The North and South Divide in UK with the Representation of It in Brassed Off Film - Term Paper Example

Briefly outline the North and South divide in UK with the representation of it in “Brassed off” Introduction The influence of industrial development in Britain’s urban development and economy has been extensive. Due to the extension of the capitalism the country has been divided into two major geographical parts. In accordance with the study of Dunford (19995, 145) these parts are: “the first is between the Greater London metropolitan area and the rest of Britain; the second is a related division between North and South which assumed particular prominence after the inter-war depression when the industries of the old industrial heartland went into decline while attention is paid first to a variety of social, economic and political indicators of these persistent divisions and of the more complex mosaic of in equality that underlies them”. In the particular paper it is the country’s North-South divide that is going to be analyzed mainly through the film “Brassed off”. In fact, the North-South divide in England is not a recent phenomenon. This situation appeared in the country approximately in the beginning of 21st century. Doran et al. (2004, 1043) who studied the specific issue found that the North-South divide in England was mainly expressed through a significant differentiation in health services provided to the local populations. For this reason Doran et al. made a research using as a sample seven social classes in the areas under examination using as a criterion the health services available in the relevant regions and found that “the widest health gap between social classes, however, was in Scotland and London, adding another dimension to the policy debate on resource allocation and targets to tackle the health divide” (2004, 1043) The reasons for the existence of this phenomenon can be many. In accordance with the study of Morgan (2006) the political decisions taken by the parties throughout the years should be considered as the main causes of this situation. Referring especially to the Labour party Morgan supported that “one of the unintended consequences of devolution under New Labour is that it might make it more difficult to secure territorial justice between the nations and regions of the United Kingdom; centralized regional policy, the aim of which was to promote economic equity between the regions, has been replaced by a devolved regional policy that aims to promote an economic dividend within each region however in the unlikely event that devolution yields a uniform economic dividend in each region, the result does nothing to redress the territorial inequalities at the heart of the North-South divide because treating unequal regions equally is not a recipe for territorial justice”. The existence of differences in all social and financial aspects between the particular areas of England cannot be denied. However, these differences cannot justify a differentiation in the social policies applied in the area. The government should use same criteria when designing the regional and local plans for the above areas while all other sectors of social life (like health, education and so on) should be treated by the state on equal terms. ‘Brassed off’ as a representation of N-S divide Brassed off is considered to be a comedy despite its extended reference to a series of political and social issues. In this context, the film could be also considered to be a political statement for the social and financial inequalities in modern Britain. On the other hand, the fact that the film was released shortly before the elections of 1997, can lead to the assumption that the main target of the film has been the country’s government. Moreover, it could be stated that the messages included in the film regarding the differences in all social aspects of people living in each of the regions, have targeted all the country’s political parties. As for the language used in the film this was rather strong in an effort to present more accurately the social differences between North and South of England. However, the imitation of the local dialect could be characterized as unsuccessful. In accordance with a commentary released by the Edinburgh University Film Society on 2001 Brassed Off should be considered as a ‘complete’ film in terms of its references to the social and political conditions of the particular time period. On the other hand, the film’s cultural value seems also to be significant. More specifically, it has been stated that the specific film has all elements of success: “a host of good performances (particularly Pete Postlethwaite, who is no less than superb as Danny, the bands conductor/leader), conflicts of interest and loyalty, romance, impossibly moving life threatening illnesses, lots of striving against the odds, momentous speeches (`theyll shut us down but theyll never shut us up), tension, setbacks and a huge finale; all this and it still manages to be human; there are some particularly brilliant touches; not least the sight of Tompkinson swinging by a rope in a clowns outfit in a botched suicide attempt, and the romance of Tara Fitzgerald and ex-childhood sweetheart Ewan McGregor over fish and chips in the salubrious surroundings of the `In Cod We Trust Restaurant”. The above assumptions if combined with the fact that the film includes extensive references to the country’s political and social conditions, they can lead to the characterization of the specific film as a successful ‘political comedy’. The theme of the film could be characterized as of significant value because it is not referred commonly in the area of the art. In fact, there is no film with similar content (referring to the particular problem). From another point of view, it could be stated that “while the desecration of the mining industry, and working-class people in general, holds centre-stage, the film cleverly focuses on the colliery brass band; by shifting the emphasis to something which is dependent upon the colliery yet fundamentally separate, Brassed Off manages to inject both humour and a dash of real-life into the otherwise dour proceedings” (Cannon, 1997). In other words, the use of humour in many instances causes rather complex sentiments because the film is then