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Absolute Beginners
Movie

Absolute Beginners

1986 • Unknown

Woke Score
7
out of 10

Plot

A musical adaptation of Colin MacInnes' novel about life in late 1950s London. Nineteen-year-old photographer Colin is hopelessly in love with model Crepe Suzette, but her relationships are strictly connected with her progress in the fashion world. So Colin gets involved with a pop promoter and tries to crack the big time. Meanwhile, racial tension is brewing in Colin's Notting Hill housing estate...

Overall Series Review

Absolute Beginners is a 1986 musical set in the late 1950s that uses the emerging youth subculture as a vehicle for a pointed critique of traditional British society, race relations, and capitalist materialism. The central narrative is framed by significant social issues, specifically the Notting Hill race riots of 1958, which is presented as a crucial plot point and a dramatic musical set piece. The main conflict is between the young, multi-cultural, and expressive 'teenagers' and the racist, commercial, and conservative forces of the older establishment. The film frames ambition as a kind of moral 'selling out,' exemplified by the female lead's choice of wealth over authentic love. The themes strongly oppose post-war conventionality, elevating alternative lifestyles and a new, heterogeneous national identity.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics8/10

The narrative centers on racial conflict, depicting the white working-class 'Teddy Boys' and the 'White Defence League' as fascist antagonists leading the Notting Hill race riots. The white protagonist, Colin, rejects this racist ideology and champions the 'multi-cultural' and 'diverse' Soho scene. The plot exists to foreground and denounce systemic racism and nativism, contrasting the corrupt white establishment with the vibrant, mixed-race youth culture. The entire conflict relies on immutable characteristics and is a lecture on systemic oppression.

Oikophobia8/10

The traditional Western home culture of post-war Britain is framed as 'grey,' 'dying,' and inherently corrupt with a central problem of nationalism and racism. The film critiques 1950s British capitalism and the 'dying empire,' portraying its institutions as exploitative and commercialized. Gratitude for ancestral sacrifice is entirely absent; instead, the film celebrates the new, diverse youth culture as a spiritually and morally superior counter to the old culture.

Feminism7/10

The female lead, Crepe Suzette, is an ambitious model whose primary goal is material success and 'a successful and luxurious life.' She rejects the male protagonist's love to marry an older, gay man for his wealth and career connections, a move explicitly titled 'Selling Out.' This depicts a version of female ambition that prioritizes career and commercial gain over a traditional family structure or authentic love, aligning with anti-natal and anti-family messaging.

LGBTQ+8/10

The plot centers a transactional marriage where the ambitious female lead marries a wealthy, middle-aged, openly homosexual designer to further her career, deliberately deconstructing the nuclear family model. The film celebrates the 'technicolor dancing melting pot' of Soho, which explicitly includes 'a lot of gay folks,' presenting alternative sexualities as integral to the new, liberated youth culture in opposition to the oppressive moral standards of 1958 London.

Anti-Theism5/10

There is no explicit vilification of Christianity or a main plotline involving religion. The film's moral framework, however, is rooted entirely in moral relativism, where the ultimate virtues are 'authenticity,' 'cool,' and the rejection of commercial 'sell-out,' not in any objective or transcendent moral law. It promotes the secular, hedonistic pursuit of pop culture and self-creation as the highest good, creating a spiritual vacuum without directly attacking faith.