2. Representations of youth / sub
culture:
The idea of working class Britain is
immediately introduced through the mise
en scene of Shaun’s bedroom here as a
class who lived in poverty during this era.
It’s interesting that the very first
shots of this central character signify
to the audience two things about him.
Firstly, his class, as signified by the
mise en scene of his surroundings and
secondly, the fact that his family is a
broken unit due to his dad’s death.
This immediately signifies the ideology
of the film maker as he is dealing with
two aspects of British history: How
the working classes were affected by
policies during the Thatcher
government of the 1980’s (poverty and
unemployment) and how the Falklands
war affected the country as a whole.
Shaun wakes up.
Bedroom: peeling walls,
framed photo of a man
in uniform, chair as
bedside table.
The framed photograph
signifies someone important in
Shaun’s life – we later
discover that his dad has died
in the Falklands and this
photograph then serves to
signify that Shaun is grieving
over his father and still
feeling his loss deeply.
It is worth noting here that the
working classes are perhaps the most
affected by war time as a great
number of troops come from the
working class.
Clearly, the film maker wanted to
explore how the government of the
1980’s affected British youth of the
time.
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Violence / aggression
Family / sense of community (area live in)
Working class
Skinhead sub culture
•
England in the 80’s
•
The ideologies of Shane Meadows

3. Representations of youth / sub
culture:
The idea of working class Britain is
furthered here as Shaun uses violence to
sort his problems out. This could be due
to the fact he is grieving the loss of his
father and simply loses his temper, but
violence and aggression as a way of
solving problems is also a stereotypical
feature of the working classes.
In these shots youth is depicted
as cruel (to each other) and
bullying is highlighted as an issue.
Shaun is bullied because his
clothes are out of fashion which
signifies the importance of
fashion to youth sub cultures.
In the next scene , Shaun
is bullied at school
because of his flared
trousers and a comment is
made about his dad. He
jumps on the bully and
hits him.
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Violence / aggression
Family / sense of community (area live in)
Working class
Skinhead sub culture
These shots have further
connotations of Shaun’s
isolation from any group. We
have yet to see him in a
friendship group.
•
England in the 80’s
•
The ideologies of Shane Meadows

4. Representations of youth /
sub culture:
I found it interesting that
when viewing this scene, I
immediately felt
apprehensive for Shaun as
approaching a group of
youths in such a confined
space is intimidating and I’m
so accustomed to the
stereotype of youths hanging
around, waiting to ‘start on’
innocent passers by. The
representations of this
group are immediately
favourable then as instead of
mocking or trying to hurt
Shaun, the group try to make
him feel better and even
befriend him.
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The stereotype of British working class is
of ‘grafters’ or hard workers, but the
youth in this film are just hanging around.
This could be due to unemployment during
this era, but most likely, the youth within
this film are avoiding the responsibility
that comes with unemployment.
After Shaun is punished at
school, he walks home
through an underpass and
meets the skinhead group
for the first time. They ask
him what’s wrong and try to
make him feel better.
Violence / aggression
Family / sense of community (area live in)
Working class
Skinhead sub culture
In these shots, the audience’s
first impressions of the group
are formed. Woody in
particular, is the first
friendly character in the film.
•
England in the 80’s
•
The ideologies of Shane Meadows

5. Representations of
youth/sub culture:
Signifying that that Skinhead
sub cultures in this time were all
unemployed and within their
spare time they just go round
smashing stuff up. This may
because or pure boredom but
due to them all having fake guns
it could be them acting out the
Falklands war.
The representation
portrayed within this scene
is that skinhead youths
were all hooligans running
around and smashing things
up also showing that they
are aggressive.
This scene also shows that
the area they live in is very
abandoned and run down.
This is due to the
connotations that they run
into a few abandoned
buildings, this also shows
how the working class were
the worst effected within
this period as many places
were being closed down and
left for nothing.
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Violence/aggression
Family/sense of community (Area live in)
Working class
Skinhead sub culture
England in the 80’s
The ideologies of Shane Meadows
Gadget comes and gets
Shaun from his house and
makes friends with
him/bringing him into
group. The group then
goes into the building and
starts smashing up the
place. All shoot gadget…
Gadget hits Shaun
Gadget feels rejected by
the group as if his
rankings within the group
have fallen. This is
signified from them all
hiding then shooting him
like he is the easiest
target within the group.

