So, it dawned on me while watching a documentary directed by an obviously well-to do upper-middle class guy, that most media is slanted towards upper-class sensibilities and perspectives more often than not. This is especially prevalent in movies and tv where the main characters are typically upper-class or even rich. I’d always had an aversion to these depictions, but I’ve never fully articulated my disillusionment with it. The problem is that these depictions of “average” families are woefully unrepresentative of your average person.
My question is: what is some media, in any format, that is informed by a working-class perspective?
I’ve found a few obvious authors out there, like Steinbeck, Bukowski and Irvine. But am interested in not only authors, but artists of all kinds and different mediums. Alternative comix and independent cinema, and things like zines spring to mind as mediums that might have more representation along those lines. Are there any specifically worker derived works that any of you can recommend?
Anything Ken Loach.
Thanks! I’ll look into him.
“I, Daniel Blake” is probably his most relevant work to what you are asking but it is a masterpiece at illustrating the damage that conservative austerity policies did to the working class part of British society.
It might be worth noting that his movies are almost exclusively centered around the UK.
Edit: “Sorry We Missed You” also centers around the struggles of a working class ‘Amazon-esque’ delivery driver in the UK.
Excellent! I noticed that there seems to be a lot of UK stuff that is explicitly working-class versus American. Interesting to say the least. It seems like, for whatever reason, it’s a little bit more prevalent in the UK. Maybe it’s just the responses I’ve gotten so far, but I have noticed there seem to be a disproportionate amount.