First Paragraph

"It's what we fucking live for!"

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

Ever since the beginning of football hooliganism, society has associated it with violence, disruption and as a nuisance to the peace within the world we live in. Even though football hooliganism is a widespread phenomenon many people believe that it serves no purpose or function to the world except for creating disorder between communities due to the fierce rivalry between opposing firms incorporated into it. the Usually consisting of Caucasian male members from the age of eighteen and up, this violent form of expressive behaviour is not only about standing up for the football team that you support but for the credit and acknowledgement that is received when a particular firm is successful in a riot against another. As history says, football hooliganism is more about prestige and masculinity more than it is about trying to go against the system and cause chaos within society. It is also believed that football mad men who are unable to actually be on the pitch need to find another way to perform their part for the game as they see it as a duty of theirs to serve their football team in terms of defending it. Various TV shows and films have tried to portray football hooliganism in the way it is naturally perceived as disorderly, but only a few actually go into depth about the other side of a football hooligan’s life, such as family, work and commitment. In ‘Green Street’ (2005), the quote “It’s what we fucking live for!” reinforces the notion of dedication to the audience and they begin to recognise the commitment that these men have to their football teams. This quote however, may also bring false interpretations into the audiences mind as they may begin to see football hooliganism as the only commitment in the lives of these men when in fact there is much more to them in terms of family and earning a living. I will be looking into whether ‘Green Street’ is actually an accurate representation of football hooliganism or whether it is just created for entertainment purposes and to exaggerate elements to fit the action genre. As football hooliganism movies tend to have a higher amount of male characters than female characters there is also the portrayal of ‘voyeurism’ for the target audience (Mulvey) as the men in the audience would have a choice of characters to relate to. This may be one of the reasons why the maker of ‘Green Street’ (2005), Lexi Alexander has based her story on two very diverse characters. This gives the audience an opportunity to relate to either one of them and understand why they make the decisions they do in a society overflowing with football hooliganism. ‘Green Street’ instantly becomes an action movie as the topic on which it is based upon instantaneously brings the image of violent and antagonistic behaviour into the filmmaker’s mind. Alexander uses many elements that are seen as typical for the action genre, for example, the hero versus the villain (Propp) which is not only used in order to relate to the action genre but because it is in fact an accurate image of football hooliganism in society. The aim of my study will be to find out to what extent these elements and theories are relevant to portray an accurate image of football hooliganism in society or whether they are incorporated just for the sake of the action genre.