The representation and the collective identity of the two main characters in Fish Tank and Precious is socially disadvantaged girls. Mia is the main protagonist in Fish Tank and is represented as a typical teenage girl from a sub working class culture. This is shown through the mise en scene such as where Mia lives and the costume that she wears. Precious is the main protagonist in the film Precious is also presented in a negative way; a teenager who is pregnant and who is about to give birth to her second child. This essay will compare the two ways that these characters are portrayed in the two films.
Poverty, social housing and single parent families are the themes in Fish Tank. Mia lives on a council estate in Essex and lives with her Mother who appears to not work/have a job. This is noticable as the film is set during the day and her Mother is at home. The film is very realistic as the camera is handheld and the audience gets a point of view feel of Mia's character and lifestyle. Through this we see that she plays the typical social realist protagonist who is angry, frustrated and alienated teenager. Her Mother is overtly sexualised, abusive and irresponsible. However, as the film continues the audience learns that Mia is physically abused in her home and searches for an escape.
Precious also gets physically abused in her home by her Mother. Precious' Mother is also very mentally unstable, this shows that both of these characters have irresponsible parents and that they do not have a strong bond/relationship with their Mothers. Both protagonists also seem to be deprived by their living conditions and the fact that they come from working class backgrounds. Precious also wants to escape just like Mia in the film Fish Tank. However, they both choose different ways of escaping their dysfunctional families.
In the film Fish tank the Patriarchal ideology is challenged through the narrative outcome as Mia escapes and survives. She escapes by herself without no ones help and her Mother's boyfriend is exposed. The audience see that he is a liar and a cheat as he has his own family. This is an alternative represention as she actually escapes and comes out at the other end. The end of the film shows a positive representation of Mia; that she is a strong and a heroine. Where as, at the beginning of the film she was portrayed as a 'trailer trash teen'.
The difference between Mia escaping and Precious escaping is that Precious receives help and support from people when doing so, however Mia escaped by herself. Precious received this help from a teacher and a social worker, both of which were White adults. This represention of the White teacher and social worker helping out Precious was not popular amongst Black communities because of ethnicity issues amongst society. The Black communities wanted to see them being more aspirational and dealing with problems themselves instead of depending on White citizens.
Blumer and Katz's theory called the Uses and Gratification theory explains that we consume the media for entertainment, to compare the characters identities with our own, for social interactions and for observations. This is a key element as the audience voyeuristically see the grim realism of what both character's go through. The audience see the poverty of others and the unpleasant acts which the both Mia and Precious go through.
In conclusion, Mia and Precious are both portrayed negatively at the beginning of each of the films. Their characters are very similar as they are both teenagers suffering from abuse and have irresponsible parents. However, they both escape their families differently and show how they want to break free in different ways. Mia shows it in a very symbollic way; trying to let the chained up horse free. On the other hand, Precious finds a way out of her traumatic daily existence through imagination and fantasy. In her mind, there is another world where she is loved and appreciated. Therefore, there are dominant representations as well as alternative reprensentations of the two female characters.
No comments:
Post a Comment