This is England = Ideology

Question 1

Identity and Belonging =

Answer 1

• Shaun begins his jouney finding his identity in a kind, warm multicultural skinhead gang who then gets indoctrinated into Combo’s extremist views of what it is meant to be a man and English
• Shows how different subcultures can offer different needs such as nurturing or destruction
• Youth alienation where Shaun had to find friendship and belonging other places
• Shows how he feels belonging after losing his dad which is replaced by both Combo and Woody
• Combo defines Britishness as whiteness, anger and nostalgia for a lost Britian which uses the St George’s Flag as a central symbol to hand with pride for his anger and exclusion

Question 2

Nationalism =

Answer 2

• Highlights the growing presence of far-right ideologies and how the violent and extremist views have infiltrated skinhead subculture
• Symbolises the rise of Neo-Nazism and racial tension
• The film interrogates who gets to define England and how nationalism can be twisted. This is a deepening of national uncertainty
• Skinhead subculture was originally rooted in multiculturalism yet the far-right influence of nationalism became prominent and wanted nostalgia for the previous empire
• The film explores how rascit ideologies infiltrate subcultures into a white nationalist ideology which has been politically manipulated. Milky’s beating is symbolic of how England is contradictory with it’s values and loses moral direction
• The film critiques Thatcher-era Britian which shows the aftermath of industrial decline which led to unemployment and poverty. Racism and nationalism fill the void of economic hardship and lack of community giving young men a false sense of power and purpose.

Question 3

Masculinity and Violence =

Answer 3

• Exploration of masculinity and the toxic ways it can develop in working class environments
• Skinhead subcultures offers a distorted version of masculinity that is linked to aggression and power
• How characters grapply their manhood through violent tendencies which are shown through their power
• Combo is consumed by rage and is emotionally broken desperate for love
• Combo’s breakdown after beating Milky subverts traditional ideals of masculine touchness and how the hyper-masculine ideology equates dominance and lack of emotion. ‘Men dont cry’

Question 4

Childhood =

Answer 4

• Shaun’s vulnerabillity reflects how he is susceptive to corruption and violence. His childhood is marked by grief, isolation and extremist ideologies. Childhood is not protected in a working-class post conflict Britian which is shaped by loss and poverty
• The film becomes a coming of age story which is complete with violence and racial hatred. It represents a loss of innocence where he seeks validation from a father figure
• Childhood becomes political to impose dangerous ideologies