"It's what we 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 the opposing firms incorporated into it as some people have even mentioned that “The thing that always annoyed and scared me about the visiting Old firm fans was the way that they would always get off these buses clutching their cheap bottles of Buckfast wine and start to intimidate the locals.” [1] 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, seeking prestige appears to be an important motivating factor for participation in football hooliganism [2] than the notion of going against the system and causing 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 live for!” [3] 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. The aim of my study will be to find out to what extent the various elements and theories incorporated into ‘Green Street’ are relevant to portray an accurate image of football hooliganism in society or whether they are included just for the sake of 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 as masculinity is associated with voyeurism, action, sadism, fetishism and the controlling narrative, whilst femininity is associated with passivity etc. [4] This may be one of the reasons why the maker of ‘Green Street’, Lexi Alexander, has based her story on two male characters who are very diverse and creates a symbiosis between them to show the different way that people can perceive and deal with hooliganism. 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, Strauss’s theory of binary oppositions through the portrayal of the hero versus the villain, 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 and therefore may create a sense of moral panic for the viewer.

Men in ‘Green Street’ are represented as very masculine as the male hero in classical Hollywood cinema is usually recognised as powerful[5] to appeal to its target audience. Michael Messener (1990) says that the body is an 'object of social practice', meaning that the male body takes on the masculine roles because it is so obviously there and it is so physical so therefore a male tends to have a natural masculinity that the audience themselves look for because they expect this from the film. When the riots occur in the movie the theme of masculinity is highlighted with the line, “You stand your ground and fight”[6], which makes the audience recognize this as significant for the firms. However, the character of Matt Buckner played by Elijah Wood stands out from the rest of them as he wants to get away from the opposing team and no longer remains the hero of the film with Pete Dunham played by Charlie Hunnam taking his place as he is ready to fight. At this point, the film begins to link in with Propp’s theory of narrative roles, such as the protagonist, the helpers and the antagonist. Pete’s friends become viewed as his helpers rather than just fellow members of the firm. We the audience also view the events through Matt’s eyes as he does the voiceover and talks about things that are important to him. In this way the viewer who is unknown to the football hooligan subject can identify more with Matt’s character as an outsider looking in. Matt’s character leaves the USA for England to visit his sister and his sudden influence from ‘The GSE’ brings the audience to perceive football hooliganism as disparaging and as deviance as Matt leaves the ‘American Dream’ and enters violence and danger when he meets Pete.

The stereotype of the ‘ring-leader’ in the firms becomes apparent to the audience through Pete’s character and Matt becomes seen as another helper of Pete. Pete influences Matt and makes him want to become a member of ‘The GSE’ because Matt begins idolizing him so much. Therefore Pete takes on the role of the archetype to which the audience will be able to identify with easily as he is an occurring character in most action genre movies; he is the hero that everyone looks up to. Matt however is only just a new member in the GSE firm and still has yet to get used to the hostile environment, to which he takes to by the end of the film by joining forces with the GSE firm to fight Millwall who are their main rivals. This transition could then give Matt his hero status back by the end because he does not turn his back on the firm and the film then links to a coming-of-age theme which is something that is also portrayed in ‘The Firm’ (1988) with the character of Yusef joining the firm at a young age and trying to deal with its violence. The maker of ‘Green Street’ could yet have created ‘The GSE’s’ and ‘Millwalls’ rivalry for entertainment purposes as the movie is firstly of the action genre and therefore has to contain typical action movie scenarios to appeal to its target audience. This then may become typical of the football hooliganism type films as ‘The Firm’ (1988) also incorporates rivalry with specific firms and masculinity is also important when they say “We come in peace, we leave you in pieces”[7], outlining their belief of using fighting as a way to be superior and to prove your manhood rather than to relate it to football.

