Film Essay AS

1. Kelechi Campbell
1
How are teenage protagonists representedin Adulthood(2008)and
Dangerous Minds(1995)?
In this essay, I will be discussing the ways in which teenage protagonists are
portrayed in my two case studies of films, ‘Adulthood’(2008) and ‘Dangerous
Minds’(1995). I will be analysing how both films portray teenage protagonists
and discussing the interpretations that could be made.
Adulthood(2008), BBFC certificate 15 and is a British drama film directed by
Noel Clarke. The film’s main stars are Noel Clarke, Adam Deacon, Jacob Anderson
and Ben Drew. The film is a sequel to the film ‘KIdULTHOOD’, set six years after
the murder of Trife. Sam Peel is released from prison but finds that life on the
outside is just as hard as life inside prison. As he adapts back to normal life, he is
followed by a new generation of young boys who want revenge. For the duration
of the Film, Sam attempts to stop the cycle of violence but it doesn’t change the
motives of his pursuers.
The second film, Dangerous Minds(1995), BBFC certificate 15+ and is an
American drama film directed by John N. Smith. It stars Michelle Pfeiffer, Wade
Domínguez, Renoly Santiago and Bruklin Harris. This is about Louanne Johnson,
former marine, who receives a job teaching underachieving teens in a inner-city
high school. After failing to grab the attention of these kids early on, she tries a
new approach. She is armed with a no-nonsense attitude and succeeds in
reaching the students.
In both films, there are contrasting representations of teenage protagonists. In
Dangerous Minds they portray teenagers to be capable and gifted. The narratives
of the film show the teenage protagonist’s progression of growth and ability
from the start to the end of the film. For example, at the start Ms. Johnson cannot
even grab the classes attention but later through the film they show academic
potential as they show their intelligence when learning poetry. The film suggests
to the audience is that teenagers are powerful beyond measure but at times may
be misconceived or misunderstood by society. Whereas in Adulthood, they
portray British teenagers in a negative way throughout the film, showing signs of
morality but clearly indicating various stigmas attached to the teenager
stereotype such as drugs, gangs and being rebellious. I will be analysing how,
through the use of micro elements; cinematography, editing, sound and mise-en-
scene.
In the first scene of Dangerous Minds, children are shown arriving to school on
the bus in a disorganized and rowdy fashion, such as hanging on the outside and
hitting the side of the bus. Subsequently reinforcing the stereotype of rebellious
acts to the audience. The abundance of noise coming from the bus connotes a
lack of discipline and etiquette to the audience. Non-diegetic sound in the form of
score music (Coolio – Ganster’s Paradise) emphasizes such stereotypes such as
gang activity and enables the audience to establish a connection between the
song and the students. This scene portrays teenagers in a turbulent manner in a
school environment which is usually calm and controlled. This emphasised the
stereotype of teenagers being disobedient and rebellious to the audience.

2. Kelechi Campbell
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The mise-en-scene used in this scene such as costumes, props and colours could
represent the modern day perspective of teenagers in that era. The scene shows
various teenagers walking off the bus, Raul walks off the bus smoking, and
another walks off with grills in his mouth. This implies even in a school, an
environment with rules and stipulations, teenagers will still steer away from the
behavior expected, to be ignorant and rebellious. Costumes are used to show the
audience the social group each character belongs in or what personality the
teenager holds. Such as Durrell, he is shown wearing a hoodie and grills in his
mouth, this reinforces the director’s implications to the audience in what
economic social group each character comes from. This could also imply that
Durrell is accustomed to the ‘hood lifestyle’ and is associated with certain things
such as rap and hip-hop, as many rappers are seen with gold grills in their
mouth. Another example of this is Emilio, he is shown in a medium shot standing
around in a leather jacket, shirt open and hair greased, greeting a friend. The
director uses a medium shot, focused on Emilio to invoke a feeling of dominance
in his character by showing him standing
out in a crowd full of others, also the
leather jackets in the 90’s were dear and
were also linked to mob affiliations. This
connotation was also enhanced by the
non-diegetic sound in the form of
background music. The combination of
these create representations of gang and
crime affiliations in teens.
In Dangerous Minds, the scene where Ms. Johnson introduces herself to the class
supports the stereotype of teenagers being disobedient as the class aren’t paying
attention to her as she’s trying to speak. This portrays the students as rowdy.
This scene links to Levi Strauss’ theory of binary oppositions of man VS woman,
this represents the male protagonist to be dominant over the male, conforming
to the stereotype of a man. This is shown in the scene where Emilio confronts
Ms. Johnson face to face, the director uses a series of close up shots to show the
emotion on both Emilio and Ms. Johnson’s face, showing the intimidation she
feels, this is expressed by the body
language of Ms. Johnson, as it very closed
as if she is scared. This portrays the
dominance as it shows even in a position
of authority, a male student still
dominates a teacher who is female. This
shows teenagers are portrayed in a more
authoritarian role and suggests teenagers
had a more domineering presence in that era.
Later scenes of the film show progression in the teenage protagonists, both
academically and morally. A scene that shows this is when Ms. Johnson is reading
a Bob Dylan poem about death, this marks the first time Emilio voluntarily
participates in the classroom, the non-diegetic music used by the director in the
form of ascending piano chords symbolises a point of enlightenment for Emilio.

