...Task Six - Analysing A Scene...

Scene coming soon!

The scene that I will be analysing is from the 2005 movie ‘Green Street, directed by Lexi Alexander. It is a movie that explores the world of football hooliganism and it is set in a typical London urban setting where football hooliganism is an issue.
There are a lot of close-ups used in this scene because a lot of emotions are portrayed in the scenes. The scene opens with Matt asking the protagonist, Pete questions about his firm ‘The GSE’ and football hooliganism in general. As this is happening the camera zooms into his face to show the intensity of his words. While this is happening Matt looks up at Pete as if to show his admiration for him and to portray the fact that he is idolizing him, while Pete only idolizes his football team. This outlines the significance of the issue and how it influences both characters. When the argument breaks between Pete and his brother the camera begins to shake highlighting the violence in the film and how it occurs away from the hooligan society as well. To add to the realism of the film the scene incorporates no diegetic sound since it would create a typical Hollywood atmosphere to the film and since the movie’s topic is not a usual Hollywood subject it would not be authentic. The shots used also add to the effect of the authenticity as they are quick cuts which take the audience from one shot to another without any fancy editing to divert their attention from what it is important to the scene. Therefore the scene is non-linear since it has no flashbacks or interruptions to the narrative. This also lets the audience know that the film will be shown after the watershed and aimed at a more mature audience that will be forced to face the issue of football hooliganism. The lighting in the scene has not been made to look glamorous or bright because the whole idea is to create a rough and violent atmosphere where anything can happen. It adds to the film’s genre of drama where dark colours are used to create tension in the atmosphere.
Pete is supposed to be the hero of the film but his heroism is challenged when he is given the blame for Matt’s bruises. The audience themselves are challenged to think who exactly is the real hero, Pete or Matt.
The audience of this film would be primarily male adults as the violence in the film would be an attractive feature to film and also the patriarchy which is shown through the way that Matt’s sister even though she is older than him is told to keep out of the conversation. When the baby cries she is shown running up to see to him and this reinforces the female’s typical role of a mother. Pete’s brother’s initial assumption that Pete had been leading Matt astray portrays the stereotyping that members of these elite’s face. He instantly believes that Pete involved him with ‘The GSE’ when really Pete was just trying to help him from being beaten up by an opposing firm.
However, Matt’s condition is in fact foreshadowing events to come in the film. Pete’s view of his firm is also informative for the audience as he talks about it in a way that removes the violence that is attached to it. This is useful to divert the audiences attention from all the crime linked to football hooliganism.
The social issues raised within the scene is when Pete swears in his sentence and a man who looks of an upper class status gives him a look showing that he minds language like that being used around him. We can see the difference between the statuses of both Pete and this man because of Pete’s position leaning against his knees talking to matt in ‘cockney slang’ and wearing sports gear, while this man is sitting up reading a broadsheet dressed in a suit. This outlines the fact that situations like this do occur in society where people label others in their minds by a small amount of proof. However, Pete challenges this view when he offers his seat to a female stranger when he sees that she is struggling with luggage. His actions are not motivated by the fact that she is a young woman because as soon as she takes his seat he carries on his conversation with Matt and this shows the audience that even though he is constantly being labelled by people he does still have some good qualities about him. The scene incorporates ideology of every firm being linked to politics. This is shown through the whole aspects of different firms against each other battling for the top place and reputation just like political parties do. Pete’s leader status also enforces this in the movie and his binary opposition with the leader of Mill wall also shows how they both have different views and opinions. Although there are some things that move away from the football and link into personal issues such as ‘The GSE’ killing Tommy Hatcher’s son in a riot.