Collective Identity - Working towards promt question 3. London to Brighton

1. In what ways has Britain been represented ub the film London to Birghton?

The film London to Brighton has shown a darker side of Britian. The film has concentrated on the bad parts of society and what goes on in Britain. For example the prostitution and peodophilia in the film are some of the main themes. This does reflect Britain today as these problems are being noticed by more people compared to past generations. 

This representation is quite authentic because we often come across themes like these in other media forms e.g. the newspaper was reporting the story of the 'ipswich ripper' in detail.

2. Can you identify a specific 'A collective group' which has been represented in the film?

The only collective identity we can recognise from the film is that all of the charaters commit crimes, all the characters are criminals. Despite all the main characters breaking laws, they do not share the same values, for example, the prostitute did not think it was right for the peodaphile to pleasure himself. 

This group may represent certain people within society but does not represent society on a whole in Britain.

3. Research into the theory 'collective consciousness' theorists: Emile Durkeim.

Collective consciousness was a term coined by the French sociologist Émile Durkheim (1858–1917) to refer to the shared beliefs and moral attitudes which operate as a unifying force within society. 

On one hand, the characters commit crimes and do not have much regard for the law system. however they commit crimes for different reasons and because of this they do not share a 'collective conscience' for example, in the last scene where the two men get shot, the murderer kills them to seek revenge, despite the girl and the woman not wanting there to be a murder even though they may have wanted to see justice.
Throughout the film the audience can see that within the groups of people they have the same  'collective science' for example the peodophile's son and his friends have the same 'collective conscience' as they believe that violence was necessary for a means to an end. furthermore, Karen (Kellys friend in Brighton) and her flatmates have the same 'collective conscience' as they all seem satisfied with the same lifestyle.