Links to help me!!

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?FID=133162

I chose this link to help with my research, because it is a good site for finding detailed reviews on any film of your choice. As i am studying kidulthood it will help me to have a different viewpoint of the film, as it argues from both sides.

http://vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp?id=2720#id3674

This link is very relevant for my independent study as it has a lot of information on theories and other issues. As Kidulthood portrays a lot of contemporary issues this site also includes a lot of information on contemporary issues.

http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1144245/index.html

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Quotes!

"ITS COOL TO BE BLACK" (Post-soul nation: Nelson George)


"THERE AIN'T NO BLACK IN THE UNION JACK" (Paul Gilroy)


"THERE ARE WHITE FACES BEHIND BLACK VIOLENCE"

• SUE SHARPE

Sue Sharp conducted an influential study of girls' expectations whilst at school in 1972 and in 1994 she replicated this study. During the interval there were some background changes in society and the economy, such as (a) the passage of the Thatcher era, which presented possible new female role-models; (b) high levels of structural unemployment and corresponding increases in the number and diversity of training schemes. However, these background influences do not appear to have had much influence of girls' attitudes. The principle finding was that girls in the 1990s still expect to undertake work that could be described as 'women's work' ? that is teaching, health work, air hostesses, beauticians, working with children and clerical work in banks. However, there were some changes: (a) the expectation or desire to do office work had significantly diminished. This may be attributed to changes in technology; (b) diminished expectations to become shop assistants; (c) some interest in car mechanics, engineering or firefighting. Other findings were (a) a greater stress on equality with men, increased sense of assertiveness and confidence; (b) a greater emphasis on the importance of having a job or career and being able to support themselves, especially in the event of a breakdown of marriage; (c) no desire generally to identify themselves as feminists; (d) less positive attitudes to marriage; (e) the expectation to combine work and family life; the expectation that husbands or partners would help with housework and childcare. However, realisitically, the feeling that 'new man' was a bit of a joke. (f) Young women continue to "look forward to a future in which they are likely to end up juggling work and domestic life like their mothers before them."

• RICHARD DYER

Representations can take a variety of forms: a selective representation of the real, determind to some extent by the form in which the representation is made.

• JACQUES LACAN
• The Real is a term used by the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan in his theory of psychic structures. For Lacan, the Real is the irreducible surplus of the 'outside world' that resists being turned into language (as the Symbolic) or into spatial representation (as the Imaginary).
• In Jacques Lacan's theory of psychic structures, the Imaginary refers to the non-linguistic aspect of the psyche, formulated during the Mirror Stage
• In Jacques Lacan's theory of psychic structures, the Symbolic refers to the realm of language into which the child enters under the impetus of the Name of the Father. The child's world, which has already been transformed by the Imaginary spatial identifications of the Mirror Stage, now becomes bound up in signifying chains linked to a master signifier. Some leftover of the Real remains, however, unexpressed in language, and resists integration into the Symbolic.

THEORISTS

• LAURA MULVEY

Mulvey distinguishes between two modes of looking for the film spectator: voyeuristic and fetishistic, which she presents in Freudian terms as responses to male ‘castration anxiety’. Voyeuristic looking involves a controlling gaze and Mulvey argues that this has has associations with sadism: ‘pleasure lies in ascertaining guilt - asserting control and subjecting the guilty person through punishment or forgiveness’ (Mulvey 1992, 29). Fetishistic looking, in contrast, involves ‘the substitution of a fetish object or turning the represented figure itself into a fetish so that it becomes reassuring rather than dangerous. This builds up the physical beauty of the object, transforming it into something satisfying in itself. The erotic instinct is focused on the look alone’. Fetishistic looking, she suggests, leads to overvaluation of the female image and to the cult of the female movie star. Mulvey argues that the film spectator oscillates between these two forms of looking.

MY RESEARCH!

