British'ness'

British films have uses many features that enable you to identify them as British, some of these features include: the film being set in a country side or rural environment as we have a lot a green/ farm land. However, they could be set in a run down, council estate as that is very common in big cities. There's also references back to British cultural experiences, such as the 1980's, or the film includes iconic things we associate with Britain. We are also famous for being self deprecating in our films, simply because other nationalities would find it humorous.

During today's lesson we watched two sequences from Hot Fuzz, and were asked, what is uniquely British about Hot Fuzz?
The opening scene is set in the busy city that is London. In this area you see very British looking streets, there's a Thames landscape, run down factories in urban communities as well as a mention of knife crime. The very first sounds we hear is a police whilstle, which then progresses to a bell, and this is then followed by a siren. You then see a policemen dressed in uniform, hear him mention being a constable and see the Queens crown on his police badge. Each of these are all aspects of the British police force. Lastly, during the entire opening sequence, the non digetic music being played is by Adam and the Ants, these were a very popular band in the late 70's/ early 80's, which reffers back to British culture.
The next scene we looked at was when Angel moved to a quaint countryside village, named Sandford. Upon his entrance, you notice that its raining heavily straight away- typical English weather. As well as the brown road signs you see regularly on our roads. You also see him arrive in what looks like a noticibly British taxi, and not your yellow American taxi. Once he's arrived in the village, you notice the old churches, cobbled streets, dated hotel and a pub. All of these you would expect to see in a country side village. Lastly, the pub in which he enters has many distinguishable features, these are: timbre beams, british laws postered, pint pumps and brass saddles which are all very common in British pubs.

Overall, I think Hot Fuzz does a very good job in presenting 'best of British' as it includes humorous ideas and features that a British viewer can relate to as well as having other nationalities being able to understand the content.