Pride

The theme that inspired the film’s title, pride, is not just a term that is synonymous with gay rights but also speaks to the deeply personal experience the characters must face. For Joe, the journey of pride is an acceptance and eventual embracing of his true self. At first he hides his secret, wishing to remain ‘not so visible’ to the public, and inferring he has some shame about his lifestyle. However, sneaking out and hiding clippings in books in his room is not pride, it is merely concealment. As he integrates with the LGSM community, Joe gains the confidence to accept himself and, after being challenged by Mark, makes a bold stand in front of his family and then at the march to the community, eventually being proud of who he is.

For the miners, pride is found in their working community. When that lifestyle is threatened by the government, in the form of pit closures, they go on strike. Not being able to work damages the men’s pride, which is further exacerbated by the demeaning and brutal force shown by the police. The men have to reconcile their need for assistance, making them reliant on the women of the community. Further to this, for some, accepting support from the gay community humiliates them in the public’s eye. Dai understands pride, embodied in the lodge banner of two hands grasping each other, and that it is not belittling to accept help if you are willing to offer it in return. In this way, the miners march with pride as they return to work and later march with pride to repay the favour of support the LGSM group had shown them in their time of need.

For the women of the mining community, a substantial amount of pride comes from their families. They are proud when their men are working, when they are managing a home and supporting the community. The encounter with the LGSM group shows some, like Sian, to take more pride in who she is as an individual. After talking a lead role in the committee, she develops the confidence to go beyond stereotypical expectations and stand as a proud woman. Maureen’s pride is misplaced as she aims to protect her family and the community’s reputation, however it is still an example of her strength to stand tall in what she believes in despite rising resistance.

Pride Quotes

‘All we have now is pride and self-respect and we’ll carry on keeping that.’ (A miner, on TV) Scene 1

‘I can’t change my style. It has to be a style of firm leadership.’ (Margaret Thatcher, on TV) Scene 1 

‘This is a gay and lesbian group and we are unapologetic about that.’ (Mark) Scene 5

‘…I’m a member of LGSM and I’m going to do what I set out to do. No hiding, no running away, no apologies.’ (Mark) Scene 10

‘But without it, these villages are nothing, they’re finished.’ (Cliff, regarding mining) Scene 11

‘I hope you appreciate him. Because there’s a whole village back in Wales who thinks he’s a hero.’ (Sian to Joe’s mother) Scene 18

Rights

The common bond between the mining community and the gay and lesbian community is their quest for rights. Finding common enemies in the government and police intervention in their lives, which fundamentally challenges their right to be who they really are, the groups experience an unexpected solidarity. The gay and lesbian group wish to have equal rights with the larger community. This is seen through the discrepancy in age of consent that is highlighted in Joe’s life, and through the group not being free to go about their life free from police and public harassment, which is a basic human right. For the miners, their rights to work and provide for their families are threatened when the government aims to close coal pits for economic reasons. They protest and are met with heavy-handed police, who abuse their powers, and an unsympathetic government. The film points to the right for economic freedom and parallels the struggles between the gay men’s choice to run a business, that is also a hub for the gay community, and the miners’ efforts to preserve an industry that is the linchpin to their town’s survival.

The film demonstrates that the fight for rights is a brutal and challenging struggle. The overwhelming public discrimination against the gay and lesbian community and the unwavering stance taken by the Thatcher government towards the miners seem insurmountable. However, the groups fight for their rights, the common factors leading them to support each other. This highlights that the struggle for rights is best achieved by groups not individuals. The marches held by the groups show a sign of solidarity that can make a louder statement than individual voices, a fact that Mark harnesses as the outset of the film. Pride reminds the audience that you do not have to belong to a group to support it. You don’t have to be a woman to support women’s rights, you don’t have to be Black or Asian or any mixed ethnicity to support the fight against racism; if everyone joins together in the fight, you are more likely to win.

Rights Quotes

‘It’s a show of solidarity. Who hates the miners? Thatcher. Who else? The police, the public and the tabloid press. Sound familiar? (Mark) Scene 3

‘It’s also illegal, darling. Sixteen for breeders. Twenty-one for gays. Did you learn nothing on that march? You’re still a minor.’ (Steph to Joe) Scene 4

‘Now these mining communities are being bullied. Just like we are. Bullied by the police. Bullied by the tabloids. Bullied by the government.’ (Mark) Scene 4

‘I grew up in Northern Ireland. I know all about what happens when people don’t talk to each other. That’s why I’ve never understood, what’s the point of supporting gay rights but nobody else’s rights, you know?’ (Mark to Dai) Scene 10

‘They’re pulling the lads in for anything now.’ (Cliff) Scene 10

‘That’s the same whether you’re standing on a picket line or trolling down Clapham High Street in full drag.’ (Jonathan explains to the committee the limits to police powers) Scene 10

