Kitchen sink realism - Wikipedia Kitchen sink realism From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search British social realist artistic movement A Taste of Honey is an influential "kitchen sink drama". In this photo of the 1960 Broadway production, Joan Plowright plays the role of Jo, a 17-year-old schoolgirl who has a love affair with a black sailor (played by Billy Dee Williams). Kitchen sink realism (or kitchen sink drama) is a British cultural movement that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in theatre, art, novels, film and television plays, whose protagonists usually could be described as "angry young men" who were disillusioned with modern society. It used a style of social realism which depicted the domestic situations of working class Britons, living in cramped rented accommodation and spending their off-hours drinking in grimy pubs, to explore controversial social and political issues ranging from abortion to homelessness. The harsh, realistic style contrasted sharply with the escapism of the previous generation's so-called "well-made plays". The films, plays and novels employing this style are often set in poorer industrial areas in the North of England, and use the accents and slang heard in those regions. The film It Always Rains on Sunday (1947) is a precursor of the genre and the John Osborne play Look Back in Anger (1956) is thought of as the first of the genre. The gritty love-triangle of Look Back in Anger, for example, takes place in a cramped, one-room flat in the English Midlands. Shelagh Delaney's 1958 play A Taste of Honey (which was made into a film of the same name in 1961), is about a teenage schoolgirl who has an affair with a black sailor, gets pregnant and then moves in with a gay male acquaintance; it raises issues such as class, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation. The conventions of the genre have continued into the 2000s, finding expression in such television shows as Coronation Street and EastEnders.[1] In art, "Kitchen Sink School" was a term used by critic David Sylvester to describe painters who depicted social realist–type scenes of domestic life.[2] Contents 1 History 2 Trademarks 3 Origins of the term 4 1950s to 1960s 5 Since the 1960s 6 List of films 7 List of plays 8 See also 9 References 10 External links History[edit] The cultural movement was rooted in the ideals of social realism, an artistic movement expressed in the visual and other realist arts which depicts working class activities. Many artists who subscribed to social realism were painters with socialist political views.[citation needed] While the movement has some commonalities with Socialist Realism, another style of realism which was the "official art" advocated by the governments of the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries, the two had several differences. While social realism is a broader type of art that realistically depicts subjects of social concern,[3] Socialist realism is characterized by the glorified depiction of socialist values, such as the emancipation of the proletariat, in a realistic manner.[4] Unlike Socialist realism, social realism is not an official art produced by or under the supervision of the government. The leading characters are often 'anti-heroes' rather than part of a class to be admired, as in Socialist realism.[citation needed] Typically, protagonists in social realism are dissatisfied with their working class lives and the world, rather than being idealised workers who are part of a Socialist utopia in the process of creation. As such, social realism allows more space for the subjectivity of the author to be displayed. Partly, social realism developed as a reaction against Romanticism[citation needed], which promoted lofty concepts such as the "ineffable" beauty and truth of art and music and even turned them into spiritual ideals. As such, social realism focused on the "ugly realities of contemporary life and sympathized with working class people, particularly the poor." (The quotation is from George Shi, of the University of Fine Arts, Valencia).[5] Trademarks[edit] Kitchen sink realism involves working class settings[6] and accents, including accents from Northern England.