Fish Tank- Key Scenes

Key scenes of Fish Tank which represent:

• Britishness
• Age
• Gender
• Class

Britishness/Britian:
- Swearing
- Alcohol (In almost every scene one of these is focused on.)
- Focus on sex
- Violence

Swearing is seen as the norm and is used in every day talk. It is used to cause affence to people as well as used in general conversation. In the very first scene where the main character Mia is introduced within minutes she has began swearing- when on the phone she refers to her friend as a bitch when trying to make up with her. As well as Mia swearing the second person to be introduced immediately swears at her, this is in public place where young children are, however they continue to swear at each other in a loud voice. People of all ages swear, Mia's mother, her role model instantly swears at her and bruises her. This suggests that swearing is seen as a normal thing in Britain, and that it isn't seen as a problem.

Alcohol is also featured in a lot of the scenes. However a typical British stereotype is that teenagers binge drink, however the focus on binge drinking and causing trouble. This contributes to the debate of binge drinking, this is because it shows the other side to the story, it gives a reason as to why somebody of a young age may turn to drink. Although it shows that she turns to drink as a comfort she also appears to turn to drink to gain confidence for her dancing. This is shown in the key scene where Mia is shown in the room dancing on her own, and in the background you can see empty cans of cider.

Violence is similar to swearing, everything that is spoken is in an aggressive way, even when Mia and her sister obviously care each other a lot and are going to miss each other they cannot make them self say it. Instead they tell each other that they hate each other, this is a key scene that represents how violence is a theme throughout, suggesting that violence is present a lot in Britian. It potrays women in the film to be the more aggressive sex. However it also shows that women are weak, this is because they are easily influenced by the males making them attach themselves to the men, then when let down they fall apart. This is shown through Mia's mum, when she finds out she has been used she breaks down, It shows the independence of women. This is shown through the key scene of the 3 girls dancing at the end, Mia her sister and her mum. This represents there unity and their independence as they all go off in their separate ways.

Class:

There are 3 different main classes represented
-Mia's class
-Travelers
-Mia's mums boyfriend

The whole film shows that how ever rich you are does not play a part on how moral you are, in this film it shows the complete opposite.