Identify how Sense an Sensibility and Four Weddings and a Funeral represent aspects of Bristish society past and present.

Identify how Sense and Sensibility and Four Weddings and a Funeral represent aspects of British society past and present.

Sense and Sensibility and Four Weddings clearly represent aspects of British society. The main difference between them is the Sense and Sensibility is based in the past and Four Weddings is recent. This therefore makes them represent different morals and values of Britain. Another difference is how women get portrayed and treated, this difference is mainly because of the time difference. Sense and Sensibility was first a novel written by Jane Austen and published in 1811, Four Weddings was released into cinemas in 1994.

An aspect that they both share but have very different views on is marriage, in Sense and Sensibility marriage isn't a choice, especially for women however in Four Weddings it can be a choice and isn't a major deal unlike Sense and Sensibility. In Four Weddings there a good quote that one of the characters says, he says that couples only marry when they have run out subject to talk about. This shows that the representation of Britain in Four Weddings could be classed as realistic and modern. Women can take the time to the find the man that they want to marry and choose whether or not to do so. This shows that the two films have a different view of women and what there power, morals and values are. For example in Sense and Sensibility the women's costumes are very uptight and they are always covered up somehow, whereas in Four Weddings the women have let their hair down a bit more and are less uptight. This shows two different versions of British society, one where women don't nearly have as much freedom (Sense and Sensibility) than the women in Four Weddings. As well as freedom women in Four weddings are and could be respectful business people with authority over others this is a total clash from how women are represented in Sense and Sensibility. Women in Sense and Sensibility don't have much of a career, they stay at home and care for the house and their husbands or anyone else who they may serve. These two representations are drastically different but still realistic of their time period in which it’s set in. If you see in Sense and Sensibility the mood of the film and areas around the women are darker and stale. This denotes women to be low in the hierarchy on the social scale. As well as this the non diegetic sound that gets played doesn't set the mood the scene to be a joyful and happy one. In Four weddings these two points are completely different. The area and lighting surrounding women is bright and full of colour to denote that they are just the same as men in the social hierarchy. The sound might not be happy and joyful at all times but it isnt as dull as the sound in Sense and Sensibility.

Another difference that they have is that Four weddings represent a version of Britishness which is more like a part of 'Curtisland'. The way the characters go about their daily life and their values are grittier than those characters in Sense and Sensibility. This is partly because Four weddings is based in a more recent time period where society is very different from the time set in Sense and Sensibility. However with Four weddings being grittier it doesn't mean that its heavy hearted, in fact it could the very opposite. Most of the characters in Sense and Sensibility take most things seriously and you don't see them having a laugh as much as the characters in Four weddings. This again is another difference in how the society of Britain is represented in both films.

Merging on from the point about seriousness the subject love in both films are also the same. In Sense and Sensibility love/marriage is taken more seriously, men and women will set out to meet someone with the ambition of marrying and not necessarily the ambition of falling in love. Whereas in Four weddings a couple would date to get to know each other, then be official to each other, stay like that for a while to really see how they are, move in and then get married. So as you can see the steps for falling in love are more complicated in Four weddings.

Overall both of these British films represent a version of British society very well but they do have their differences and similarities. The similarities however make the representations very reliable. The main difference is that Four weddings is set in a modern time and Sense and Sensibility is set 100s of years ago. This provides us with one up to date representation and one historical representation.

Slumdog Millionaire and Somerstown - Comparison

Slumdog Millionaire

Directors: Danny Boyle
Loveleen Tandan (co-director: India)
Writers: Simon Beaufoy (screenplay)
Vikas Swarup (novel)
Release Date: 9 January 2009 (UK)
Genre: Crime | Drama | Romance

Somerstown
Director: Shane Meadows
Writer: Paul Fraser
Release Date:22 August 2008
Genre: Comedy | Drama

I believe that both of these films are definitely British but in different ways. Somerstown is obviously British with its British nature, whereas Slumdog Millionaire is debateable. Somerstown is classic British with its grittyness and again obviously has a British environment. The reason why Slumdog Millionaire is debatable is beucase it wasnt actually filmed in Britain for the most part. However there are a lot of factors that make it British, for example it was funded by channel 4 and has British actors in it. For example Dev Patel who also appeared in Skins (Which is a very British teen drama). Somerstown however was funded by eurostar which isnt as British as channel 4. It again has British actors for example,Thomas Turgoose he was also in 'This is England' which as by the title is very British film.

Active Reading Homework - Observer Film Quarterly March 09

A shiny, happy place, relaxed about the filthy rich, insatiable in its optimism, in love with happy endings, and very New Labour Welcome to Curtisland...

This article is based around the man Richard Curtis who has achieved an amazing amount towards British films. His most famous films include, Love Actually, Bridget Jones's Diary, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill. He is also the creator of Blackadder and The Vicar of Dibley.

The article is very much interested in how his films are based around New Labour and how they always have a optimistic view about them. This optimisim has made the view of Britain change from the old broken-home and teenage pregnancy capital of Europe to a sunny, happy and witty place.

His films were seen as a stepping stone to what British film is now today because he created his own style of cinema which is named 'Curtisland'. Most British films were either wrote by him or followed his formula of a man/women needing to grow up and find out that love is all around us.

As said before Richard Curtis/Curtisland has achieved many things for British Cinema and most importantly British people. He has changed the perception of British Citizens and has definitely left his mark.

Working Title Films

Working title is a film production company based in London, it was founded in 1982 by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe. It has produced films such as, About a Boy, Wimbledon, Nanny McPhee and most famously, Billy Elliot.

"They have been listed as the most powerful figures in the British industry and in 2002 Premiere magazine put them at 41st in the world-wide movie power list."( BBC News story (2004)

This is a quote from an article that the BBC wrote about Working Title film. As you can see the company has had a huge impact on the film industry; The role that is has in British film as well is even bigger. This role grew when they were in a bid for the ITV licence.