[7] The films and plays often explore taboo subjects such as adultery, pre-marital sex, abortion, and crime.[8] Origins of the term[edit] In the United Kingdom, the term "kitchen sink" derived from an expressionist painting by John Bratby which contained an image of a kitchen sink.[citation needed] Bratby did various kitchen and bathroom-themed paintings, including three paintings of toilets. Bratby's paintings of people often depicted the faces of his subjects as desperate and unsightly.[9][10] Kitchen sink realism artists painted everyday objects, such as trash cans and beer bottles. The critic David Sylvester wrote an article in 1954 about trends in recent English art, calling his article "The Kitchen Sink" in reference to Bratby's picture. Sylvester argued that there was a new interest among young painters in domestic scenes, with stress on the banality of life.[1] Other artists associated with the kitchen sink style include Derrick Greaves, Edward Middleditch and Jack Smith.[citation needed] 1950s to 1960s[edit] Before the 1950s, the United Kingdom's working class were often depicted stereotypically in Noël Coward's drawing room comedies and British films.[citation needed] Kitchen sink realism was seen as being in opposition to the "well-made play", the kind which theatre critic Kenneth Tynan once denounced as being set in "Loamshire", of dramatists like Terence Rattigan. "Well-made plays" were a dramatic genre from nineteenth-century theatre which found its early 20th-century codification in Britain in the form of William Archer's Play-Making: A Manual of Craftmanship (1912),[11] and in the United States with George Pierce Baker's Dramatic Technique (1919).[12] Kitchen sink works were created with the intention of changing all that. Their political views were initially labeled as radical, sometimes even anarchic. John Osborne's play Look Back in Anger (1956) depicted young men in a way that is similar to the then-contemporary "Angry Young Men" movement of film and theatre directors. The "angry young men" were a group of mostly working and middle class British playwrights and novelists who became prominent in the 1950s. Following the success of the Osborne play, the label "angry young men" was later applied by British media to describe young writers who were characterised by a disillusionment with traditional British society. The hero of Look Back In Anger is a graduate, but he is working in a manual occupation. It dealt with social alienation, the claustrophobia and frustrations of a provincial life on low incomes.[citation needed] The impact of this work inspired Arnold Wesker, Shelagh Delaney, and numerous others, to write plays of their own.[citation needed] The English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre, headed by George Devine and Theatre Workshop organised by Joan Littlewood were particularly prominent in bringing these plays to public attention. Critic John Heilpern wrote that Look Back in Anger expressed such "immensity of feeling and class hatred" that it altered the course of English theatre.[1] The term "Angry theatre" was coined by critic John Russell Taylor.[13] This was all part of the British New Wave—a transposition of the concurrent nouvelle vague film movement in France, some of whose works, such as The 400 Blows of 1959, also emphasised the lives of the urban proletariat. British filmmakers such as Tony Richardson and Lindsay Anderson (see also Free Cinema) channelled their vitriolic anger into film making. Confrontational films such as Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) and A Taste of Honey (1961) were noteworthy movies in the genre. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning is about a young machinist who spends his wages at weekends on drinking and having a good time, until his affair with a married woman leads to her getting pregnant and him being beaten by her husband to the point of hospitalisation. A Taste of Honey is about a 16-year old schoolgirl with an abusive, alcoholic mother. The schoolgirl starts a relationship with a black sailor and gets pregnant. After the sailor leaves on his ship, Jo moves in with a homosexual acquaintance, Geoffrey, who assumes the role of surrogate father. A Taste of Honey raises the issues of class, race, gender and sexual orientation.