As for their devotion to their team and firm, members must portray a powerful form of commitment which has to be etched into their minds to make them worthy of dedicating themselves to their firm. ‘Green Street’ on the other hand does not accurately portray this to its audience as Matt, watches football only once, and yet we're expected to believe that the fight he's caught up in at the end of it is reason enough for him to devote himself to violence and chant the words, "West Ham 'Til I Die."[8] In the same way the representation of the characteristics of football hooligans in not represented accurately to the audience as their typical cockney accent is portrayed in an effortless way because the leader of the West Ham "firm" sports the worst Cock-er-nee accent since Dick Van Dyke's in Mary Poppins.[9]

Women in ‘The Firm’ are represented minimally and only in one way, as housewives and classless whereas in ‘Green Street’ they are represented as more sophisticated and modernized, portraying the independent woman. Both films differ on this and consequently raise the issue of which representation is accurate and which is not. In reality, many football hooligans are in relationships or are married. They lead perfectly normal lives during the week but then as the weekend comes they go back to their hooligan antics and back to what they do best in their firms. In ‘The Firm’ the members of the firm wear their work clothes throughout most of the movie which may outline their need to hide their second ‘jobs’ to the outside world. However, in ‘Green Street’ the characters are hardly ever shown in their work clothes and are instead always wearing casual gear including Burberry which is a true portrayal of reality as, in England, football hooligans have become as loyal to the Burberry brand as they are to the sport… police aren't complaining -- the plaid makes it easy for them to spot trouble-causing fans that try to blend in with the public after rowdy matches.[10] This has become one of their trademarks as well as their taunting of one another during football matches which inevitably lead to riots, Walvin (1994) reported that 'In 1829, a French man who saw a football match in Derby asked "If this is what they call football, then what do they call fighting?".[11]

Football hooligans are stereotyped as barbaric in society and by stereotyping them, society is able to draw conclusions on what kind of people they are. Films are supposed to either prove or challenge these stereotypes because the audience comes to the cinema with expectations. The stereotype of football firms being violent towards each other is proved in ‘Green Street’, as the members of opposing teams tend to hit each other with bottles, pennies etc during matches. A hail of pennies being thrown by Manchester United Fans at West Ham was like something out of an old war film with the English archers all letting go of their arrows at once.[12] Violence is justified in ‘Green Street’, when Pete says “It’s what we live for!”, showing that they view the violence as an important part of their being now that they have devoted themselves to their firms. Dawn raids, arrest and trial, CCTV and banning orders all testify to the ongoing battle with football hooliganism. [13] In ‘Green Street’ there are a lot of images of security guards, CCTV cameras and police on horses, all ready in case a riot would begin. For example, when Pete takes Matt to the football match, he instantly tells him to cover his head with his hood and tells him that “We are the most watched country in the world”[14]. This links to the issue of how football hooliganism came from England and how other countries picked up on it and began to use it.

We all know that the British invented football hooligans. But the ugly side of the beautiful game is truly at its most brutal on foreign shores, and football violence is thriving in countries all over the world.[15] Even though hooliganism is known to be called the ‘English-disease’ it is not just prominent in England. Seasoned travellers are not surprised at responses in Rome and Seville.[16] This is because harsh police action has to be taken place at football matches all around the world. However, in ‘Green Street’ this is never mentioned as it would not go with the narrative. The narrative is non-linear, to show bring past events in the film to the for-front and let the audience know that behind all the football related violence and bitterness there are also personal rivalries that characters have between each other. For example, the fight that occurs between the Major and Tommy Hatcher, because the Major accidentally killed Tommy’s son in a previous riot. On the other hand this could be creative treatment of actuality as Grierson stated because most fights are more often than not football related.

A reason for the high amount of carnage and destruction caused by football hooligans could be because of their excessive drinking of alcohol. In both films, ‘The Firm’ and ‘Green Street’, the general meeting place is in the local pub where men drink and discuss their hooligan business. After a few drinks the men are ready for match day and ready to face their opponents on and off the field. In ‘Green Street’, the firm members sing “Get some drinks in!” [17]in a particular tune that is revisited many times during the rest of the film. This shows that the members idolize alcohol and drink it at any given opportunity. The tune in which they sing it in is also used in ‘The Firm’, which is a pre-90’s text, showing that this is something that may be a true reflection of the outside world. Football hooliganism is seen as an anti-social element in society that clings parasitically to football and just won't give up.[18] This anti-social behaviour could also be related to alcohol because when under the influence people tend to be less aware of their actions and therefore begin to engage in anti-social behaviour.

