Ambiguity and Change: Post-2004 Polish Migration to the UK in Contemporary British Cinema

Abstract

Following the 2004 extension of the European Union, vast numbers of Polish migrant workers arrived in the United Kingdom. Two British films released in 2008 – Shane Meadows' Somers Town and Steven Sheil's Mum and Dad – were a response to this. This article will explore the way the two films rework and negotiate collective sentiments concerning the UK's changing demographic profile. It will argue that Somers Town and Mum and Dad largely correspond to prevailing discourses on Polishness at large, which are characterised by a measure of ambiguity about the influx of Polish migrants. It will also look at how this representation differs from older portrayals of Poles in British cinema.