differentiated from the political ‘area’ referring to common daily activities of the people in the region. This constant change of ‘mood’ could be possibly regarded as a ‘negative’ aspect of the specific film. Throughout the film there are many instances where political messages are being released. The language used (local dialect) is an indicative case where the local social ethics are presented to the public. On the other hand, the education of Gloria could be possibly regarded as another point where the differences in the culture and the social conditions of the two regions are being highlighted. At the same time the financial conditions in the North of England are highlighted with an emphasis to the failure of the governmental provisions (indirectly) and the lack of sufficient funds to local people (struggling to survive). On the other hand, “parts of the film make reference to the huge increase in suicides that resulted from the end of the coal industry and the struggle to retain hope in the circumstances” [1]. Generally it could be stated that the structure of the particular film has been an issue that ‘surprised’ a significant part of its audience. The film was expected to be a comedy with no particular significance for the country’s politics. It is perhaps for this reason – its extensive reference to the political and social conditions of these two British regions – that the film had a significant success. It should be noticed that this film “was not expected to gain the wide audience that it has done; having expected viewers to be mostly those with past links to coal-mining, the film does not make explicit the political background to the plot” [1]. The differences between Yorkshire and London (as appeared in the film) are many. However, in the end it seems that the two regions have many common elements despite the different social and financial frameworks (expressed mainly through the education of Gloria and the financial problems faced by the people in Yorkshire. The political role of the film cannot be doubted. The fact that daily activities have been presented in combination with social problems of the general area, gave to the film a particular value as a ‘critic’ of the failure of British governments to achieve an equal development of all British regions avoiding being concentrated on the capital of the country. ‘Brassed off’ as a film about emotions It should be noticed that Brassed Off is not only a film with a particular political character. In fact it is mainly a comedy which “treads a particularly fine line between over-sentimentalising and making light of the issues; on the whole however, as Hermans first film this is a triumph (also as regards the rehabilitation of the brass band; Brassed Off is funny, touching, important and irresistibly enjoyable to the last” (Edinburgh University Film Society, 2001). On the other hand, it should be noticed that “many of the funny moments stem from the direct, unpretentious dialogue, with the characters making as much fun of themselves as others; this is a great aid to the film because it both sets the scene and gives the roles a touch of believability” (Cannon, 1997). In fact the film is strongly emotional. The existence of the references to the political failures in the social management of the country does not prohibit the development of the film to a successful comedy. Generally, it could be stated that “Brassed Offs attempt to combine feel-good comedy with political point-scoring is somewhat more uncomfortable; in an effort to communicate its message, the film veers from soap-box didacticism to far-fetched fantasy, failing to do justice to either; a partial cause of this is the packing in of as many sub-plots and incidents as possible, without allowing them the room to breath and grow (its astonishing how so many critical events all come to a head at exactly the same time)” (Cannon, 1997). As of is emotional value, the film should be characterized as quite successful presenting incidents and scenes containing strong emotions of all participants. The existence of both comedian and dramatic moments should be also highlighted. Conclusion Generally, it could be stated that “devolution appears to challenge the traditional regional and national hierarchies of the UK, but in practice the dominance of the South East of England has been maintained through active state intervention; as social welfare has increasingly been redefined through economic success and access to the labour market, the focus of social policy has shifted accordingly; in this context the South East has been re-imagined not as a symbol of inequality and a potential source of redistribution, but rather as driver of economic prosperity and ‘national’ (UK) well-being” (Cohrane, 2006, 685). On the other hand, the existence of inequalities in many aspects of these two regions of UK cannot be denied. This difference in the financial and social development of these two regions can be possibly interpreted using different criteria in accordance with the personal attitudes. However, the reference to the film ‘Brassed off’ helped to understand that the existence of differences among regions in the same country can have many consequences and aspects. In this context, it should be preferable to use these differences as a reason to develop the culture and the ethics in each particular area. References Brassed Off, commentary, available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brassed_Off [1] Cannon, D. (1997) Brassed Off – Commentary, available at http://www.film.u-net.com/Movies/Reviews/Brassed_Off.html Cohrane, A. (2006) Devolving the heartland: Making up a new social policy for the ‘South East’. Critical Social Policy, 26(3): 685-696 Doran, T., Drever, F., Whitehead, M. (2004) Is there a north-south divide in social class inequalities in health in Great Britain? Cross sectional study using data from the 2001 census. BMJ, 328: 1043-1045 Dunford, M. (1995) Metropolitan Polarization, the North-South Divide and Socio-Spatial Inequality in Britain. European Urban and Regional Studies, 2(2): 145-170 Edinburgh University Film Society (2001), available at http://www.eufs.org.uk/films/brassed_off.html Morgan, K. (2006) Devolution and Development: Territorial Justice and the North-South Divide. The Journal of Federalism, 36(1): 189-206 Read More