Kitchen-Sink Realism And The Construction Of Urban Space

In the late 1970 s,Britain entered into a process of the reform of social welfare and security system.People's psychological state,values,and individual's fate surged and changed with the process of the reform.City film embraces the growth of the cities and the individual survival condition during its unique urban experience.These films record the true reality what the citizens are facing in the way of thinking the urban culture and construct an imagination of the city with real images.The thesis will focus on the contemporary British director Mike Leigh's film works and do intensive reading of the texts in the way of cultural study,aimed to define his author identity,exploit the connotation of his works,and detect his attitude of the public,politics,race,and class in Britain.The thesis will find the accurate orientation of the height expressed in these works,and then explore the complexity of the contemporary in modern British.The text will also analysis the complicated relationship between the imagination in the city film text and the hidden reality in cities,including the underlying social and cultural significance in this relationship.This paper will elaborate on four parts.The first chapter is the introduction part.This part mainly discusses the background and aesthetic characteristics of Mike Leigh's film works,defining him as a film author.It will also describe the academic research situation briefly and explain the research methods and significance.The second chapter mainly analysis the specific urban space: London,in Mike Leigh's films,and analysis the alternative imagination of London on the basis of a detailed definition of �social cultural space� and �image space�.The third chapter will distinguish the difference between the social reality in his films and a general sense of realism.It is defined as �kitchen-sink realism�.The fourth chapter will indicate Mike Leigh's personal attributes through the lateral comparison with other contemporary directors.It will analysis the isomorphic relations between his works and the contemporary British culture,and emphasize its impacts on the film creation.The point of this article is that Mike Leigh constructs a dystopian of London with the aid of the urban space,and further shows the �kitchen-sink realism� of London focusing on the inner cities.