This Is England (Opening Sequence)
This sequence runs 00:00:00-00:04:30.
This Is England opens with a montage consisting of newsreel footage from the early 1980s set to the ska music of the youth culture the film portrays. Montages are effective in quickly rooting an audience in a particular time and place. It cuts between this youth culture and the news. Near the end of the film, there is a similar montage which has the effect of bookending the film. However, the ending montage has a more mellow tone, especially compared to this more upbeat beginning.
Here is everything the montage includes:
It opens with Roland Rat. When a fourth television channel started to operate in 1982, there was backlash against the prospect of another commercial channel like ITV. So, Channel 4 had to set itself apart by doing something different - like the heavily Brummy-accented television animal-host, Roland Rat.
There are clips of children playing Space Invaders, which was created in the 1970s but not widely available in homes until the 1980s. The 1980s was an era of affordable consumer electronic gadgets.
There was an American TV show called Nightrider popular in the 1980s, focussing on a crime-fighter and his robot car. For many young people, this was their first exposure to American culture.
A long crab shot from the window of a car depicts the reality of northern urban life as it passes through an estate, showcasing the shabby conditions of post-war Britain. By the 1980s, these 1950s estates were uncared for and unkempt, covered in graffiti and filled with people who were trapped economically.
There are a few shots of different youth cultures popular in this decade, with gangs of young people dressing identically.
In the 1980s, with a growing population of middle class office workers, there was an outburst of ‘keeping fit’ programmes, some of which are shown in this montage.
One of the subcultures of skinheads, Oi, is shown through gigs.
The royal wedding between Diana and Charles defined the 1980s, especially at a time when many held the monarchy in higher esteem. The wedding caused a surge in positive patriotic feeling across England.
In recognition that the 1950s estates weren’t working, there is a shot of a building being demolished.
In time with the beat of the song, there is a clip of a bomb going off during the Iranian embassy hostage situation. The army had been ordered to send the SAS in while ‘negotiations’ were being held inside. The soldiers ended the siege (by killing everyone) and it was seen as a victory.
Britain allowed the US to position land-based missiles on UK soil. This was a highly unpopular policy, as it made the UK a direct target for Russian missiles, but heightened British political alliance with the US.
There was an organisation called CND, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, who pushed down the fences around the air bases that held the nuclear weapons in protest. The CND cause attracted a lot of women, heightening female political engagement. The clip depicts a woman being led away by the police for her protesting - people were willing to give up their freedom for these beliefs.
Bike tricks, specifically BMX, were highly popular.
One of the clips shows Margaret Thatcher struggling to work a computer, illustrating that the older British generation had to get to grips with the technology that could potentially take away their jobs.
CDs were marketed as indestructible, a safe investment that would prevent you from ever having to buy music again. Although not true, this marks the switch to digital technology and mechanised manufacturing.
Miner strikes and riots of the 1980s in protest of the masses of northern England who lost their jobs when the coal mines were shut down. In refusing to give concessions, the government starved the striking miners into going back to work. This move by the Conservative government disproportionately affected the country, positioning more wealth in London and away from the rest of the UK and resulting in police brutality.
There is a clip from a National Front rally taking place in London, with skinheads marching with the Union Jack and St George’s Cross. In times of difficulty and poverty, people are attracted to extremist ideologies that claim to be able to improve their situation.
Immigrant families with their windows broken and the Brixton riots protesting against such racialised crimes.
There has been a long-standing conflict between possession of the Falkland Islands between the UK and Argentina. When responding to the Argentinian expedition force in the 1980s ‘invading’ the island, the Conservative government sent a British force over to defend the British community in the Falklands. In reality, they were responding to the fact they would be voted out as an unpopular party and needed a war to rally the population and support them. The British soldiers shown in the Falklands seem relaxed, confident, and almost carefree.
It zooms in on Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher at a meeting, after the pact with Russia to reduce nuclear warheads.
Photo opportunities for Margaret Thatcher to be seen supporting her troops and population while her population is ailing.
The montage ends with a visual reminder of the consequences of war, showing a British soldier with his leg blown off.
The music fades and the screen fades to black on a zoomed in video of a corpse wrapped up on a tank.
It fades from the black screen to Shaun’s bedroom, to the photo of his father in his military uniform. The peeling paint in the background is indicative of the poverty Shaun and his mother live in, contrasting the proud stance and pristine uniform of his father.
The montage roots the film in early 1980s England, and the opening shots of the film make this more specific: the captions reveal it is July 1983, the last day of term. The first thing we hear is the click of the radio-alarm and Margaret Thatcher making a public announcement, pinpointing the politics of the era.
The camera slowly pulls back and Shaun comes into frame. We are introduced to him in his bedroom, and we see football stickers and family photos on the wall - an image of childhood.