In my investigation I will be looking at two very different genres, which represent teenagers in dramatically different ways. In my investigation I will be researching social realism and the typical teen movie, I will establish which one represents reality and whether either have negative effects on teenagers life’s today, referencing Kidulthood[1] and Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging[2].I will be researching information through the Internet using different websites, and using books to collect other information. …………….………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Social realism, ‘the most ‘typically British’ of all film genre’s, better than any other genre, social realism has shown us to ourselves, pushing the boundaries in the effort to put the experiences of real Britons on the screen, and shaping our ideas of what British cinema can be’ [11]. Social realist texts draw in characters that inhabit the social margins of society in terms of status and power. [16] The genre consists of factory workers, office underlings, dissatisfied wives, pregnant girlfriends, runaways, the marginalised, poor and depressed; typically, films within the social realist genre are gritty, urban dramas about the struggle to survive the daily grind. [19] KH is all about harsh reality. One of the main problems in KH occurs when Alisa one of the main characters finds out she’s pregnant. This is just one of the problems in Social Realist texts. Her best friend, Becky doesn’t really care or bother about the fact Alisa’s pregnant and just thinks it gets in the way, as Alisa doesn’t want to go out as much. KH is based in a mixed-income area of West London [12] and most people struggle with day to day life [8].
Teen film is a film genre targeted at teenagers and young adults where the plot is based upon the special interests of teenagers such as coming of age, first love, rebellion, conflict with parents, teen angst, and alienation. [10] Teen films are popular all over the world; they are not just a Hollywood genre. [13] ATPS is based around ‘first love’ and ‘conflict between parents’ two special interests of a teen film. Georgia the main character does everything she can to try and get with a ‘hottie’ at their school, Robbie who has just moved to Eastbourne from London. …………………..
Near the start of KH, Trife finds out Alisa’s pregnant due to a phone call as their year has the day off because Katie, a girl also in there year is being physically and emotionally bullied by a group of girls led by Shaneek, and is separately threatened by Sam. Her parents do not know the extent of the bullying. After being picked up from school, a distraught Katie flees to her bedroom, writes a note, and hangs herself. [12] Trife, and his mate Jay, are waiting for Mooney to get to Trife’s to go out and do something with their day off they have. Mooney is trying to hitch a taxi form the side of the road, but it’s looking impossible. This could be due to the way he’s appearance, as people might come across that he is a Chav, this could be because of his clothes and the language he is using. ‘’Taxi.. What the fuck man!?’’ [1] Chav’s are said to be aggressive and arrogant teenagers and young adults, of underclass background who repeatedly engage in anti social behavior such as street drinking, drug abuse and rowdiness, or other forms of juvenile delinquency. [15] This representation is a stereotype - “a fixed, over generalised belief about a particular group or class of people.” The use of stereotypes is a major way in which we simplify our social world; since they reduce the amount of processing (i.e. thinking) we have to do when we meet a new person. [21] A ‘Chav’ is an example of a stereotype, by stereotyping we infer that a person has a whole range of characteristics and abilities that we assume all members of that group have. Stereotypes lead to social categorisation, which is one of the reasons for prejudice attitudes (i.e. “them” and “us” mentality), which leads to in-groups and out-groups. [21] This is a disadvantage as it makes society ignore differences between individuals; therefore we make generalisations about people that might not be true [21] The Taxi drivers are stereotyping Mooney as a ‘Chav’ by the way he looks, and ignoring the fact he could be a nice lad behind his trackies and language. Social realism is again showing us an experience, which happens in day-to-day life, but teen film ignores the realism completely.
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Teen pregnancy’s increases every year due to teenagers having unprotected sex. The increased sexual activity among adolescents is manifested in increased teenage pregnancies and an increase in sexually transmitted diseases. [17] In KH, it deals directly with issues such as pregnancy, sex and drugs. Alisa finds out she’s pregnant, she’s only 15. Trife’s the dad, but doesn’t realise how important this is and the consequences he could have, due to his young age of becoming a dad, and just carry’s on playing his game with Jay. This shows that social realism films use real social issues that are going on in people households in this low income area, where as in the teen film ATPS, it revolves around the more superficial act of a first kiss. …………………………...
Coming from a poor background, the girls have no money to their name, so Becky takes Alisa to an older man's house where they perform sexual acts in return for drugs. Becky is the instigator and Alisa feels that she has to follow her friend's actions. [12] Thanks to the relaxation of censorship, characters had sex lives, money worries, social problems. British 'auteurs' like Karel Reisz, Tony Richardson and John Schlesinger dealt with prostitution, abortion, homosexuality, alienation and relationship problems.[11]
Teen films are often set in or around high schools as this allows for many different social cliques to be shown. [10] British Social Realism films are filmed on actual, real life locations such as parks and council estates and not in made up sets in studios like mainstream Hollywood films use. [18] ATPS is set in a high school to show the comparison between the different teenagers at the school. Georgia and her friends are not as popular compared to ‘slaggy Lindsey’ who is hitting on Robbie one of the new brothers who moved from London to Eastbourne. ………………………………………………..
Family dysfunction can be any condition that interferes with healthy family functioning. Most families have some periods of time where functioning is impaired by stressful circumstances (death in the family, a parent's serious illness, etc.). Healthy families tend to return to normal functioning after the crisis passes. In dysfunctional families, however, problems tend to be chronic and children do not consistently get their needs met. Negative patterns of parental behavior tend to be dominant in their children's lives. [20] In the park scene of ATPS, ……………………………. middle class environment, so they have more support if they come from a broken home and will have less dysfunction throughout there lives. KH are also shaped through their working class environment, they have less support coming from a dysfunctional family, this then leads them into drugs, violence and rebelling, and there lives will be full of more dysfunction throughout.
Bibliography
[1] Kidulthood (2006) Directed by Menhaj Huda (KH)
[2] Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008) Directed by GurinderChadha (ATPS)
[8] http://www.kidulthood.co.uk/
[11] http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1037898
[13] http://www.talkingpix.co.uk/ArticleTeenSpeak.html
[18] http://www.slideshare.net/hannahmedia123/codes-and-conventions-of-british-social-realism
[20] http://www.k-state.edu/counseling/topics/relationships/dysfunc.html
[21] http://www.simplypsychology.org/katz-braly.html
[23] http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=snogging
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