Hi can someone help me explain the messages that the movie portrays about the time in the sixties. How the movie sums up the sixties, sexual revolution, social status etc. Im currently about to take a AS exam in a few months and would like some extra help thanks!
shareThe best thing I can suggest is that you ask at your local library for a book called 'Sex, Class and Realism' by John Hill (first published BFI, 1986)which explores the sixties 'kitchen sink' cycle of films and how they reflect the changing social landscape. There's also 'Sixties British Cinema' by Robert Murphy (BFI, 1992), which might be worth a look. For a broader overview of social change in the sixties, Christopher Booker's 'The Neophiliacs' could be of use.
In terms of the film's 'messages', I think the most important thing to remember is not that Carol White's character does anything particularly 'radical' for her class or background, but that by the mid-sixties there was a greater sympathy/tolerance for that kind of lifestyle within the mainstream media.
There are some obvious things you could pick up on, such as the breakdown of the traditional family unit; the only person who really matters to Joy in the long run is her son, as evidenced by her distress when he goes missing near the end. Significantly, we never learn much about Joy's own parents (so far as I recall), but they seem to be out the picture. Joy's attitude to men borders on existential (certainly as portrayed in Loach's minimalist direction, I don't know how the book differs), she'll take what material or emotional comfort she can from them whilst they're around, but they're essentially transient and once they get put away its time to find something or someone else. This could be said to be indicative of greater moral laxity in the sixties, but as I said before its slightly misleading.
Another point that could be picked up on is the ambivalence towards the criminal lifestyle. Joy clearly has no real qualms about the way her men earn a living, and enjoys the little luxuries it brings her way. From Ken Loach's perspective, I think what he intends is to suggest its simply a way of life for some working class people, but its interesting to parallell it with the romanticisation of gangsters like the Kray Twins (who famously posed for fashion photographer David Bailey) during this period. I think the film actually has more modish affectations than its sometimes credited with, epitomised by the slightly incongruous Donovan soundtrack.
Just a few points, but maybe they'll help.
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