The British New Wave and Realism

The idea of realism is to have a sense of perception and knowledge and to be able to hear, see, feel, smell and taste. We as people have to rely on a reality being meditated for us such as the news, magazines, newspapers and the radio that feeds us information that we tend to believe. But the problem here is fidelity of representation and the thought of can we believe these sources of media. From the 1930's to the 1950's Britain these representations being challenged by its public because of the start of americanisation, that had the influence of Hollywood, that initially saw traditional home values go down the drain because the younger generation were getting an idea of a glamorous individual lifestyle that was shown through film. Anxieties of the Cold War were also always a problem, but the fact of new space technology and knowledge meant that satellites were now in space, which the public tended to question the government and their policies that made them think were they spying on you because of these giant electronic devices in space. The film industry noticed these problems and started to reflect them in new movies such as, 'The Blue Lamp' and 'Victim', that were both directed by Basil Dearden in the the 1950s and 1960s. These films were classed as kitchen sink films because they presented the domestic situations that the working class people of Britain could relate to. The British New Wave movement also the punk movement rise up, because these youths wanted to challenge anything and everything, which was seen as the angry new man image as they were expected to behave like their parents but instead went again them. As the youth culture started to get their own jobs outside of school and college, they began to have a disposable income that meant they had spare money to spend on their own music and clothes. In the 1950's women were seen to be wanted back in the kitchen and housewives were a common sight in a normal household. This created social problems that gave new ideas to the New Wave British cinema and addressed things that hollywood film did not such as, underage sex, adultery, homo-sexualtity, abortion and mixed race relationships, programmes like 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning' and 'A Taste of Honey' addressed these enough. This meant that you could make something of yourself whatever class you were in. Overall the British New Wave saw a sense of realism like no other decade before, the 1950's and 1960's addressed issues that were common occurrences and situations that were real life. The film industry did not tip toe around these issues but presented them how they were happening in everyday life.