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Is Resistance Futile?: The Clash of the Individual and Society in Educating Rita, Billy Elliot and Trainspotting

Journal Name:

  • Çankaya University Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

Publication Year:

  • 2012

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Keywords (Original Language):

Author NameUniversity of Author
Abstract (2. Language): 
Resistance is the individual's way of coping with the stratified social system, which is dominated by the power holders within a given society, and in the class-conscious British society, resistance has become an inevitable topic for many genres, including the contemporary cinema. In Lewis Gilbert's Educating Rita (1983), which is based on Willy Russell's play, Stephen Daldry's Billy Elliot (2000), and Danny Boyle's Trainspotting (1996), which is based on Irvine Welsh's novel, resistance stands as the major theme, lying at the core of the clash between the ruling and the subordinate classes. The aim of this essay is to discuss whether there is a possibility of resistance against the mainstream values of a class-conscious society, where the hierarchical lines are strictly drawn, and to exemplify the argument through these three films. In other words, the conflict between the individual and society as regards the possibility of class mobility is examined in the three examples of contemporary British cinema..
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Abstract (Original Language): 
Direniş, bireyin, katmanlaşmış ve belirli bir toplum içerisindeki iktidar sahiplerince üzerinde hüküm kurulan sosyal sistemle mücadele etme biçimidir. Sınıfsal ayrımları gözeten ve sınıf farklılıklarını önemseyen İngiliz toplumunda, direniş, çağdaş sinema da dâhil olmak üzere, pek çok edebi ve kültürel metin türüne konu edilmiştir. Lewis Gilbert'ın yönettiği ve Willy Russell'ın oyunundan uyarlanan Educating Rita (1983), Stephen Daldry'nin yönettiği Billy Elliot (2000) ve Danny Boyle'un yönettiği, Irvine Welsh'in romanından uyarlanan Trainspotting (1996) filmlerinde direniş ana tema olarak karşımıza çıkmaktadır ve yönetici ve bağlı sınıflar arasındaki çatışmanın merkezinde yer almaktadır. Bu makalenin amacı, hiyerarşik hatların keskin biçimde çizilmiş olduğu ve sınıf ayrımcılığına önem veren bir toplumda direniş ihtimalinin bulunup bulunmadığını tartışmak ve bunu, ismi geçen bu üç filmde örneklendirmektir. Bir başka deyişle, sınıf hareketliliğinin olabilirliği bakımından birey ve toplum arasındaki çatışma, çağdaş İngiliz sineması¬ nın bu üç örneğinde incelenmektedir.
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  • 1
101-107
  • English

REFERENCES

References: 

Abercrombie, Nicholas and Alan Warde (eds.). (2001). The Contemporary British Society Reader
(Cambridge: Polity Press). Barker, Chris. (2000). Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice, (London: Sage Publications). Brake, Michael (1990). Comparative Youth Culture: The Sociology of Youth Cultures and Youth
Subcultures in America, Britain and Canada, (London: Routledge). Daldry, Stephen (dir.). (2000). Billy Elliot, (Universal).
Haywood, Ian. (1990). Working-Class Fiction: From Chartism to Trainspotting, (Plymouth: Northcote). Kahn-Harris, Keith. (2004). "The 'Failure' of Youth Culture: Reflexivity, Music and Politics in the Black
Metal Scene," European Journal of Cultural Studies, 7. pp.95-111. Mangan, Michael. (2003). "'Appalling Teachers': Masculine Authority in the Classroom in Educating Rita
and Oleanna," in Daniel Meyer Dinkgrafe (ed.), The Professions in Contemporary Drama (Oregon:
Intellect). pp.19-36.
12. Ian Haywood, Working-Class Fiction: From Chartism to Trainspoting (Plymouth: Northcote, 1997), p.158.
IS RESISTANCE FUTILE?: THE CLASH OF THE INVIDUAL AND SOCIETY IN EDUCATING
RITA, BILLY ELLIOT AND TRAINSPOTTING
107
Skeggs, Beverly. (2001). "Women Avoiding Being Working Class," in Abercrombie and Warde (eds.),
The Contenporary British Society Reader, (Cambridge: Polity Press.), pp.118-25. Welsh, Irvine. (2007). Trainspotting (Epub File).
Westergaard, John. (2001). "The Persistence of Class Inequalities," in Abercrombie and Warde (eds.), The Contenporary British Society Reader, (Cambridge: Polity Press.), p.69-79.

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