‘… it’s not enough to always be defending. Sometimes you have to attack to push forward …’ (Mark) Scene 11

‘Yes, it is bread we fight for but we fight for roses too!’ (Song lyric) Scene 11

‘Don’t give it all to the fight. Save some for home. There’s more to life, you know.’ (Dai to Mark) Scene 16

‘Never mind the miners. There’s gay people dying every day.’ (A gay man to Gethin when he is collecting for the miners) Scene 16

‘There’s got to be some kind of compromise.’
‘Why?’
‘Because that’s the way you get things done.’ (Lesbians Against Pit Closures members to Steph) Scene 19

Gender

While the issues of gender may, at first glance, be the domain of the gay and lesbian community, it is also clearly outlined in the wives and mothers of the film. Often the director positions women in the home doing chores such as Joe’s mother making a bed or Sian cooking dinner, showing their anticipated place in society. The gender roles are defined in the Dulais Valley community, men in the pits and women in the home and, later, men on the picket lines and woman making the sandwiches. Gail’s understanding, expressed to Steph, that sex was for men and that women were to simply tolerate it is typical of the patriarchal influence on the small town life.

Within the gay community, gender is not so clearly defined and this is seen as characters and the clubgoers discard traditional gender dress codes. However, the patriarchal assumptions that are present in the wider community, invade the smaller community; the women resist this as they form a factional lesbians only group to combine their feminists rights with the other causes for which they are fighting. The outmoded gender expectations of the macho-male are seen in those opposing the LGSM group; aggressive skinheads and narrow minded miners see themselves as the prototype males and are quick to assert physical dominance over the gay men either by throwing objects at the march or storming the welfare hall looking for a fight.

Gender Quotes

‘Give it to the Lesbians. They love a banner.’ (Mark) Scene 3

‘… and you know we’re homosapien, too…’. (Lyrics to song in gay bar) Scene 6

‘Every women is a lesbian at heart.’ (Steph, Zoe and Stella) Scene 9

‘What he’s trying to say is you can’t make grand, sweeping generalisations.’ (Ray) Scene 9

‘… when are you going to address my question about a Women’s group?’ (Stella) Scene 11

‘I’ll listen to a certain amount of drunken bollocks, Gail but sex is not just for the men. It’s for the women too. Believe me.’ (Steph) Scene 14 

‘I’m a wife and mother, love.’ (Sian to Jonathan) Scene 18

Identity

While the miners and the gay community extract a substantial part of their identity from the communities in which they live and the causes for which they fight, the characters also express and fight for their own unique identity. Mark’s identity is largely derived from his lifestyle and his role as a leader and activist. Dai notices how much Mark draws his sense of self from his causes and offers advice to leave a little for home and not spend all his life and energy on the fight. Joe’s identity is also gained through the struggle for rights. As he joins the LGSM group he becomes strong enough to step into his true identity as a young gay man. Despite this, the group reject his name ‘Joe’ and brand him ‘Bromley’, referring to his suburban upbringing, leaving Joe to further struggle for his true identity.

Carl is emblematic of the miners who have to redefine their identity. He would initially resist the presence of the LGSM group but sees a freedom in them that resonates with his true identity. He learns to dance with Jonathon, attends the gay clubs, and marches with the Pride community. Through this he becomes a more well-rounded person and even attracts the eye of women who would not have paid him attention without the transition. Martin, Sian, Hefina and Gwen also grow as characters after openmindedly encountering the LGSM group.

Gethin’s struggle for identity is mirrored in the life of Cliff. While Gethin lives an openly gay lifestyle, he finds it difficult to reconcile his Welsh mining town upbringing. The cause gives him opportunity to reach out to his mother and integrate into a mining town without the reprisals of physical violence he encountered as a child. The need for the reconciliation of the dual components of his identity is seen as he refuses to stop collecting for the miners after the lost vote. Cliff, in contrast, is a solid union man and a past miner. He is encapsulated by the mining town and the mining life, even losing his brother in one of the pits. Cliff’s opportunity to reconcile this traditional lifestyle with his gay lifestyle comes through he encounter with the LGSM group. As a result he steps in to his true identity, telling Hefina he is gay. Ironically, she has already known for some time showing that a person’s identity is far greater than their outward facade.

