[Commlist] CFP: Class and Contemporary UK Film and Television. Virtual Conference

*/CFP: Class and Contemporary UK Film and Television. Virtual Conference 
7 July 2022/*

Contemporary film and TV in the UK appear to offer at least three 
interrelated problems for the lower socio-economic classes. There is 
imbalance, exploitation, and precarity in the industry; perennial 
problems around representation; and the inculcation of neoliberal 
ideology antithetical to social justice and equality. This free virtual 
conference, held by London Metropolitan University on Thursday 7^th July 
2022, is an opportunity to reflect upon and react to this scenario. 
Presenters will be welcome to develop their papers for submission to a 
special double edition of the /Journal of Class and Culture/.

*Keynote*: Prof. John Hill, Royal Holloway, University of London. Author 
or editor of /Sex, Class and Realism: British Cinema 1956-63 /(1986), 
/British Cinema in the 1980s /(1999), /Ken Loach: The Politics of Film 
and Television/ (2011), /A Companion to British and Irish Cinema/ 
(2019), collections on /Radical Television Drama/ (2013), /Play for 
Today at 50/ (2022) and others.

Recent research into class diversity in the UK’s Screen industries has 
confirmed existing notions of a ‘class ceiling’ with imbalance, under 
representation, precarity, and exploitation for the working classes. 
Alternatively, creative roles, dominated by those from privileged 
backgrounds, are among the most elite occupations in the creative 
industries, or indeed the wider economy. Class is a contested concept, 
and whilst theories of class have necessarily evolved, recurrent 
problems regarding representation remain with regular demonisation of 
the working classes, reverence for middle class ideals, and fetishism of 
the wealth elite. What is said to audiences about social class can shape 
public opinion and the popular imagination. There is a move from 
distraction to instruction, with reconciliation to neoliberal norms and 
the entrepreneurial nature of the neoliberal subject. New accounts of 
the socio-economic present have been forwarded: Neo-illiberalism, the 
New Authoritarianism, Surveillance Capitalism, and so forth. But with 
the pandemic consolidating wealth gaps, tax breaks for corporations and 
the rich, austerity and precarity for the poor, there is a continuation 
of the ethos, policies, and cultural politics with a neoliberal 
signature. A counter signature might be /I, Daniel Blake/ (Loach, 2016), 
which captured the everyday harshness of life as a single parent on 
benefits or under precarious working conditions. Or /Help/ (Munden, 
2021) set during the pandemic which places the struggle of ‘key workers’ 
front and centre. Aside from social realism and reflection upon the 
state of the nation, there are allegories of class and inequality, other 
approaches and genres, and concern, importantly, with form as well as 
content.

How might contemporary UK film/TV contribute to economic inequality, 
precarity, power and structural imbalance, or foster divide and rule, 
reconciling audiences to neoliberal competition within myths of 
meritocracy? How might UK film/TV negotiate, consolidate, challenge, or 
reflect the neoliberal moment regarding social class and economic 
injustice? How might UK film/TV navigate, caricature, essentialise, 
contain and regulate class, or otherwise problematise, provide critique 
and nuance, and a progressive vision?

Topics might include, but not be limited to:

Representations, receptions, and theorisations of class in contemporary 
UK film/TV.

The mediatory role of UK film/TV in notions of taste, the maintenance of 
distinction, mobility, class consciousness, economic capital, cultural 
capital, and social capital.

The relevance of class in film and TV studies, textual and genre 
analysis, production history, and the analysis of ideology/hegemony.

‘The class ceiling’ and precarious practices in the screen industries.

Genres: ‘Poverty/Property porn’, the ‘Hoodie film’, Manor House 
nostalgia, etc.

Necessary intersections with race, gender, religion, disability, 
ecology, neurodiversity, region, national identity, and so on. 
Problematic masculinity and myths of authenticity.

The entrepreneurial nature, self-management, and consumerism of the 
neoliberal subject in programs such as /The Apprentice/, reality TV, and 
‘improvement/transformation’ shows.

Neoliberal reconfigurations of time/space/control, and theories of 
neoliberalism and UK film/TV.

Documenting and dividing class (the now notorious ‘Benefits Street’ and 
its ilk), and ‘newsworthy’ class.

The work of pertinent professionals, actors, or directors such as Andrea 
Arnold, Jimmy McGovern, Shane Meadows, Ken Loach, Steve McQueen and others.

The conference will be held virtually on Thursday 7th July 2022. Please 
submit an abstract of 400 words plus brief biography for 20min 
presentations by 31st March 2022. Acceptance notification: 29th April 
2022. Please send abstracts and any questions/suggestions to the 
conference convenor, Jon Baldwin, (j.baldwin /at/ londonmet.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(j.baldwin /at/ londonmet.ac.uk)>

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