assessment
Section B: British Film Topics (40 marks)
One question from a choice of two on each of the six topics. Candidates are
required to refer in detail to a minimum of two films. The first of the two
questions will have a focus on narrative and thematic issues. The second will
include a more broadly-based consideration of areas of representation, such
as gender, ethnicity or age.
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3. • What do you know about life in Britain in the 1980’s?
• What comes to mind when you think about the Conservative Party?
• Margaret Thatcher became leader of the Conservative Party in 1975
and Prime Minister in 1979.
• Under Thatcher, the Conservative party made significant changes to its
political outlook, becoming dominated by what was known as ‘the new
right’.
• Tony Blair oversaw similar changes to the Labour Party when, in 1994,
it was re-branded ‘New Labour’. They have dominated British politics
since taking power from the Conservatives in 1997.
• Comparisons between the two parties can be identified here as both
were keen to reinvent their political outlook, particularly in repositioning
themselves in relation to an emerging new capitalist world order based
on the global marketplace.
Post-war Britain (1945 onwards)
• Importance of maintaining full employment
• Maintaining a social ‘safety net’ of dependable welfare support for even
the poorest members of society. The NHS, which was introduced in
1948 is a prime example.
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Homework task: Research Margaret Thatcher. Make note of a few words
you might use to describe her:

4. What changed?
• By the 1980’s capitalism was changing. What traditionally concerned
the UK, the US and a few European countries was now taking on a
global profile. New communications technologies allowed businesses
to be operated globally.
• ‘Fordism’ was over. This term was named after the early US car
manufacturer Henry Ford. His method was based on mass production
of standardised products by large, nationally based companies. In this
period, stretching roughly between 1920 and 1970, companies
employed a predominantly male workforce, used assembly-line
production techniques, and favoured hierarchical management
structures. Cultural theorist Stuart Hall identifies key changes in the
‘Post-fordist’ world:
o economies were now based on information technologies rather
that heavy industry
o individual companies were now no longer usually overseeing all
aspects of production
o The market sectors were becoming increasingly segmented with
differentiated products aimed at niche-group consumers
o The industrial working class was contracting while the number of
service sector workers was increasing
o The workforce now contained more women and there were
more part-time jobs
o Major companies were ‘multinational’ in organisation and
structure
o The financial system was increasingly ‘globalised’
o The gap between the two-thirds of the population doing well and
the one-third not doing so well increased
Watch extracts from the documentary The Filth & the Fury (Julian
Temple, 2000, Film Four, UK). What do we learn about the ‘winter of
discontent’ just before Thatcher was elected?
Know your left from your right
In politics, left-wing, leftist, and the Left are terms applied to a wide variety of
political positions associated with progressive or radical causes. The term has
had different meanings in different countries and time periods. Originally,
during the French Revolution, left-wing referred to seating arrangements in
parliament; those who sat on the left opposed the monarchy and supported
radicalism. Later, the term became associated with socialism and
communism, and anarchism and social liberalism. Today, in most of Europe,
the Left refers to socialist parties, while in the United States, the Left usually
refers to modern liberalism.
The political right and the Right are terms applied to a variety of political
positions associated with conservative positions. The term has had different
meanings in different countries and time periods. Originally, during the French
Revolution, those who sat on the right supported the monarchy and
aristocratic privilege. It has since been used to refer to wide variety of
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5. politically conservative and reactionary ideologies and support for traditional
values.
Captalism
An economic system in which the means of production and distribution are
privately or corporately owned and development is proportionate to the
accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market.
An economic system based on a free market, open competition, profit motive
and private ownership of the means of production. Capitalism encourages
private investment and business, compared to a government-controlled
economy. Investors in these private companies (i.e. shareholders) also own
the firms and are known as capitalists.
Globalisation
Globalisation in its literal sense is the process of transformation of local or
regional phenomena into global ones. It can be described as a process by
which the people of the world are unified into a single society and function
together. This process is a combination of economic, technological, socio-
cultural and political forces. Globalization is often used to refer to economic
globalization, that is, integration of national economies into the international
economy through trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration,
and the spread of technology.