Identity Quotes

‘I can’t change my style. It has to be a style of firm leadership.’ (Margaret Thatcher, on TV) Scene 1 

‘It’s just I don’t really want to be too visible.’ (Joe) Scene 3

‘This is a gay and lesbian group and we are unapologetic about that.’ (Mark) Scene 5

‘What he’s trying to say is you can’t make grand, sweeping generalisations.’ (Ray) Scene 9

‘But without it, these villages are nothing, they’re finished.’ (Cliff, regarding mining) Scene 11

‘I’m in Wales. And I don’t have to pretend to be something that I’m not.’ (Gethin) Scene 11

‘I’m a wife and mother, love.’ (Sian to Jonathan) Scene 18

Tolerance – Prejudice

Stephen Beresford and Matthew Warchus are unrelenting in their accurate depictions of the levels of prejudice experienced by the gay community in Pride. However, above all, the message of the film is that ‘prejudice can’t survive proximity’; those who are willing to openmindedly mix with others soon see similarities rather than differences and preconceived prejudice is challenged. This is a principle that is reciprocated between the groups. The mining community learns about the gay and lesbian community and the gay and lesbian community learns about the miners. The miners and the gays and lesbians develop an understanding and together help to advance the cause of human dignity and gay rights. The fact that the groups turns up in person to show their support to one another helps to break down any potential barriers.
On arrival at the welfare hall, the LGSM group remind Jonathon to tone it down, expecting his flamboyance to be too much for the community, however once inside, they are surprised at the questions the community has, which are not what they had anticipated. The women ask if all lesbians are vegan and who does the housework in a male-male relationship. When Jonathon disregards the group’s advice, and lets his hair down by revelling in flashy dancing antics, he is met with a rousing reception from the community rather than disdain. Although the group’s preconceived ideas of Welsh miners were inaccurate, they were willing to help the miners before they established this fact, and in the face of dissenting voices such as the young gay man tells Gethin that he should ignore the miners and focus on the gay community.

The prejudice aimed at the gay and lesbian community in London is complex in its layers and Pride aims to show many of these. There is an obvious physical threat from groups who despise the community without reason. This is seen in the actions of the skinheads who spit at or throw things at the group and the derogatory names they are called. The package that is thrown through the bookshop window adds another level of undeserved aggression. There is a legal aspect highlighted by Joe’s age, when Steph explains that there is inequality between gay and heterosexual age of consent. Furthermore, the aggression of the police, as reported by the group and supported in the scenes where police mock miners for collaborating with gays or mock gays for collaborating with miners, highlights that some legal powers were distorted to support individual prejudices. The community attitude is an ever-present form of prejudice and rarely dissipates in the film in order to reveal what it would be like for the LGSM characters; neighbours complain about parties, jokes are made about AIDS, and Joe’s parents are inflexible in their understanding of his lifestyle. Small comments create an ‘us and them’ framework and contribute to a cumulatively oppressive atmosphere. Maureen encapsulates many of these negative traits and, when invited to mix with the LGSM group at the Dulais Valley, refuses, choosing to remain in her ignorance and prejudice. One of her sons embodies other more physical aspects of prejudice.

Tolerance – Prejudice Quotes

‘Just mind yourself on that last train. There’s weirdos and all sorts on there.’ (Joe’s mother, Marion) Scene 4

‘I’ve never met a lesbian before.’ (Joe to Steph) Scene 4

‘It’s also illegal, darling. Sixteen for breeders. Twenty-one for gays. Did you learn nothing on that march? You’re still a minor.’ (Steph to Joe) Scene 4

‘Now these mining communities are being bullied. Just like we are. Bullied by the police. Bullied by the tabloids. Bullied by the government.’ (Mark) Scene 4

And when you’re in a fight as bitter and as important as this one, against an enemy, so much bigger, so much stronger than you – well. To find out that you have a friend you never knew existed – It’s the best thing in the world. (Dai, thank you speech at the gay bar) Scene 6

‘I don’t have a problem with … what they are.’ (Maureen) Scene 7

‘It’s the men. You bring a load of gays into a working men’s club and you get trouble. I’m sorry.’ (Maureen) Scene 7

‘… I had you down as many things but prejudiced was never one of them.’ (Sian to her husband, Martin) Scene 8

‘AIDS. Anally. Injected. Death Sentence.’ (Jason, Joe’s brother in law in response to viewing the TV ads regarding AIDS) Scene 11

‘The homosexuals have been told that it is us, the normal population, and not them, that is out of step. Any society that accepts that sick deception is swirling headlong into a cesspool of its own making.’ (Newspaper article) Scene 11

‘Can you see what we’ve done here? By coming together- all of us- by pledging our solidarity, our friendship – We’ve made history.’ (Dai, addressing the Pits and Perverts Benefits Balls) Scene 14

‘You girls have opened my eyes.’ (Gwen to Steph) Scene 16

‘You must have found it a bit weird. A load of gays and lesbians descending on you like that?’
‘Why on earth would we have found that weird?’ (TV reporter questioning Cliff at the parade) Scene 19