6. Representations of
youth/sub culture:
The ideologies of Shaun
Meadows shows here that
to be able to fit in within
society you have to dress in
the right designer clothes
and look the part. This also
links in within skinhead sub
culture as they show more
about their fashion and
style with the Doc Martins,
Ben Sherman shirts and the
shaved head.
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Violence/aggression
Family/sense of community (Area live in)
Working class
Skinhead sub culture
England in the 80’s
The ideologies of Shane Meadows
Woody within this scene is
signified again as the new
father figure for Shaun. Due
to Woody acting like a proud
father when Shaun is all
dressed up and looking like a
skinhead.
Within the next scene
Shaun is getting his head
shaved by Lol. After this
Woody then gives Shaun a
Ben Sherman shirt.
Lol within this scene
is showed to try and
act responsible. This
is show through the
signifiers of her
keeping on asking
Shaun whether he is
sure and if his mum
would be okay with
this.

7. Representations of
youth/sub culture:
This scene shows that
youths in the 80’s do have
deference for adults as
they believe that adults are
above them and that what
they say is in fact right.
Whereas I would have
believe within this scene
that the teens would have
answered back and not
really cared what she had to
say as I am so used to the
stereotype of today's
youths.
This scene also represents
the disposable income in
that the teens within this
decade had to spend within
cafe shops.
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Violence/aggression
Family/sense of community (Area live in)
Working class
Skinhead sub culture
England in the 80’s
The ideologies of Shane Meadows
This scene shows that when
confronted with an adult
figure the teens are tamed.
This is show from the
signifiers such as Lol
stuttering when answering
and the whole group going
quiet
All of the gang are in the
hangout spot at the cafe
where Shaun's mum walks
in and confronts the teens
about them hanging
around with her son.
Within this scene Woody
is shown as a respectful
and caring characters.
The connotations of
Woody saying ‘Love’ and
being very apologetic.

8. Representations of
youth/sub culture:
This shows that Shane
Meadows did not only want
to show the classic
skinheads who were inspired
by Jamaican music but also
show the newer racist
skinheads who wanted
Britain to become Britain.
This shows that the
Skinhead sub culture was
changing within society and
becoming a more racist
subgroup.
This also shows that
skinheads liked to spend
their spare time drinking
and smoking. This may be
because the working class
had it the worst so they
used this as a method of
escape from what was
happening in the Falklands
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Violence/aggression
Family/sense of community (Area live in)
Working class
Skinhead sub culture
England in the 80’s
The ideologies of Shane Meadows
This is the audiences first
impression of Combo. He is
shown to be smug and arrogant
character. This is signified
through him wanting to be the
centre of attention with his
stories and his opening into the
scene with the prank and
charging in like he owns the
place.
All the group hanging
around laughing while
drinking and smoking.
Combo turns up and mood
totally changes.
Combo is shown as a ‘New
skinhead’. This is signified
through his language using
words such a ‘Wog’ and
‘Nigger’. This making Milky
who is half cast feel hated
and uneasy with Combo
around.
Majority of the group
within this scene feel
uncomfortable with
Combo there. While
Combo is telling the story
slow non-diagetic music
starts to play whilst
showing close ups of each
characters faces. Most of
the groups faces show
disgust and awkwardness
with only Gadget and Buke
who are actually enjoying
and laughing at this story.

9. Representations of youth/sub
culture:
This represents the working
class as being the most
aggressive and wanting the cause
the violence to sort out their
problems. Due to Thatcher
within this time sending troops
to Falklands and letting
immigrants enter the country to
work. This therefore meant it
was harder to get jobs as there
was more competition. The mise
en scene used within this scene
shows that the working class live
in bad conditions due to Combos
apartment being run down with a
few mattresses on the floor for
seats. Also Shane Meadows gets
across the ideology here that
the Working class were the
worst hit and they were the ones
standing up for it. Lastly this
scene shows how racism grew
within England in the 80’s due to
the immigrants taking the jobs.
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Violence/aggression
Family/sense of community (Area live in)
Working class
Skinhead sub culture
England in the 80’s
The ideologies of Shane Meadows
Combo brings across the
idea that the working
class jobs are all being
taken over by immigrants
and that they are taking
over all the houses.
We are able to see that
combo is a great orator.
He is able to put across
his points in a way to
indoctrinate the members
of the group to make them
believe he is right. We can
tell this through the
signifiers like Buke and
Gadget sat there nodding
with agreement with what
Combo is saying.
COMBOS SPEECH.
Shaun at first disagrees with what Combo is saying we are able
to tell this as Shaun lashing out swinging at combo connotes that
he is in total disagreement that Combo believes the Falklands is
phoney war. However Combo twists what he says to Shaun to
draw him into his side. This is done by him using the death of
Shauns father as a way to capture Shauns attention by saying
fighting will make his father proud