Narrative:
Meadows as a director favours the use of montage, which he uses frequently in This Is England. The film immediately begins with news reel footage from events and examples of pop culture in Britain in the 1970s, such as skinhead fashion, the Falklands War, Margaret Thatcher, nationalism. This is done for the same reason that Boyle opens Train spotting with Lust For Life by Iggy Pop: to immerse the audience in the time period, conveying the attitudes and mood of the time.
For example, the non-diegetic compiled score used is soul music, the music that the skinhead gangs are formed around an appreciation for. Milky, later on in the film, refers to himself as one of the original skinheads. The juxtaposition of soul music here and news reel footage of racist skinheads at rallies conveys the infiltration of racist nationalists into the skinhead subculture.
The conflicts present at the time are conveyed through the contrast between black music and racist rallies, violence with pop culture, Thatcher with miner strikes. The film then transitions from this montage into Shaun’s bedroom, which contains a photo of his deceased, military father, and a radio playing a broadcast of people discussing Thatcher’s politics, immediately rooting Shaun in this time period, and to an extent a product of it. He is part of the films hyper real reflection if 1983 working class Britain.
Key Elements:
Ideology:
Finley Cairns A-Level Film Studies Blog 
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