Explore how Ken Loach articulates social concerns in( Kes.) Free Essay Example, 1250 words

In Barry Hines’ A Kestrel For A Knave, the coal mining communities in and around Yorkshire were documented very well. Hines details how poverty and desperation force people of the region to take up jobs as miners. But coal mining is a very risky enterprise with high rates of mortality and disability among the workers. Though the medium of film or the narrative constraints of Kes do not allow for showing these social contexts, Loach tries to throw light on â€Å"class militancy against the brutal new conditions of low pay contingent service work, but characteristically as much on the personal costs and pain of that struggle. † (Forsyth, 2003) When we look at Ken Loach’s films since Kes, we find direct and pronounced engagement with the neo-liberal theme. In this sense, Kes can be grouped together with these later films although it preceded the actual implementation of neoliberal policies. Loach’s films since the 1990s contain bold pronouncements against the evils of such economic policies. The films of this period have â€Å"repeatedly come back to the ravages of and struggles against the ruling class offensive known as neo-liberalism. We will write a custom essay sample on Explore how Ken Loach articulates social concerns in( Kes.) or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now The attack on working peoples living standards, wages and unions, the relentless erosion of the social, health and educational provisions of the so-called welfare state, the polarization of rich and poor, the familiar mantras of privatization, deregulation, free market magic are all too well known. .. it is now generalized as blatantly imperialist globalization, borne by the World Bank, the IMF and American military might. † (Forsyth, 2003) Seen in this light, Kes is a precursor, an eerie harbinger, for some of these negative consequences of globalization. For, Kes deals with issues of increasing poverty, delinquency, public schooling standards, individual alienation, decline of the institution of family, rampant commercialization, etc. For its treatment of these neoliberal themes, Kes is a critique of this economic system, even if it is attributed retrospectively. In terms of technique one could see refreshing cinematography in Kes. Considering that the 60’s gave birth to the Nouvelle Vague (of the French New Wave) of cinema, one could see its influence in Loach’s approach and style. In a marked deviation from films of an early era, the visual capabilities of the medium are explored to the full. Dialogue is used minimally, while ambient sound is used as a signifier of feeling, emotion or an event. Despite the visual beauty of the film, that was not how Ken Loach conceived it to be.