The representation of the white working class-film

Submarine portrays a husband and wife, the wife a housewife and the man stuck in a dead end job he did not wish to be in, a stereotypical factor of the working class family. The man is shown looking run down, with long hair and a beard to further show his lack of enthusiasm and care for himself. The woman always looks clean and pristine, constantly worrying about her hair, showing she wants change in her life but cannot get out of the rut she is in.

One of the main plots of the story stems from the unhappiness of these roles and the boredom of a never changing daily routine. This is what kick starts the plot, allowing for an interesting change of habit to take place in which all participating parties life's get affected.

The subject of jobs plays a big part in most working class storylines as the people usually do not have jobs (The Full Monty) or the jobs are boring/low paid. This means the characters want a bit of excitement in their life, in the case of “Submarine,” the woman starting an affair. This then allows another story to stem as we watch the son keep an eye on his parents relationship, to try and help revive it and to try and stop it falling apart.

Throughout the film there are scenes of young people smoking, bullying and committing acts of arson. However this is not portrayed in a particularly negative light, as it is shown through the eyes of the pretentious lead, who finds these acts fun and tried to justify them throughout the film by saying it doesn't matter if it is only every now and again.

Near the start of the film we see an overweight girl get bullied out of school by the leads; in response to this the main character writes her a letter advising her on “how not to get bullied.” This is ironic as the lead himself is a victim of bullying and he is alienated from his classmates. The film also portrays gang bullying, in which the girl gets called a “slut” and the boy gets called “gay.” This is something that happens in many films portraying the working class, such as “Fish Tank.”