Research and write a 300-word summary of the political response to I, Daniel Blake during the time of the release of the film

The film’s message regarding benefits and the job centre systems naturally received a political response. It inspired criticisms about the systems, and most viewers if they had the preferred response would desire a drastic change to the system and quick. The director was the one who spread the word about the film, emphasising it’s political meaning in the process rather than the cast doing a press tour. The film was also available in pay what you can cinema’s so everyone could access it; it wasn’t made for the money. However, it did receive some backlash saying that the film focused on dedicated and hard working citizens rather than those who abuse the system; it was tailored to show only the bad, but this is the point which needed to be make, clearly. It’s also received criticism from the Conservative party which isn’t very surprising. For example, ” Former Conservative Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said I, Daniel Blake was unfair, criticising its portrayal of Jobcentre staff, saying: “This idea that everybody is out to crunch you, I think it has really hurt Jobcentre staff who don’t see themselves as that.”

Some people wrongly claim its unrealistic: ” But critics from a certain political bent have found it unpalatable. If the film causes discomfort, perhaps your political system should be the target of your ire rather than a director and the screen representation of thousands of near identical stories across the country. Sanctions are meted out constantly for ludicrous reasons; people are evicted from appalling housing simply for requesting basic repairs; families in hostels are moved far from home with no support; and many people have died shortly after being declared fit for work. It takes a special arrogance for people who have never sat in a foodbank or been near a job centre to proclaim that these cases are unrealistic.”

I quoted these websites:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Daniel_Blake

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/oct/28/arrogance-poverty-social-housing-benefits-ken-loach-i-daniel-blake-unrealistic

I, Daniel Blake – Article Two

I’m referencing this website: https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/welfare/2016/10/unconvinced-ken-loach-s-benefits-story-says-more-about-britain-film-does

• “I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach’s new film, has kicked off a row between the director and The Sunday Times’ film critic, Camilla Long. Published on Sunday, the review – which called the film a “povvo safari for middle-class do-gooders” – has led to Loach and some audience members rowing with Long online.”

• “Her contention is that it is “condescending” and “patronising” to benefits claimants, partly because it will mainly be seen by affluent audiences, rather than “the lowest part of society” – so acts as a vehicle for middle-class guilt rather than an authentic reflection of people’s lives.”
• “I’ve seen the film, and there are parts that jar. A reference to the Bedroom Tax feels shoe-horned in, as if screenwriter Paul Laverty remembered last-minute to tick that box on his welfare scandal checklist. And an onlooker outside the Jobcentre’s rant about the Bullingdon Club, Etonians and Iain Duncan Smith also feels forced. (But to me, these parts only stood out because the rest of the script is convincing – often punishingly so.)”
• “A critic is free to tear into a film they didn’t enjoy. But the problem with Long’s review is the problem with the way Britain in general looks at the benefits system: disbelief.”
• “It’s a system that puts cost-cutting above people’s welfare; Jobcentre staff are even monitored individually in terms of how many sanctions they impose (Blake’s friend Katie is sanctioned in the film), making them feel as if they are working to targets.”
• “The situation for disabled, sick or broke people claiming welfare is unbelievable in this country, which is perhaps why it’s so difficult for us – or for some watching Loach’s portrayal of the cruel system – to believe it at all. At best, it’s because we would prefer to close our eyes to a system that we hope we never have to grapple with. At worst, it’s because we don’t believe people when they say they cannot work, and demonise them as “shirkers” or “scroungers”.”

I, Daniel Blake – Article One

I took notes/quoted from this website: https://workingclassstudies.wordpress.com/2016/12/05/i-daniel-blake-and-the-power-of-working-class-story-telling/

• ” Working-class people in the UK have been devastated by austerity measures, and reports suggest that many people have become seriously ill or even died because of welfare sanctions or being told they are fit to work. Activists have been protesting against austerity and lobbying politicians, but still people cannot feed themselves and their families, heat their homes, or purchase necessities such as sanitary products.  Poor and working-class people continue to suffer. “
• ” Loach’s film offers an important fictional account of the impact of austerity, and it has resonated with a wide audience in the UK. The film has been talked about across many platforms and even mentioned in Parliament, and it has inspired criticism of the system of Work Capability Assessments.”
• ”  I, Daniel Blake has also reached a large and diverse audience, including not only the usual middle-class art house film audience, but many working-class people as well, some of whom attended  ‘pay what you can’ community screenings of the film.”
• ” I, Daniel Blake is not the only recent activist film about the human cost of austerity.  The London-based group Inside Film produced a short documentary about people who use food banks, featuring actual users of the food banks who explain why they need the extra help and reflect on the consequences of their poverty and how welfare sanctions have contributed to their difficulties. “
• ” But in the case of I, Daniel Blake, fiction seems to have had a particular power, and more than the documentaries, it has generated a great deal of empathy in audiences, in part because of some key emotional moments.”
• ” The film is not without its critics.  Some in the conservative press (unsurprisingly) dispute the veracity of the film and suggest that its representation is exaggerated. But working-class critics have also expressed concern that the film focuses on ‘respectable’ working-class people. Because he was a hard working skilled worker prior to his illness, Blake is represented as deserving of our sympathy. One critic suggests that this reinforces rhetoric around the deserving and undeserving poor. People who adhere to bourgeois notions of respectability by working hard, staying sober, and keeping themselves ‘nice’ deserve sympathy, whereas ‘feckless’ individuals who refuse to work, or drink too much, or spend money they don’t have on luxury items deserve neither sympathy nor assistance.”

I, Daniel Blake (17-10-19)

What is British film?

• The notion of what consitutes ‘British film’ can be a complex subbbject

• Often attrivuted to insitutional (origin fo filmmakers, finacial backers, studios etc.) and cultural factors (film based in UK, film focused on British characters)

• This is complicated by the large amount of US productions filmed in the UK, as well as US – backed films like Bond and the Harry Potter films – are these really ‘British productions’?

Month and year of relase: October 2016

Actors/Actresses: Dave John, Hayley Squires

Director: Ken Loach

Production Companies: Sixteen Films, Why Not Productions and Wild Bunch

Distributor: eOne

Budget: Unknown (low budget)

Box Office: $15.8 million

What Major award/prize did it win? Palme d’or at Cannes

Marketing (Not all I, Daniel Blake)

• Interviews – premiere, talk shows, YouTube, press junket, press conference
• Social Media – instagram
• Events – parties, promotional junkets
• *
• Ken Loach went on BBC question time

Oftetn films utilise their actor ‘stars’ to sell their films – however this was not the case with I, Daniel Blake

Ken Loach, the director of I, Daniel Blake, was the star of the marketing campaign – his name was plastered all over posters and trailers, and he appeared on a number of TV.radio shows, often with a political edge, such as Question Time:

Left wing political figures like Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn supported the film in public

The films anti-conservative/anti-right wing message was criticised by some in the press, but the political debates seemes to propel the film in the public eye

Exhibition

• Low-budget, independent films like this one often find it difficult to get into multiplex cinema in the UK – however, the film was played to audiences through smaller, independent cinemas
• I, Daniel Blake’s overtly political message may have proven a controversial choice for the multiplex cinemas
• Across the UK – 100 cinemas showed I Daniel Blake (a film about British benfits system), compared to 600 in France
• As a result of the lack of multiplex support, eOne decided to put either free or “pay what you want” screenings in the community – the film was not made for financial reasons
• Overall box office worldwide: $15.8 million
• Was available as part of Amazon Prime