An Assessment On Politicalness In Ken Loach Films From A Social Realism Perspective

From his first feature film Poor Cow(1967)to the latest I,Daniel Blake(2016).Ken Loach has been holding onto his independent but bleak social realist film style,winning him international reputation on the one hand and on the other hand generating controversy or even offensive personal attacks among the critic as well as spectators,which derives from the political appeal,or politicalness as the dissertation defines,in his feature films.While the dissertation argues that politicalness is the eternal subject matter of Ken Loach films and that it is the politicalness in his films that makes Ken Loach internationally distinctive and distinguished and guarantees Loach's independence from the Hollywood hegemony.Ken Loach films,thematically,concerns the hardship of the rank and file-unemployment and poverty,struggle of workers and unions,hopeless female and kids in rough situation,and social and political systems-the pursuit of socialism,which both express Loach's political thoughts,implicitly or explicitly;while his directing style is characterized with casting non-professional actors,applying element of surprise and improvisation,shooting real location and in sequence,filming observationally,and using natural light.To analyze politicalness in Ken Loach films,six works are chosen out of his more than twenty independent feature films and interpreted through textual analysis in the chronological order:Kes(1969)on behalf of the 1960s,Family Life(1971)the 70s,none in the 80s for Loach's failure in feature films due to Thatcherite consciousness,Riff-Raff(1991)and Land and Freedom(1995)the 90s,and The Wind That Shakes the Barley(2006)and I,Daniel Blake(2016)in the new millennium.With the theoretical support of social realism,the dissertation reveals that the four of the six-Kes,Family Life,Riff-Raff,and I,Daniel Blake,imply the attack against the capitalist system in different decades and that Land and Freedom and The Wind That Shakes the Barley explicitly explore the form of socialism under the condition that people have the chance to change the prevailing systems,which thoroughly backs the argument.