Fish Tank

Themes & Situations

You see teen girls dancing very sexually on a council estate this relates to social realism because you would working class teens to be dancing in a playground as they wouldn't be able to afford a studio. Mia has a fight with one of the girls and headbutts her this shows the everyday violence which happens on council estates.

We see under-aged drinking with both Mia and her little sister her sister is also smoking this relates to social realism. Because in recent years there has been a increase in under-aged people drinking and is now a big issues throughout the country.

We see casual sex and violence the scene when the mother has a party and Mia comes in to the kitchen to find to people having sex this relates to the social realism that people nowadays have become more sexually orientated. Mia mother abuses her by pushing a shoving her and verbally abuses her throughout but while her boyfriend is around she is nice to Mia. This shows the growing violence in the country.

Representation (stereotypes & archetypes)

Mia is represented as a 'chav' we see this because she is always wearing a tracksuit and she is very mouthy and violent this relates to stereotype that all young working class teens are violent, naughty and antisocial.

The group of dancers on the estate are shown as the same as Mia and are represented as 'chavs' again this is typically the stereotype given to 'Essex girls' that they are all 'chavs'.

The mother is very much like Mia she doesn't have a car in the world and is very violent she is also rude and portrayed as a 'slag' she has two children and is still quite young. This relates to the social realism of the growing trend of young single mothers living on council estates and claiming benefits. As we do not see her going to work.

Mise-en-scene

The film is set on a council estate the estate is run down and 'gritty' this shows that the working class people living there don't look after there area.

The clothes of the girls are either tracksuits so they are portrayed as 'chavs' or very sexual and revealing so they are portrayed as 'slags'.

The flat Mia lives in is very run down and dirty after the party we don't see it being cleaned relates to social realism that working class people don't keep clean houses.

Music & Sound & Dialogue

There is synergy in this film as we hear a lot of different sound tracks in it. The music we hear shows that teen-aged girls are heavily involved in American hip hop. At the start we hear me and you by Cassie this proves my point

Also everyone speaks very 'chavy' relates the social realism that council estate working class people don't speak the queens English also we her a lot of 'slang'.

Mia's mums man says to Mia she dances like a black and that its a good thing. This shows the social realism about racism and stereotypes.

We see Mia's little sister using slang when she says 'she's butterz'  to a girl on tv this shows social realism of how young people talk.

Camera work and editing

We see a lot of close up shots this captures the facial images of the people this relates to social realism because it shows the expressions which are usually dispressed.

We see a lot of shot reverse shot to show the everyday conversations that take place so we can see social realism.

We see an establishing shot of the estate this shows us the hardship of being working class and the social realism .

Summary

Did you know ?  

The film was shot chronologically, and the actors were shown only the part of the script they would be filming the following week - none of them knew what would happen to their characters later in the film. 

This film won a number of awards and this can relate to how the film portrayed real life. From the language used to the clothes they where we see how people live there life's on the day-to-day.