Thatcherism
Margaret Thatcher was very successful in shifting public opinion in Britain
towards the right. Support for the conservative party was achieved by:
• Echoing popular prejudices in their political statements
• Seeming to be in tune with key aspects of the popular mind-set held by
the public such as
o The desire to own your own home (‘right to buy’ was introduced
to enable council tenants to buy their own homes at knock-down
prices)
o The wish to buy consumer products (credit possibilities were
extended by the finance sector in order to enable people to buy
more goods on a repayment basis
o The willingness blame visible, easily identifiable scapegoats
when social and economic problems arose
Unfortunately, the downside to such policies was loss of social housing stock
and increased public debt.
The new right
The winter before Thatcher came to power was dubbed ‘the winter of
discontent’ with over a million public service workers on strike for almost three
months. This included refuse workers, gas and electricity providers (which
were then owned by the state, not privately). Power cuts, rats and rioting were
amongst the many problems facing the country as a result of this.
The Conservative party brought forward what it saw as strong political
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6. leadership. ‘New right’ politics helped to deal with what it saw as ‘enemies’
within society, which it said, threatened the social fabric of Britain. With such
civil unrest the country welcomed this view. Some of the moral panics put
forward by the new right included:
• Criminals alone are responsible for crime, rather than the cause
• ‘Scroungers’ were taking advantage of the welfare system
• Teachers were failing to exert discipline in schools
• Trade unionists (workers unions) were constantly threatening the social
order
The extreme right would go further by bringing in race and ethnicity as a
cause for public concern, for example linking crime to Afro-Caribbean men.
Extreme groups such as the National Front and, later the Brtish National Party
are examples.
Stuart Hall suggests that such moral panics were crucial in enabling the
Conservatives to gain support for their policies: by telling the public what they
should be afraid of and then offering ‘solutions’. Hall identifies this as
‘authoritarian populism’.
Watch extracts from This is England (Shane Meadows, 2007, Film Four,
UK). How is race and identity represented here? What is the effect on the
audience? How is this achieved?
A contradiction?
‘Thatcherism’ was in social terms highly conservative, embodying what were
seen as ‘traditional values’: self help, effort and aspiration and a collective
national pride. It pointed towards British power and individual endeavour.
However…
In economic terms, ‘Thatcherism’ was liberal, believing in a free, global
market. Such freedom and lack of regulation meant that only the fittest
commercial enterprises survived. Such old-fashioned ideas such as ‘Fordism’
were no longer viable in this new market.
Ultimately, Britain’s old manufacturing base had ended with the advancement
of telecommunications and the burgeoning global markets, which began in the
late 1970’s. This escalated into consumer niche-market segmentation, huge
multinational companies that could always do things ‘cheaper and better’ and
the fragmentation of the work force. Given such huge global shifts, it would be
wrong to suggest that Thatcher alone pushed Britain through the changes of
the 1980’s. Rather, Thatcher embraced the ‘new right’ that capitalised on the
global changes and imposed these ideas on the public. As we will see through
the course of this study, the results were far reaching: both positive for the
privileged and devastating for those who were not.
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7. Watch extract from the BBC documentary on Thatcher.
• What was happening in Britain in 1979? Consider social contexts
and music.
• Why do they describe Thatcher as a ‘lady of the 1860’s?
• Why did the public vote her in?
Opposition
With a government that seemed to be only offering short-term solutions to
very real problems such as poverty, crime and unemployment, opposition to
the ‘new right’ was fierce. It became clear that Britain was becoming a ‘two-
tier’ society: those who were prospering under the free market and individual
enterprise (often those in towns and cities around London which had fared
well in private sector investments and opportunities brought about by the new
market economies). The other tier was those who had worked in industry:
miners, factory workers, and labourers. This working classes who now faced
unemployment had no control over their future, contrary to the
‘aspirational/go-getting’ suggestions of the Conservative party. The workers,
predominantly in the north of England and the midlands, and their families
faced very real problems of poverty, poor quality housing and little
government support. Here are some examples of opposition in the 1980’s:
• Inner-city riots such as those at St. Paul’s in Bristol, Toxteth in
Liverpool, Moss Side in Manchester, Handsworth in Birmingham and
Brixton in London during the early 1980’s.