NEWSPAPERS
THE INDEPENDENT

Kidulthood: Does it really reflect inner-city life?
By Chris Sullivan
Published: 03 March 2006
Every once in a while, along comes a film that causes an almighty stink. Usually it contains scenes of teenagers toying with sex, violence or drugs against a landscape that adults find alarmingly alien. Kidulthood ticks all of the aforementioned boxes in outrageously fluorescent spray-paint, and has an acid wit and a gutter vernacular straight from the back of a number 52 bus. But what we see is nothing new. The film is about teenagers and shows what some teenagers have always done.
"There is nothing in this film that is not based on reality and that isn't happening already," says the writer and co-star Noel Clarke. "And we will stand by that. What you see is in the newspapers every day! It's constant. When I was writing the script I was collecting at least three or four articles a week about teenagers getting up to bad stuff, and I did that for a whole year; it goes on right under our noses... a lot of people might see the film as controversial, but I wanted to make something as true to life as possible"
Clarke knows what he is talking about. He grew up in a small council flat with his mother in London's Ladbroke Grove, exactly where the film is located. "Trife, the main character of the film," says Clarke, "well, his bedroom in the film was actually my bedroom when I used to live with my mum in that block of flats, and the character Sam, the school bully, who I play, is based on a guy who tried to bully my friend at school. It's all real, man!"
The film follows three 15-year-old schoolfriends - Trife (Aml Ameen), Jay (Adam Deacon) and Moony (Femi Oyeniran) - as they go about their everyday business of beatings in the classroom, sex on the playing field, and drugs in the schoolyard - until school is cancelled due to the suicide of the tall, pretty and relatively posh, Katie (Rebecca Martin). All three boys, certainly not children but definitely not adults, are in teenage limbo and Trife, in particular, suffers. Tempted into the gangster lifestyle by his homicidal Yardie drug-dealing uncle, he discovers that his girlfriend Alisa (Red Madrell) has slept with someone else, while she not only realises that she is pregnant but finds that her best friend Becky (Jamie Winstone) is regularly swapping blowjobs for bags of coke and handfuls of E.
"I think the film is a true reflection of inner-city life for a lot of young people," says Floetic Lara, a youth worker and young people's representative for Lambeth local authority. "It touches on some very prominent issues without trying to pretty them up. The storyline might be a bit shocking for some but, unfortunately, it is very real."
Fuelled by a 100 per cent Brit soundtrack courtesy of The Streets, Dizzee Rascal, Roots Manuva, and Audio Bullys, the film rolls along at a cracking pace with effortless performances from a largely unknown, but thoroughly multicultural, cast. "The British film industry doesn't make films about this generation," says the film's director, Menhaj Huda. "I live in west London and I see these kids and they are different from previous generations, they talk different, walk different and listen to different music, and this film really represents them. This isn't the Richard Curtis W11, this is real."
To get such a film made was not a stroll in the park. The director explains: "After initial interest from FilmFour and the UK Film Council, who hold the purse-strings for the Lottery Fund, we were left to find funding ourselves," recalls Huda, who eventually remortgaged his flat in Los Angeles to get the film on the road."And, once the film was made, neither Edinburgh or the London Film Festival would show it," he adds, bitterly. "I think that even though you might not like what this film is saying, it is well-made and well-acted and it should have been shown at the LFF as it is the most London film there is, but they all turned their noses up at it."
"I think the reason for some of the hostility is that a lot of parents don't want to think that their child might be behaving like this," say Clarke. "It makes them feel really uncomfortable, but this is just one day in three kids' lives - a particularly bad day."
Another perplexing aspect of the film for many adults might be the way that it deals with the older generation. Entirely marginalised, the rarely-glimpsed adults are on the periphery and seen as strange, antediluvian creatures whose clothing, attitudes and opinions are quietly gathering dust in the corner.
"Teenagers live in their own little bubble and what is so disconcerting is that this world is so extreme and so different from the older generations," says the 19-year-old Jamie Winstone, the daughter of Ray, whose film Scum caused a similar furore more than 27 years ago. "Even since I was in school everything has changed and accelerated so fast. It's mad. Now teenage girls buy magazines with the sexual position of the week across the pages, at a time when their bodies are changing and they are discovering what their bodies can get them.
"My character is basically prostituting herself, and thinks she is four steps ahead when basically she is four steps behind, and as a result ends up a sad case as no one will touch her."
An immensely moral tale, Kidulthood will open the eyes of many and close the ears of some. "I think it's quality," says my 16-year-old nephew and Ladbroke Grove resident, Louis Seresin. "At last there's a film that shows how it is. I think they should show it in schools right now. It's standard, man."

Bullet Boy

BULLET BOY!