[citation needed] Later, as many of these writers and directors diversified, kitchen sink realism was taken up by television directors who produced television plays. The single play was then a staple of the medium, and Armchair Theatre (1956–68), produced by the ITV contractor ABC, The Wednesday Play (1964–70) and Play for Today (1970–84), both BBC series, contained many works of this kind. Jeremy Sandford's television play Cathy Come Home (1966, directed by Ken Loach for The Wednesday Play slot) for instance, addressed the then-stigmatised issue of homelessness.[citation needed] Kitchen sink realism was also used in the novels of Stan Barstow, John Braine, Alan Sillitoe and others.[citation needed] Since the 1960s[edit] The influence of kitchen sink realism has continued in the work of many more recent British directors, most notably Ken Loach (whose first directorial roles were in late 1960s kitchen sink dramas) and Mike Leigh. Other directors to continue working within the spirit of kitchen sink realism include Shane Meadows, Andrea Arnold, Clio Barnard, and Lynne Ramsay.[14] The term "neo kitchen sink" has been used for films such as Leigh's 2004 Vera Drake.[15] List of films[edit] Look Back in Anger (1959) Room at the Top (1959) Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) The Entertainer (1960) A Taste of Honey (1961) A Kind of Loving (1962) The L-Shaped Room (1962) The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) This Sporting Life (1963) Billy Liar (1963) A Place to Go (1963) Bitter Harvest (1963) Sparrows Can't Sing (1963)[16] The Leather Boys (1964) The Comedy Man (1964) This Is My Street (1964) Alfie (1966) Georgy Girl (1966)[17] The Family Way (1966) Poor Cow (1967) Up the Junction (1968) Kes (1969) Bronco Bullfrog (1969)[18] Spring and Port Wine (1970) List of plays[edit] Look Back In Anger (1956) My Flesh, My Blood (Radio play, 1957) A Taste Of Honey (1958) Sparrows Can't Sing (1960) Alfie (1963) Up the Junction (TV play, 1965) Cathy Come Home (TV play, 1966) See also[edit] Ashcan School – equivalent American art movement Italian neorealism Naturalism References[edit] ^ a b c Heilpern, John. John Osborne: The Many Lives of the Angry Young Man, New York: Knopf, 2007. ^ Walker, John. (1992) "Kitchen Sink School". Glossary of Art, Architecture & Design since 1945, 3rd. ed. Retrieved 20 January 2012. ^ Todd, James G. "Social Realism". Art Terms. Museum of Modern Art, 2009. ^ Korin, Pavel, “Thoughts on Art”, Socialist Realism in Literature and Art. Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1971, p. 95. ^ "Social Realism". Retrieved 2008-05-04. ^ "Everything you need to know about Kitchen Sink Dramas - Reader's Digest". www.readersdigest.co.uk. ^ MacCabe, Colin. "A Taste of Honey: Northern Accents". The Criterion Collection. ^ Ford, Lynsey. "11 Films That Explore The British Class System". Culture Trip. ^ Ian Chilvers; John Glaves-Smith (2009). A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art. Oxford University Press. p. 259. ISBN 978-0-19-923965-8 ^ "John Bratby 1928–1992". Tate. Retrieved 6 January 2014. ^ Archer, William (January 1, 2004). "Play-Making: A Manual of Craftsmanship" – via Project Gutenberg. ^ J L Styan, Modern Drama in Theory and Practice I, quoted by Innes (2000, 7). ^ John Russell Taylor. Anger and After, 1962, London: Methuen. ^ Mitchell, W., "When kitchen-sink drama revolutionised British cinema," The Telegraph, 11 July 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2021. ^ Hardy, M. O'H., (2007) "Gendered trauma in Mike Leigh's Vera Drake (2004)" (abstract), Studies in European Cinema, 3, 3. Retrieved 2 January 2021. ^ "A ★★★½ review of Sparrows Can't Sing (1963)". letterboxd.com. ^ "Georgy Girl". Empire. April 5, 2006. ^ "Where to begin with kitchen sink drama". British Film Institute. External links[edit] "Beyond the Kitchen Sink" on BBC Radio 4 (2017) BFI: British New Wave Tucker, David, ed. British Social Realism in the Arts Since 1940, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. v t e Angry young men Associated writers Kingsley Amis John Arden Stan Barstow Edward Bond John Braine Michael Hastings Thomas Hinde Stuart Holroyd Bill Hopkins John Osborne Harold Pinter Alan Sillitoe