Erasing “Knowable Communities”: From Saturday Night and Sunday Morning to Brassed Off

Artur Piskorz

doi:10.18778/2083-2931.13.21

Authors

Artur Piskorz Pedagogical University of Cracow https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2714-1260

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2083-2931.13.21

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Keywords:

realism, British cinema, knowable community, documentary movement, Thatcherism, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Brassed Off

Abstract

The paper discusses cinematic representations of working class communities in British cinema from the pre-war documentary movement to (post-)Thatcher feature films chronicling the decline of traditional industries. A particular focus is given to contrasting Karel Reisz’s Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and Mark Herman’s Brassed Off. The former title serves as a model example of British New Wave cinema, marking the “discovery” of the working class with its “knowable communities” that revealed them to the general public. The latter film provides an apt illustration of the impact and consequences of Thatcherism on the very same communities. The paper elaborates on selected narrative and visual motifs, investigating the ways in which British filmmakers have striven to depict social changes in British society over the consecutive decades.

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Author Biography

Artur Piskorz, Pedagogical University of Cracow

Artur Piskorz holds a post-doctoral degree in the English Department at the Pedagogical University of Cracow. His research focuses on cinema in social and political contexts, in particular in relation to British cinema and culture. The cinema of Stanley Kubrick has been his lifelong passion and interest. His latest book is a critical monograph of Mike Leigh’s cinema.

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