The ViewLondon Review
http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/films/green-street-film-review-12721.html

Review byMatthew Turner 08/09/2005

Two out of Five stars

Running time: 109 minsWood and Hunnam are badly miscast but Green Street remains engaging thanks to some impressive direction and a passable level of authenticity.

The Background
Like The Perfect Match, Green Street is another sports related movie that has undergone a slight name change for the UK market. In the States, Green Street is known as Green Street Hooligans. At any rate, the main problem with Green Street isn’t the title, it’s the casting. It’s impossible to walk past the Green Street poster without a) laughing hysterically and b) wondering just who the hell decided to cast Elijah “Mister Frodo” Wood as a football hooligan. Shoddy work, casting directors. Shoddy.

The Story
Elijah plays Matthew Buckner, an American journalism major who gets expelled from Harvard when his rich roommate frames him for drug possession. He ends up in dear old Blighty, intending to visit his sister, Shannon (Claire Forlani). He then quickly hooks up with his brother-in-law’s brother, Pete (Charlie Hunnam), who turns out to be the leader of “The Glorious GSE” (Green Street Elite) – a firm of West Ham-supporting hooligans. After his first fight, Matthew is accepted into the firm, despite the suspicions of fellow hooligan Leo Gregory.

The Good
Green Street is co-written and directed by Lexi Alexander, a female German director with firsthand experience of football hooliganism, having been part of the Mannheim City Boys firm for several years. It’s this firsthand experience that gives the film its level of authenticity and allows for some truthful, yet frequently overlooked observations, such as the fact that many football hooligans hold down respectable white-collar jobs during the week.The fight sequences are violent and surprisingly exciting – they’re very well staged. The film also has some great supporting performances, notably from Forlani (who really doesn’t have the career she deserves), Leo Gregory, Joel Beckett (Jake Moon from EastEnders) and the always excellent Marc Warren, as Matthew’s brother-in-law.

The Bad
The real problem is that the bad bits of Green Street are very bad indeed. They include the casting of Elijah Wood - he is simply horribly miscast and this is particularly evident in the tattoo scene. Charlie Hunnam turns in an utterly dreadful, line-mangling, squirm-inducing performance (reputedly redubbed, but still atrocious), whilst the voice-over narration is staggeringly appalling.

The Conclusion
In short, Green Street is a half-decent drama with some hilariously bad moments that threaten to drag it into good Bad Movie territory. That said, it definitely has its moments and it’s worth watching if you can stop yourself giggling at Elijah trying to be scary.

Independant Study Proposal


Title of text: Green Street (2005)
Director: Lexi Alexander

To what extent is the movie ‘Green Street’ (2005) an accurate representation of ‘football hooliganism’ in society?

HYPOTHESIS
The word 'hooliganism' explains exactly what is thought of the firms that support a particular football team. In the media, extreme fans of football also known as football hooligans are seen as disruptive, trouble makers and uneducated in society.

Football hooliganism also known as the 'British disease' is the obsession that many British people have when it comes to the most popular sport in the UK, football. Every team has a firm consisting of crazy fans that support their teams in every match and usually end up fighting each other out of the stadium. This kind of behaviour can be dated back to 1880 at a friendly match between Preston North End and Aston Villa, where both teams were abused and beaten up with sticks and stones by the 'howling fans' of either side. These fights over the years have increased all around the world and have become even more severe as fights many times take place right before or after a certain match.
However this form of hooliganism only became a big issue in England in the 1960's when it became widely reported by the media and major casualties began to occur. The media also made it clear that the fans in these groups were mainly from working class areas and had actual jobs during the week, it was only when match day would arrive that they would become extremists at the football stadium and become prepared to cause damage and potentially killed. Many of these deaths have been of youths who have found themselves caught up in these brawls and been powerless.

MEDIA LANGUAGE
The setting is in the UK, West Ham where the main character of the movie, Pete Dunham, (played by Charlie Hunnam) lives with his brother, Steve and his family. The area is a typical city setting with terraced housing and a pub down the road, where the firm meets before and after every match. The pub is full of hyper-active men drinking and smoking, while the women in the pub are just there to look good, this indicates the patriarchy related to football hooliganism. The camera is light-weight even though the film is a Hollywood production, this is useful to show the wildness of situation, such as the fights and when they are at the football matches. The costumes worn by the British characters in the film are of archetypal style of casual wear (jeans, sweatshirts, hoodies and trainers) which gives them an authentic look of being a lower class person. The clothes worn by the American characters in the film such as Elijah Wood's character, Matt Buckner, is more smart and indicates possibly a higher status in society since he is fresh out of Harvard University. This then changes when the character of Matt transforms and becomes a member of the 'Green Street Elite', and this is apparent by the look of his clothes. The music used in the film is not by any well-known rap artists but it is by artists only known in the UK, for example, 'The Streets' who have many of their songs played throughout the film. This is because the accent is more authentic to the scenery and also to the storyline.

INSTITUTION
The film is a Universal production, which shows that it is a Hollywood movie. It was released all around the world meaning that it was highly distributed and was a high budget movie.