BULLET BOY tells the story of two brothers growing up in one of London's most volatile neighbourhoods, where a minor street clash escalates into a cycle of violence that has tragic repercussions. A powerful and moving tale of young men on the edge, it reflects an emerging modern reality within Britain's inner cities. The film explores themes of friendship, rivalry and revenge amid a generation of boys to whom guns have become a fact of life. When 18 year old Ricky is released from a Youth Offenders Institute he desperately wants to avoid falling back into his criminal past. However, his claustrophobic world and the huge pressure to conform proves inescapable. Ricky almost immediately gets caught up in a road rage incident involving his best friend, Wisdom, and a local rival - all for the sake of a broken wing-mirror. This minor confrontation quickly develops into a series of tit for tat reprisals that spiral out of control. Ricky's 12 year old brother Curtis is battling his own pressures and is caught between this world and his mum Beverley's competing aspirations for him. Ricky is at a turning point - his mum and girlfriend Shea are struggling to help him stay out of trouble but he owes a debt of allegiance to Wisdom who has already crossed that line. It seems inevitable Ricky will be dragged down with him, but it's also only a matter of time before Curtis - in thrall to the allure of his older brother - will be drawn in too. Bullet Boy inhabits a volatile world where friendships and loyalty are tested to the extreme, the interchange of fate and circumstance seems as casual as a coin toss, and the slightest flare of emotions can set off a devastating ripple of events. The film takes these two boys, their friends, families and enemies through a heady and emotional three days as one gun changes hands leaving in its wake a trail of destruction.

THIRTEEN!

Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood) is a polite and helpful thirteen-year old, who pays close attention to her schoolwork and has two close and equally well-behaved friends. However, Tracy's father rarely sees her and her well-meaning recovering alcoholic mother Mel (Holly Hunter) allows her friends, including her recently rehabbed crack-addict boyfriend (Jeremy Sisto), to eat their food and stay at their home rent-free. To cope with her family problems, Tracy self-harms. When Tracy starts seventh-grade she is teased for her clothing. She becomes envious of popular girl Evie (Nikki Reed). To win Evie's approval, she steals a wallet and shares the money with Evie. Impressed, Evie befriends her and introduces her to sex and drugs. Evie, who lives with either her aunt or cousin, the exact relationship between them is never made clear in the film, her legal guardian, Brooke, extends her visit at Tracy's house by telling Mel stories about the abuse suffered as a child and now, at the hands of Brooke's boyfriend. She gains further sympathy by claiming her mother is dead. Mel finds out later on that some of Evie's stories were true and desperately wants to help her. However, after Tracy begins to pick fights constantly with Mel about her boyfriend, Mel decides to send Evie home. Angered, Evie turns on Tracy, excluding her, spreading gossip about her, and telling the teachers about her bad behaviour as well as handing in her fake ID. When Brooke finds drugs in Evie's room, Evie tells her of all of their activities but claims they were Tracy's idea. They proceed to search Tracys' room only to find similar contraband. Brooke and Mel confront Tracy but when Brooke accuses Tracy of corrupting Evie, Mel counters that is was actually Evie who corrupted Tracy. Unpersuaded, Brooke vows to move with Evie to a different town and never let her see Tracy again, after revealing Tracy's self-harm habit to Mel. Mel kisses the scars and cuts from her daughters self-harm after vowing she would do anything for Tracy and her brother. The film ends with Tracy screaming as she spins on a round about, letting out a blood-curdling scream.

Other Texts

KIDS!

It is presented in documentary form (at first the selling point was to portray real and factual events), but this has been proven to be untrue, in fact, all of the character's situations depicting in the movie were apparently scripted. This went against the producers' wishes, who wanted to sell it as an unsimulated documentary on release. It also depicts the use of marijuana, alcohol, Nitrous Oxide, tobacco, ecstasy, and ketamine, a.k.a. Special K. The original version of the film was rated NC-17, although an R-rated edited version is available. Because of its explicit subject matter centering around relatively young teenagers, the film has been highly controversial; however, it is critically acclaimed. The movie includes a large portion of sexual dialogue related to intercourse, oral sex and other sexual topics. It also depicts scenes of rape, physical violence, drug deals and shoplifting. It is considered by some to be a wakeup call to the world about the nature of present day youth in the city.

synopsis

The film uses the 'day in the life of' device, beginning with a group of kids getting the day off school after a middle-class classmate's (Katie's) suicide after being bullied and slowly building up to the climactic house party.
The film revolves around three west London teenagers Trife (Aml Ameen) Jay (Adam Deacon) and Moony (Femi Oyeniran).
Trife is worried about his life. He is being tempted by the gangster lifestyle by his uncle, but his girlfriend Alisa (Red Madrell) offers a chance to a better life. However, a rumour that Alisa has slept with someone else might influence this life-changing decision. Trife also has to deal with the school bully Sam (Noel Clarke), who is out for revenge after Jay steals his girlfriend Claire (Madeline Fairley) who he has been physically abusing, and after the trio (Trife, Jay and Moony) beat him up in his own house.
At the same time, Trife’s girlfriend Alisa has just learnt that she’s pregnant, but her friend Becky (Jamie Winstone) wants to take her out on a drug and shopping binge. The film heads toward a conclusion with the brother of a rubber toe set on revenge at his sister’s suicide and Sam looking for payback.