• The miners’ strike of 1984-1985
• The tightening of immigration controls (British Nationality Act 1981 &
the Immigration Act 1988)
• Opposition to the placing of Cruise missiles as Greenham Common on
Molesworth
• Clause 28 of the Local Government Act which prohibited local councils
from ‘promoting’ homosexuality
• The Falklands war of 1982
Watch the extracts from Billy Elliot, (Stephen Daldry, 2000, Working Title
Films, UK). What issues discussed so far are evident in this film? What
ideologies are evident? Who does it side with? How is this achieved?
Who is being represented? How are they represented?
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8. Statistical data for Thatcher’s Britain
1. What were the causes of high unemployment in 1980’s Britain? Who
was on strike and why?
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9. 2. House prices rose significantly during the 1980’s, as did council house
sales. What do you think the benefits of this were? Who would stand to
gain? Who would lose?
3. Identify a demographic for each of the three strands including
occupation, social class/status, geographic location etc. Provide an
example from a key text we have studied for each.
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10. 1987 Sep 23
Margaret Thatcher
Interview for Woman's Own ("no such thing as society")
Venue: No.10 Downing Street
Source: Thatcher Archive: COI transcript
Journalist: Douglas Keay, Woman's Own
Themes: Family, Voluntary sector and charity, Society, Famous statements by MT,
Social security and welfare
Extract
MT...
I think we have gone through a period when too many children and people have been
given to understand "I have a problem, it is the Government's job to cope with it!" or"I
have a problem, I will go and get a grant to cope with it!" "I am homeless, the
Government must house me!" and so they are casting their problems on society and who
is society? There is no such thing! There are individual men and women and there are
families and no government can do anything except through people and people look to
themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then also to help look after our
neighbour and life is a reciprocal business and people have got the entitlements too much
in mind without the obligations, because there is no such thing as an entitlement unless
someone has first met an obligation and it is, I think, one of the tragedies in which many
of the benefits we give, which were meant to reassure people that if they were sick or ill
there was a safety net and there was help, that many of the benefits which were meant to
help people who were unfortunate—" It is all right. We joined together and we have these
insurance schemes to look after it". That was the objective, but somehow there are some
people who have been manipulating the system and so some of those help and benefits
that were meant to say to people: "All right, if you cannot get a job, you shall have a basic
standard of living!" but when people come and say: "But what is the point of working? I
can get as much on the dole!" You say: "Look. It is not from the dole. It is your neighbour
who is supplying it and if you can earn your own living then really you have a duty to do it
and you will feel very much better!"
There is also something else I should say to them: "If that does not give you a basic
standard, you know, there are ways in which we top up the standard. You can get your
housing benefit."
But it went too far. If children have a problem, it is society that is at fault. There is no
such thing as society. There is living tapestry of men and women and people and the
beauty of that tapestry and the quality of our lives will depend upon how much each of us
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11. is prepared to take responsibility for ourselves and each of us prepared to turn round and
help by our own efforts those who are unfortunate. And the worst things we have in life,
in my view, are where children who are a great privilege and a trust—they are the
fundamental great trust, but they do not ask to come into the world, we bring them into
the world, they are a miracle, there is nothing like the miracle of life—we have these little
innocents and the worst crime in life is when those children, who would naturally have
the right to look to their parents for help, for comfort, not only just for the food and
shelter but for the time, for the understanding, turn round and not only is that help not
forthcoming, but they get either neglect or worse than that, cruelty.
1. What does Thatcher mean when she says ’[benefit claimants] are
casting their problems on society and who is society? There is no such
thing!’? How does she view ‘the dole’ (job seekers allowance)?
(paragraph one)
2. Read through paragraph 3 (‘But it went too far…’). What does this tell
us about Thatcher’s view of family?
3. Can we be critical of these ideas? Think about the texts we have seen
in this module. Also consider the changing wider contexts that were
affecting families in working class areas. Try to identify changing social
and economic contexts.
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