David Storey Kenneth Tynan John Wain Keith Waterhouse Arnold Wesker Colin Wilson Key works Billy Liar Declaration The Divine and the Decay Emergence from Chaos The Entertainer A Kind of Loving "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner" Look Back in Anger Lucky Jim The Outsider Room at the Top Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Serjeant Musgrave's Dance This Sporting Life Related British New Wave Kitchen sink realism The Movement v t e Film genres By style Action Arthouse Heroic bloodshed Hong Kong action Adventure Survival Art Biographical Christian Comedy Black Commedia all'italiana Commedia sexy all'italiana Bromantic Dramedy Gross out Horror Parody Mo lei tau Thriller Remarriage Romantic Sex Screwball Silent Slapstick Cyberpunk Japanese Documentary Animated Docudrama Mockumentary Mondo Pseudo Semi Travel Drama Calligrafismo Dramedy Historical Legal Melodrama Korean Erotic Commedia sexy all'italiana Pink Sexploitation Thriller Educational Social guidance Epic Sword-and-sandal Experimental Exploitation see Exploitation film template Fantasy Comedy Contemporary Fairy tale Fantastique High Historical Magic realism Science Film noir Neo-noir Pulp noir Tech noir Gothic Romance Southern Space Suburban Urban Horror Body Cannibal Chinese horror Comedy Eco Fantastique Found footage German underground Ghost Giallo Holiday Japanese horror Korean horror Lovecraftian Mumblegore Natural New French Extremity Psycho-biddy Psychological Religious Science fiction Slasher Splatter Satanic Mumblecore Mumblegore Musical Backstage Jukebox Musicarello Operetta Sceneggiata Mystery Giallo Occult detective Pop culture fiction Pornographic Hardcore pornography Softcore pornography Propaganda Reality Romantic Comedy Bromantic Fantasy Gothic Paranormal Thriller Science fiction Comedy Fantastique Fantasy Gothic Horror Military New Wave Parallel universe Planetary romance Space opera Steampunk Tokusatsu Western Slice of life Thriller Comedy Conspiracy Erotic Financial Giallo Legal New French Extremity Political Psychological Romantic Techno Transgressive Cinema of Transgression Extreme cinema New French Extremity Trick By theme Animals Beach party Body swap Buddy Buddy cop Female Cannibal Chicano Colonial Coming-of-age Concert Crime Gangster Gentleman thief Gokudō Gong'an Heist Heroic bloodshed Hood Mafia Mafia comedy Mumbai underworld Poliziotteschi Yakuza Dance Disaster Apocalyptic Drug Psychedelic Stoner Dystopian Ecchi Economic Ethnographic Exploitation Blaxploitation Mexploitation Turksploitation Extraterrestrial Food and drink Funny animal Gendai-geki Ghost Goona-goona epic Gothic Romance Southern Space Suburban Urban Girls with guns Harem Hentai Lolicon Shotacon Tentacle erotica Homeland Isekai Jidaigeki Samurai Kaitō LGBT Yaoi Yuri Luchador Magical girl Martial arts Bruceploitation Chopsocky Gun fu Kung fu Ninja Wuxia Mecha Anime Monster Giant monster Jiangshi Kaiju Mummy Vampire Werewolf Zombie Zombie comedy Mountain Mouth of Garbage Muslim social Nature Environmental issues Opera Outlaw biker Ozploitation Partisan film Pirate Prison Women Race Rape and revenge Road Rubble Rumberas Sexploitation Bavarian porn Commedia sexy all'italiana Mexican sex comedy Nazi exploitation Pornochanchada Nunsploitation Sex report Shomin-geki Slavery Slice of life Snuff South Seas Sports Spy Eurospy Superhero Surfing Swashbuckler Sword-and-sandal Sword and sorcery Travel Trial Vigilante War Anti-war Euro War Submarine Western Acid Florida Meat pie Northern Ostern Revisionist Space Spaghetti Weird By movement or period Absolute American Eccentric Cinema New Objectivity Australian New Wave Auteur films Berlin School Bourekas Brighton School British New Wave Kitchen sink realism Budapest school Calligrafismo Cannibal boom Cinéma du look Cinema Novo Cinema of Transgression Cinéma pur Commedia all'italiana Czechoslovak New Wave Documentary Film Movement Dogme 95 Erra Cinema European art cinema Film gris Free Cinema French New Wave German Expressionist German underground horror Nigerian Golden Age Grupo Cine Liberación Heimatfilm Hollywood on the Tiber Hong Kong New Wave Iranian New Wave Italian futurist Italian neorealist Japanese New Wave Kammerspielfilm L.A. 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