“I’m talking but no-one is listening”: how sound in British experiential realist cinema captures class dynamics from Tony Blair to Brexit

Abstract

This Ph.D. dissertation investigates how sound in British experiential realist film captures changing class dynamics felt in the United Kingdom from the resignation of Tony Blair through the Brexit referendum. The films in this project are part of the experiential realist genre, or a form of social realism in which aesthetic liberties are used in cinematography, editing, and sound design to represent the perceptual and emotional reactions of individuals through certain political and social turmoil. This project looks specifically at the role of sound design and examines how the sounds heard are changing for characters. This study prioritises the affect – that is the perceptual and sensory reactions of these characters – in order to understand how their reactions to the worlds around them (and, their awareness of their class identity) change over time. It looks at fifteen films over the course of five chapters, and studies various aspects of the cinematic soundscape. This includes: the mixing of sounds, the construction of silence, the use of diegetic and non-diegetic music, the composition of noise, and the volume levels of dialogue. To demonstrate how these films represent the actual experiences of individuals, this analysis is paired with sociological studies of class; musicology and sound studies; and other anthropological and geographical works.

The conclusion that this project reaches is that the sense of silence and voicelessness is increasing in recent decades amongst characters in recent British experiential realist films. Although characters interact with their soundscapes by creating noise, listening to music, and attempting to become dominant over their soundscape in a variety of ways, members of all the classes lose their ability to communicate with one another, and thus are subsequently deprived of their agency to act in their social spheres. It suggests that this is a common theme that must be studied, in order to assess what the future of the classed British character is. These feelings of voicelessness arise due to uncertainty over what one’s class identity is, and the uncertainty of whether they can ever be meaningfully heard by others around them.

This dissertation not only benefits studies of recent British film, but it suggests a method to connect sociological studies of class and sound with that of film. It also provides a new methodology to the research of Blairism and Brexit that prioritises the experiences of individuals. It suggests that feelings of dread surrounding Brexit can be meaningfully studied and the marginalisation of oppressed individuals can be measured. This project comes at a crucial moment in British history and provides a new approach to the study of class and Brexit in the future.