GENRE
Action/Drama , this is because the film incorporates the violence and crime associated with 'football hooliganism' as well as the underlying tragedies and personal situations.


REPRESENTATION
The film represents two totally different people from two diverse societies and puts them together. The character of Matt Buckner is at first shown to be a sensible, intelligent and sensitive guy just out of Harvard until the influence of Pete Dunham has it's effect and he turns into a brave and willing member of the GSE. The director has represented the British football fans as loud, ill-mannered and short tempered in order to convey the reasons for the brutal fights that take place. Both societies are juxtaposed with one another.

AUDIENCE
The type of audience that this film is primarily supposed to attract are:-
Males/Adult/All ethnicities - since much of the film is filled with football and violence which are two things that capture the male audience and also since it is based on the life of two men from different societies, giving them the chance to relate to either one. Football is also universal so people from all ethnicities would watch the film.

IDEOLOGY
Football and violence are the two main values in the movie and these are explored through the eyes of a naive American citizen. This therefore shows the ideology of how and why these fights actually take place and why these members feel obliges to stand their ground which is because they have their pride and respect in the eyes of their fellow fighters.

NARRATIVE
Green Street is the story of Matt Buckner (Elijah Wood), who finds himself thrown out of Harvard after being framed in a drug scandal. He then flies over to England to see his sister (Clare Forlani), who is married to a British businessman. For Matt, his time in England is supposed to be a break until he meets Pete Dunham (Charlie Hunnam), who is the leader of one of the most hated football elites in the area (the GSE). Matt soon finds himself exploring the world of football and everything else that goes along with it. While proving to his new friends that he can be trusted he also finds himself proving to himself and his family that he isn't a failure as a 'journo' even though he knows that along with Millwall, journalists are the GSE's worst enemies.
Has a Non Linear Narrative since flashbacks are shown of previous fights between the GSE and Millwall.

Wider Context (SHEP)

Social -
Member of such football elites are seen as menaces to society. It is known as the clash of two groups of people from other societies. The social issues raised in the movie are between Matt and Pete as their personal ideologies and values clash and then intertwine. It also depicts the clash of leaders from different firms and how they talk and socialize with one another. The way that these people look is also a way to show the difference in social styles, for example some may be skinheads and filled with tattoo's while some look normal and can be ready for work during the week. Football hooliganism in England only became recognised by the government as a serious social issue, and widely reported on by the media in the 1960s.

Historical -
On 11 May 1985 a 15 year old youth died when a wall collapsed at the St Andrews Stadium when fans rioted at a match between Birmingham City and Leeds United match. Fans started fighting when Birmingham took the lead and riot police were called in to stop Leeds fans pulling down fencing. It was estimated that more than 1,000 fans became involved in the riot that ensued. The fighting that day were described by Justice Popplewell, during the Popplewell Committee investigation into football in 1985 as more like "the Battle of Agincourt than a football match"

Economic -
Over the years these football fights have spread all around the world. From Croatia to Serbia it there have been brawls between firms. In England these firms have done severe damage to public property, such as smashing phone boxes and breaking park benches meaning that it has cost a lot of money in repairing these things. Businesses have also been effected by football hooliganism, for example, In the 2000s, English football hooligans often wear either clothing styles that are stereotypically associated with the thuggish chav subculture, such as those from the labels Prada, Lacoste, Le Shark and Burberry. This has encouraged Prada and Burberry two companies to withdraw certain garments over fears that their brands are becoming linked with hooliganism.

Political -
The number of arrests rose by 19 per cent to 4,793 in 2002 in domestic games in England and Wales, European cup competitions and international matches.
The number of banning orders imposed for football-related offences increased by more than half from 1,149 in 2001/2 to 1,794 last year.
There were 267 arrests at international games last year, with nearly half of those made during the England v Turkey Euro 2004 qualifier game in Sunderland in June.
http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/page4359.asp
The government is trying to take serious action towards football hooliganism by increasing the amount of police protection in suspicious areas even though this isn't helping in the way expected.

THEORISTS

Strauss - Binary Oppositions

Tommy Hatcher - Head of Millwall

Pete Dunham - Head of The GSE

Todorov - Narratives move from equilibrium to equilibrium

Throughout the film there are various scenes where fights between two different firms occur until the the end when the immense riot between 'The GSE' and 'Millwall' happens and the ideology and meaning of the film appears.

Propp

The Hero

The Helpers

The Donor

The Villian

The Dispatcher

The Wise Person

I will be also researching into other similar film texts such as 'Football Factory', 2004 that also explores the world of football hooliganism. I will also look into articles based on the issue to help me broaden my study and also look into the changing rates of crime and death linked to it.

Farah

The movie that I have chosen to study for module 6 in media is the 2005 film named 'Green Street' AKA 'Green Street Hooligans' made and co-written by Lexi Alexander. The reason that I have decided to use this film as my source of study is because it is based on real life situations that occur in the world of 'football hooliganism' and looks at the issue through different perspectives. I also find this topic interesting which is why I have chosen to study it in depth.

Farah