Social Realism is a genre of art which aims to depict life as realistically as possible. This aim is combined with the focus of the social side of life and the situations with arise with it. One of the first and most famous pieces of this form of art is a painting called 'American Gothic'*. This represents what Social Realism is about, as it depicts a farmer and his wife, both looking very miserable, in front of a house. It's realistic because it shows nothing more than what is seen and isn't trying to make anything up. The social part of the painting is represented by the wife's expression of displeasure at the farmer, showing there's something wrong with their relationship. Unlike most paintings, the characters aren't depicted as being happy, they're depicted as being real. This is essentially what Social Realism is about.

British Social Realism is most famously, and successfully, represented through the media of cinema. From the early British films to the present, Social Realism has been a prominent genre, one of the first being James Williamson's 1902 film 'A Reservist Before The War, And After The War'. Due to being cheap and easy to make, compared to Hollywood blockbusters, the genre is still thriving to the present day in Britain. Shane Meadows' 'This Is England' was largely successful and Noel Clarke's 'Kidulthood' was a success internationally. As a result, the British film industry is very experienced and adept at making social realism films.

There are several codes and conventions which define the Social Realism genre. They are very rarely shot in a studio, often preferring to be realistic and shoot on location. There are numerous examples of this, including Andrea Arnold's 'Fish Tank' which uses an actual council estate in the film. Furthermore, wide shots** are often used by the director so they can incorporate every aspect of what is going on, including the susrrounding area. By doing this, it makes the film more realistic as everything is seen. Actors in social realism films are non-professional and often just found on the street by the directors. An example of this is Thomas Turgoose who was cast as the lead role in 'This Is England' because he looked right, despite having never acted before. Another common code and convention is semi-improvised scripts and dialogue. This can sometimes be taken even further, with some films such as Joe Swanberg's 'Happy Christmas' which had entirely improvised dialogue.