3. Kelechi Campbell
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This causes the audience to question why if he really wants the life he is involved
in or was he forced into it. A medium shot focused on Emilio is uses to show his
emotion and interest Emilio is experiencing, this behaviour portrayed goes
against the teenage stereotype of being ignorant and not being typically smart.
Through this scene the director uses close up shots of Ms. Johnson, showing how
stunned she is, implying she is so surprised the children are actually making
valuable contributions, going against teenage stereotypes. Through this the
audience sees the teenage protagonists actually stray from the stereotype and
enter a more intellectual level that the audience did not anticipate.
Adulthood similarly portrays teenagers in a negative way from the first scene of
the film. The director uses an establishing shot of below the city motorway to
make the location, a party clear to the audience. The diegetic on-screen sound of
grime adds to the communication of what is happening in this location. The
director uses a number of short cuts in this scene to indicate the many aspects of
the party that reinforce the stereotypes of teenagers, fornication, drugs and
money. For example, the director uses props in the form of blunts to link the
perceived stereotype of teenagers to drugs. The party is underneath a motorway,
which implies that this is socially unacceptable and seems to be hidden from the
surface, much like gangs. The connotations of this continue through aspects of
mise-en-scene such as
costumes, wearing tracksuits
or hoodies, giving the
suggestion of a lower economic
group. Later in the film, where
three boys, Oman, Henry and
Dabz rob a car. By analysing
the mise-en-scene such as
centre positioning in shots, we
instantly know that Dabz is the
protagonist, there are a lot of
close up shots of Dabz. As they
are committing a crime in broad daylight, it is alerting to the audience as it
implies they do not care who sees, which ties in to the perceived stereotype of
teenagers being rebellious to societies morals and rules. This reinforces
representations of criminal acts and teenagers, emphasising the stereotype of
teenagers. This scene is used to indicate Dabz and his boys as fearless characters
with bad traits. The non-diegetic music in the form of rap music, glorifying
criminal activity is played with the diegetic dialogue to match themes of gang
activity and teenagers. Dialogue is also used to reinforce the portrayal of
teenagers, colloquial language is used by a majority
of the teenagers to communicate to everyone else
for example “I’m gonna beat that bruv!”, insinuating
connotations of street life and lower economic
groups among the boys using this language.
There is a scene where Sam is going leave the house
to murder someone, he is confronted by his mum at
his front door, the director uses close up shots to

4. Kelechi Campbell
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show the audience the emotion that is being conveyed between the two parties,
you can see the pain both of them are feeling, despite this Sam still leaves,
showing the force of crime as a stronger hold on the teenager then family does.
This is used by the director to portray teenagers in a negative light as it shows
even in their most vulnerable place where they are faced with the person they
love most, they will still stray and conform to the stereotypes of teenagers. This
shows the hold the street culture has on teenagers.
In the fight scene between Sam and Jay,
the director uses an arc shot to show
the audience the reality of the situation,
both characters have a stand off with a
baseball bat and a gun, this
characterises Sam and Jay without the
director having to use dialogue. The
dialogue used later in the scene by Sam
such as “You think I wanted this bruv?”
with close up shots used by the director
invokes feelings of empathy through the audience. When Sam takes the gun off
Jay and pulls the trigger to his own head, nothing happens as there are no bullets
in the gun. This scene in the film may be used to imply the things you see on the
surface could all be a front. The guns,
drugs and clothes, could be used to
hide their insecurities and fears of life.
This is because he had a gun, used for
the purpose of intimidation, yet when
it came down to the crucial moment,
he didn’t live up to the stigma of
teenage stereotypes. The costumes are
also significant, in the fight scene,
Sam’s clothes are in a dirty state. The representation of the clothing being dirty is
aimed to make the audience believe that they have fought a brave amount to
restore their problems, a message and value that teens are willing to change if
put in a harsh enough situation.
Through my analysis of both films, I believe that the films had similarities but for
the most part contrasted in the way that they portray teenage protagonists.
Opening sequences of both films they portray the teenage protagonists as
rebellious, disobedient and unmanageable. Both of the films teenage
protagonists support societies stereotypes. However, in Dangerous Minds, the
teenage protagonists are shown as a progressive force of knowledge and power
as they show signs of intelligence and go on to show great capability and ability.
Whereas, in Adulthood teenage protagonists Sam and Jay show little to no
significant indication of improvement in character. They still surround
themselves with the lifestyle of drugs, gangs and crime that the audience expects
them to stray to, leading the audience to not only acknowledge the stereotype
but agree with it.
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5. Kelechi Campbell
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