London to Brighton: Key Scenes.

Britishness: Set in 2 cities, the film creates a clear contrast between London and Brighton, portraying the first as dangerous and very criminal, and the latter as a refuge. Scenes shot in London were usually in grotty flats belonging to dodgy criminals, an alleyway and a dirty cafe. This gave the feeling that the audience were looking into the criminal underworld of London, as oppose to the iconic view of Big Ben, Beefeaters and red telephone boxes that makes the city appear opulent and classy. In comparison to this, when Kelly and Joanne traveled to Brighton as a way of escaping the angry criminals, lots of wide shots of the beach were used. The shot of Joanne playing in the sea with Kelly watching over her indicates that at that particular point they're free of the dangers of London, Joanne is free to be a child again and Kelly is portrayed as a mother figure for her, the one thing that the young girl lacks and what pushed her into running away from home in the first place.

Age:

Gender: London to Brighton appears to adopt a very stereotypical view of men and women. The men are shown to be extremely violent (Stuart cutting Derek's leg as a very severe warning to him), and the women are the damsels in distress, bruised and battered, spending most of the film fleeing from the men. This stereotype is also reflected in the relationships between the male and female characters. For example, Derek's treatment of his 'girlfriend' when he tells her she's the "most beautiful girl" he knows, before commanding her to "go in and fuck them", meaning his friends in the other room. This treatment of women carries on throughout the film with scenes in which Kelly prostitutes herself for a pitiful amount of money and Joanne is sexually abused by Duncan.

Class: Unlike a lot of Gangster films, London to Brighton portray criminals as seedy and shameful as oppose to glamourising them. This fits with the overall gritty and harrowing tone of the film itself and blurs the usually clear cut lines that separates the 'goodies' from the 'baddies'. This can be interpreted as presenting us with an almost classless collection of characters, undefined by where they are on the social ladder. For example, Duncan the most affluent of all the characters is killed in a way which assumes he is destroyed by his own indulgences. This demonstrates the theory that the more successful you are, the more corrupt, highlighting the fact that there is an obvious lack of moral centre in this film.