This is England

Yesterday I finally got to choose what film to see (since I most of the time watch films together with others), and it was bit more realistic and deep than the last two I have had to watch. I've wanted to see "This Is England" for quite a long time, especially makes sense since I'm here now, but it never happened until yesterday. I knew before that it was about original ska/reggae skinheads and taking place in the early 80s, but I was surprised to see that it turned out to be quite a lot like "American History X", which just made the affection on me stronger. The film is really well done with everything from the great music to the setting of the time and place, and fantastic acting especially by the young Thomas Turgoose in the lead role as 12-year-old Shaun.



Even though I think the film doesn't really break new ground with its theme about racism and who belongs where and why these things might come up, I think it's a topic that always needs to be brought up and discussed to prevent racism to evolve. These things are very current for me as I've have studied 'Race and Representation' in my Social and Cultural Geography module, and discussed 'What is Britishness?'. As a part of this module I was recommended by one of the lecturers to read the book "Even in Sweden", which I have just started to look into but it brings up many things that I'm more familiar with, such as cases from the early 90s, than British examples and which makes it more interesting and easier to understand. I really hope that the recession and crisis right now, which led to many companies having to cut down on employees, such as Volvo and Saab in Sweden, doesn't become a breeding ground for racist thoughts and organizations as it unfortunately often shows out to be (which is described in the book I mentioned), especially with an upcoming parliament election coming up next year (in Sweden). So even though "This Is England" is about this country the story could had taken place anywhere, and the theme is therefore very relevant for Sweden, in this case, and other countries too.