Director: Daniel Barber:
How does it represent young people?
Young people are being represented as drug smoking, violent, gun carrying gang members. This is shown right from the beginning where there is a close up with three people taking drugs and then the camera zooms out and shows the whole gang down the alley. These representations create an image that all youths are like this and the fact that it is filmed using a handy-cam can also create the idea that this is what British youth are doing in real-life. The costumes which they are in are what most people expect teenagers to be wearing, baggy tracksuits with hoods up. When you create an image of the British youth i can imagine that over 80% will think of a young person with this exact outfit on, when only around 10% actually wear this. The editing in this trailer is very fast paced as it create tension as it builds up to the climax where they are hit by the lorry off of the moped, the camera then completely stops as the person is motionless.
Guardian Article: Hoods Strike Fear in British Cinema (November 2009)
http://henleycollegemediablog.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-do-contemporary-media-represent.html
- It suggests that young people can be represented in two totally different ways, one of these being that the youth are evil, and the film makers are just exploiting this fear for them. One of these examples is Harry Brown which shows the youth as being part of 'Broken Britain'. The other way is that they are trying to engage with the youth, where they show that they are real-people inside, they're not just all people who want to go around shooting and stabbing everyone
Representations of Youth in Harry Brown
- Miss-understood
- Breaking through the mediated representations
- Compared to monsters
- Comparison to vampires
- Me, me, me society - self motivated
- Lower-class (underclass)
- Primitive view
- Referred to lack of parenting, and physicality's of where they are living and how it affects their lives
- Fear-moral panic
Opening Trailer of Eden Lake (2008)
Director: James Watkins
How are Jenny and Steve represented
Innocent couple who are just wanting to go away for the weekend so that they can leave the city and just relax. When they arrive they are faced with a gang of youths who just want to ruin it for them , they then proceed to try and escape but can't when the youths take everything that they need to leave. The whole way through the trailer they are portrayed as the innocent people and the youth are always represented as being the trouble starters.
How is this contrasted with the representation of the other characters?
All of the youths are being represented as being trouble makers, who can't just leave two people to have a nice weekend away, they are also portrayed as pure evil as they stab the man when all he wanted was his possessions back so that he could leave. There is also the obvious gang-leader who stands out from the rest of them and he is being shown as being the 'ring leader' because he will always be the one to reply to the man, stab the man, steal his car, chase his wife, and just generally will not leave them alone.
How important is the issue of social class?
Social class is being shown through where the people are and what they are wearing as the man and woman obviously have quite a bit of money as they have a big car, a place to go away for the weekend and smart clothes, this shows how they are probably in the middle class. The youth are totally different which shows Binary Oppositions between them as the youths are represented wearing hoods, riding BMX's and smoking
Horror and the Representation of Youth
Film theorist Robin Wood argues that the basic formula of the horror film is 'normality is threatened by the monster. I use "normality" here to mean simply "conformity to the dominant social norms"
What is the significance of the emergence of a cycle of British films in which the 'monster' is young people?
People see British youth everyday and so they can relate what they see in the film to what they see everyday in the 'real world'. People are more likely to be scared of British youth when they are in gangs with weapons, compared to being scared of vampires/ zombies. The reason people find the youth more scary is because you can actually image what is happening in the film, happening in real life whereas vampires& zombies are a lot less likely to happen, compared to youth.
How do they threaten 'normality'?
One act of crime from a youth can totally disturb someones life whether that be from stealing to murder. It also affects everyone around them so 'normality' is totally destroyed, people can't do everything that they used to because of the fear of the youth. The 'normality' lifestyle cannot be lived.
What term could we use instead of normality?
'Common Life'
Attack The Block
How are the main characters introduced?
- Intimidating
- Fearless
- Dark/ Low Key Lighting
- Colloquial Language
- Nightime is when out
- Hoodies, Trackies
- Baseball Bats - no longer sports, now a weapon
- Villains
Representing young people initially as 'monsters' and then actually replace them with real monsters.
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