Kes is a 1969 social realism film directed by Ken Loach. The films lead character, Billy Casper, is from a working class background. This is evident through his living conditions (Shares a bed with his older brother ) and how he is expected to follow in his brothers mining footsteps. He is represented as a mischievous youth as he steals and misbehaves at school. The area he lives in is industrialised and fairly underdeveloped, the houses are of poor quality and a huge mining pit is a short walk away. Overall the working class in this film are shown to be quite raw and gritty, to live in rather poor conditions and to have relatively low aspirations.
The first ten minutes of Kes show how the working class is represented throughout the film, living conditions, Billys stealing habit and the mining pit are all shown.
Trainspotting is a 1996 British Drama / Social Realism film directed by Danny Boyle. The film is set in the 1980s and focuses on the issue of drug use and poverty within Edinburgh. The social group represented in this film is drug users. The drug users in this film are all depicted as very real characters that the viewer can relate to. They all have different views on drugs and all have different personalities. The film tries to broadcast that drug users are not the stereotypical lowlife with no aspirations and does this by using the main protagonist, Renton, as an illustrator to the film. Renton is well educated and well spoken, he also has aspirations in life. However his use of drugs has left him living in rundown conditions in a dead end life. His friends also represent the effect drugs can have. Tommy, the athlete who is totally against drugs and is leading a successful life is eventually stuck in the grip of drugs and loses everything, including his life.
Overall Trainspotting represents a group that many have stereotypical views of and tries to redefine these stereotypes.
The baby scene in Trainspotting depicts Renton coming down from a high.
