State welfare automation, Working‐Class Agency, and Poverty in I, Daniel Blake

In this review essay, I examined I, Daniel Blake, a film directed by Loach that depicts Daniel's life, a 59‐year‐old widowed woodworker, who had a heart attack and was unable to work, and the dehumanizing process he experiences when applying to receive government benefits in the United Kingdom. The movie shows how poor and working‐class people struggle to receive state assistance, to have at least something to eat and a place to live. Sadly, applicants often fail or give up midway because the welfare automation system is entirely online, and applicants often do not understand the jargon used by state employees, much less the questions on the application forms. Despite constraints, such as backlashes from the middle class, economic elite, and conservative politicians, the ill, single mothers, and Black people—usually the groups most affected by the welfare automation system—exercise their agency to survive the material and symbolic hardships of poverty, as seen in the scenes of the movie.