This is England
This Is England
While watching the movie “This is England” as “the other”, I was able to experience a culture that was socially, culturally, politically, and ethically different from that of my own. It was interesting to see a story unfold through the perspective of a young boy named Shaun. The director showed Shaun’s experiences dealing with serious issues England was facing at the time such as racism, gangs, immigration, and unemployment. Losing his father at an early age, Shaun lacked an older figure to guide him towards the right path which ultimately causes him to join a gang called the Skinheads. Based on the movie, gangs seem to be one of the major problems within England’s social economic political system. At first the gang Shaun associated himself with seemed to be like any other typical gang I heard about growing up in the United States. All they did was go out and wreak havoc around the neighborhood committing petty crimes such as destroying private property. However, as soon as Combo is introduced into the movie, a deeper problem begins to unfold.
Combo is the epitome of racism and white supremacy in England. His excuse for being a racist is explained by the National Front leader who shouts out at a meeting “We’re not racists, we’re realists.” It was obvious that diversity was a taboo subject within the realms of England. In the United States, people of all races are able to walk side by side without any concerns. A perfect example of racism that occurred in the movie can be found in the scene where Shaun walks into a convenient store and calls the man working there a “Paki bastard”. In America making those kinds of hateful remarks would automatically be frowned upon. However, in England making those racist comments presents no consequence whatsoever. If anything, people seemed to be rewarded for standing up for white supremacy. After calling the store worker a Paki bastard, Combo showed up to the scene and threatened the worker with a sword across
While watching the movie “This is England” as “the other”, I was able to experience a culture that was socially, culturally, politically, and ethically different from that of my own. It was interesting to see a story unfold through the perspective of a young boy named Shaun. The director showed Shaun’s experiences dealing with serious issues England was facing at the time such as racism, gangs, immigration, and unemployment. Losing his father at an early age, Shaun lacked an older figure to guide him towards the right path which ultimately causes him to join a gang called the Skinheads. Based on the movie, gangs seem to be one of the major problems within England’s social economic political system. At first the gang Shaun associated himself with seemed to be like any other typical gang I heard about growing up in the United States. All they did was go out and wreak havoc around the neighborhood committing petty crimes such as destroying private property. However, as soon as Combo is introduced into the movie, a deeper problem begins to unfold.
Combo is the epitome of racism and white supremacy in England. His excuse for being a racist is explained by the National Front leader who shouts out at a meeting “We’re not racists, we’re realists.” It was obvious that diversity was a taboo subject within the realms of England. In the United States, people of all races are able to walk side by side without any concerns. A perfect example of racism that occurred in the movie can be found in the scene where Shaun walks into a convenient store and calls the man working there a “Paki bastard”. In America making those kinds of hateful remarks would automatically be frowned upon. However, in England making those racist comments presents no consequence whatsoever. If anything, people seemed to be rewarded for standing up for white supremacy. After calling the store worker a Paki bastard, Combo showed up to the scene and threatened the worker with a sword across