As ever, my plot summaries are indebted to (and adapted from) sources such as Wikipedia, IMDB and BFI Screen Online.
On child poverty and class in Britain:
Jones, Owen (2011) Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class London: Verso
Ridge, Tess (2002) Childhood Poverty and Social Exclusion Bristol: Policy Press
Tyler, Imogen (2008) ‘Chav mum, chav scum: class disgust in contemporary Britain’, Feminist Media Studies 8(4): 17-34
Government figures: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33266799
Child Poverty Action Group: http://www.cpag.org.uk/child-poverty-facts-and-figures
End Child Poverty: http://www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/
International comparisons: https://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/scale-economic-inequality-uk
And the recent Unicef comparative report Children of Austerity: Impact of the Great Recession on Children in Rich Countries (edited by Bea Cantillon et al., 2017): https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/911/?utm_source=Innocenti%20Update%20%2319%2F2017&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Innocenti%20Update%20%2319%2F2017
On Kes:
Jones, Ken and Davies, Hannah (2001) ‘Representing education, 1969-1980: notes on Kes and Grange Hill’, History of Education 30(2): 141-151
Leigh, Jacob (2002) The Cinema of Ken Loach: Art in the Service of the People London: Wallflower Press
Stevenson, William (1973) ‘Kes and the press’, Cinema Journal 12(2): 48-55
The quotations from Ken Loach come from the article by Jones and Davies.
On Billy Elliot:
Atay, Ahmet (2016) ‘Feminist and queer pedagogies in The Prime of Jean Brodie and Billy Elliot’, pp. 119-134 in Mark Readman (ed.) Teaching and Learning on Screen: Mediated Pedagogies London: Routledge
Buckingham, David (2003) ‘Living in a young country? Youthful creativity and cultural policy in the UK’ pp. 93-106 in Kerry Mallan and Sharyn Pearce (eds) Youth Cultures: Texts, Images and Identities Westport, Conn: Praeger
Lancioni, Judith (2006) ‘Cinderella dances Swan Lake: reading Billy Elliot as fairytale’, Journal of Popular Culture 39(5): 709-728
Sinfield, Alan (2006) ‘Boys, class and gender: from Billy Casper to Billy Elliot’, History Workshop Journal 62(1): 166-171
On Ratcatcher:
Aitken, Stuart (2007) ‘Poetic child realism: Scottish film and the construction of childhood’, Scottish Geographical Journal 132(1): 68-86
Chick, Kristine Robben (2016) ‘Beyond the margins: Lynne Ramsay’s Ratcatcher (1999) and Morvern Callar (2002)’ Miranda 12
Cullen, Catherine (2001) ‘Details are acoustical: the films of Lynne Ramsay’, Afterimage 29(1): 12-13
Kendall, Tina (2012) ‘The in-between of things: intermediality in Ratcatcher’, New Review of Film and Television Studies 8(2): 179-197
Kuhn, Annette (2008) Ratcatcher BFI Film Classics, London: Palgrave Macmillan
Lebeau, Vicky (2017) ‘”A bath, a toilet and a field”: dreaming and deprivation in Lynne Ramsay’s Ratcatcher’, pp. 15-31 in Stephanie Donald, Emma Wilson and Sarah Wright (eds.) Childhood and Nation and Contemporary World Cinema London: Bloomsbury
McMahon, Laura (2012) ‘Suspended moments: child performance in Ratcatcher’, Screen 53(4): 471-476
Ramsay, Lynne (1999) Ratcatcher Script, with an interview with the director. London: Faber
Wilson, Emma (2003) ‘Still time: Ratcatcher’, Chapter 8 in Cinema’s Missing Children London; Wallflower
The quotations from Lynne Ramsay come from the interview included in the published film script.
On The Selfish Giant:
Nwonka, Clive James ‘”You’re what’s wrong with me”: Fish Tank, The Selfish Giant and the language of contemporary British “social realism”’, New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film 12(3): 205-223
Scott, A.O. (2013) ‘Desperate years: to be young, British and lacking’, New York Times, 19 December. http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/12/20/movies/
the-selfish-giant-directed-by-clio-barnard.html?_r=0
The quotations from Clio Barnard come from an interview included in the DVD extras.
On children in film:
Lebeau, Vicky (2008) Childhood and Cinema London: Reaktion Books
Lury, Karen (2010) The Child in Film London: I.B. Tauris
Wilson, Emma (2003) Cinema’s Missing Children London: Wallflower
David Buckingham 