‘Green Street’ also shows the ways in which the media is involved with events that occur by making Matt’s character a secret journalist who has not joined the firm for work purposes but has to keep this a secret because if his fellow members found out he would be completely removed from the firm. Pete also mentions how the media exaggerates events more than they should be when he says, “West ham wins three nil in a blinding performance and our little scrap makes the headlines”.[19] This highlights the media’s involvement with football hooliganism which is a reality and accurately portrays firm members’ hatred of them.

The heinous fighting and violence linked to football hooliganism in media texts such as ‘Green Street’ is to some people overstated as, often the extent of this disorder is exaggerated by excessive media[20]. This may be the case in ‘Green Street’ too as in ‘The Firm’ even thought there is violence, there tends to be more taunting and vandalism than fighting and Lexi Alexander’s representation of excessive violence may be included to cater to the needs of the audience who have initially come to the cinema to be entertained rather than informed. ‘Green Street’ only mildly outlines the usage of taunting only during the riot between ‘The GSE’ and another opposing firm that are made up of mainly black members whereas ‘The GSE contains significantly white members. One of ‘The GSE’ members begins to taunt them and uses racial abuse to do this by calling them ‘Zulus’ in order to get a reaction out of them.

Racism is another factor that tends to be incorporated a lot within football in general as, football grounds provided one of the largest public arenas in which racism could be openly expressed. [21] In ‘The Firm’, the majority of firm members are White, while there are a couple Asian and Black members. Yusef is a character that is allowed into the firm and this shows that football hooliganism may be less concerned about people’s race than actual football is was at the time with predominately White players. ‘Green Street’, on the other should be representing more ethnic minority members because as time has gone by, the actual sport of football has allowed more men of ethnic minorities to join teams, but this is an underrepresented truth in the film. However, there is still a lot of racism incorporated into football and in particular football hooliganism which remains till this day. There were 47 arrests for racist chanting in 2001/2 [22] and racism is usually white on black and even happens between players and hooligans. Racist chanting in the 1970’s and 1980’s often took the form of members of the crowd making monkey noises at black players on the pitch. [23] ‘Green Street’ is accurate in its portrayal of this kind of behaviour when Bovver goes towards the opposing team and begins to chant loud racist words to them.

Overall, the representation of football hooligans in ‘Green Street’ (2005) is to some extent accurately portraying the reality of football hooligans to the audience by creating realism with its integration of particular themes such as racism, masculinity, stereo-types and prejudice that are all linked to hooligans on first sight. It also defies certain stereo-types such as the uneducated label given to them and the idea of them being violent by nature through showing them with their families and in their jobs giving the audience a sense of identification. Although some parts have been created for pure entertainment purposes such as the sudden integration of an American citizen into the firm, the film also has realistic ideologies which are portrayed through the character’s quest for success in each riot. There are however effortless attempts to make the characters seem like real hooligans with their cockney-accents and clothing but they do not seem to connect with the viewing audience. As a result, ‘Green Street’ is a good attempt to portray football hooliganism to an audience but it fails at some aspects to give the audience an accurate representation of football hooliganism in society.

[1] After the Match, the Game Begins by Kenny McCall and John Robb
[2] Football, Violence and Social Identity
[3] Green Street (2005)
[4] An Introduction to film studies (third edition)
[5] An Introduction to film studies (third edition)
[6] Green Street (2005)
[7] The Firm (1988)
[8] http://www.filmfocus.co.uk/review.asp?ReviewID=326
[9] http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2005/09/05/green_street_2005_review.shtml
[10] http://www.brandchannel.com/features_profile.asp?pr_id=130
[11] Football Hooliganism - Steve Frosdick and Peter Marsh
[12] Want Some Aggro? - Micky Smith and Cass Pennant
[13] Top Boys: True Stories of Football's Hardest Men by Cass Pennant
[14] Green Street (2005)
[15] http://www.discoverytv.com/emea/football+hooligans+international.htm
[16]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=BLOGDETAIL&grid=F11&blog=yourview&xml=/news/2007/04/05/ublview05.xml
[17] Green Street (2005)
[18] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1491743.stm
[19] Green Street (2005)
[20] http://www.liv.ac.uk/footballindustry/hooligan.html
[21] The Changing Face of Football: Racism, Identity and Multiculture in the English Game
[22] Football hooliganism – Steve Frosdick and Peter E. Marsh
[23] Football hooliganism – Steve Frosdick and Peter E. Marsh