Jack Stevens A2 Media

Fish Tank Scene Commentaries

This scene is very useful as it demonstrates many features associated with the 'Social Realism' genre. The tinny/echoey sound coming from the obviously cheap CD player is completely dietetic hence the poor sound quality, and this adds to the realism that the audience is meant to grasp from the film. The further diegetic sound of children coming from outside furthermore reinforces that the director has aimed to make the film as realistic as possible, and by keeping these element of natural diegetic sound you keep the feeling of realism and immerse the audience as much into the natural realness and credibility of the film. The scene also exposes the main actor, an unknown actress making her debut in a full length film, presumably hired on a low budget. This keeps the trend of making the film as down to earth as possible, and fitting into the accepted conventions of the 'Social Realism' genre.

Narrative is demonstrated very cleverly in this scene. The mise-en-scene of the dogs and the broken scooter near the metal railings tell the reader that this is meant to be as realistic as possible. Furthermore by looking at the location, a run-down, impoverished council estate, we can tell a lot about the characters and how poor their living conditions are. The dialogue in this scene, littered in swearing it may be, represents how uneducated and poorly disciplined the teenagers are. Camera shots of Mia's face show the anger and ill discipline, something we associate with council estates. The boys looking at the girls dancing shows objectification, conforming to one of the accepted stereotypes in cinema. The look of the boy and the appearance of the girls is not as glamorous as high budget cinema, but the stereotype of women being sexual objects is still noticeable. Moving onto appearance we can guess by their tracksuits that they are not wealthy whatsoever, Mia in her case comes from an underclass family. We do not have to directly relate to the characters, but we associate them as Chavs, and most people are aware of these stereotypically violent individuals. The headbutt is also unusual and shows the undercurrent of violence and hatred, as a head butt from a girl is not something we expect, and it certainly isn't a stereotype of young girls/women.

In the same clip we see representation displayed. It is evident from the dirty messy kitchen that they are represented as an uncaring unclean family, a stereotype of most council flats. The mum smoking at the table also reinforces the uncleanliness that is being portrayed, as smoking is often viewed as dirty and is unhealthy. Simple things like the beer cans lying in the work top show that the mum, who we assume is stereo typically in charge of cleaning, doesn't care and has no consideration for taking pride in her belongings. The animosity between Mia and her mum when they conversate also conforms with our accepted idea that council flats are home to hostility,and not a very welcoming place to be. It also shows domestic problems between the family and the lack of dynamic, something we think of as belonging in a place like that. At the end we hear the make shift father tell the girl to go and get dresses, and she obliges. This represents the man as having power over women, as she previously doesn't listen to the mother. Living i a male dominated society we are led to believe that males have power and it is a stereotype we accept.

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