Barriers to Diversity in Film – A Research Review – Aug 07

masculinity, because of a collapse in industrial employment and the
emergence of a degraded under-class. Films such as The Full Monty,
Trainspotting and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) put an
end to a masculinity represented by a white, middle-class
heterosexual man with ‘all manners’ and an ‘unthreatening’ body
(Fouz Henrandez 2005).
Farrell examines The Full Monty (1997), which depicts the decay of
working- class masculinity and men undergoing crises with the loss of
manufacturing industries. Regional working-class identity is viewed
as relatively stable and this makes it easier to export the British image
abroad. Working class women are mostly spectators and black women
don’t speak, but just shout and exclaim. This successful film however
has to be admired for portraying working class men as questioning the
way they conceive of their masculinity. Hill argued that three films,
Brassed off (1996), The Full Monty and Up ‘n’ and Under (1998)
gravitate towards optimistic conclusions, with all three showing that
support and self-respect in a group are more important than more
work or more money (Hill 2000).
5.5.6 Age
There do not appear to be any studies in the UK on the way age is
portrayed on screen. Clearly, film employs younger women in acting
roles than men (see Chapter 3) which says something about the
absence of older women on screen.
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