as film essay

8/13/2019 As Film Essay

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Crystal Bukenya AS Film

How are teenage Protagonists represented in Attack the Block(2011) and Super

8(2011)?

In this essay, I will be discussing the ways in which the teenage protagonists are

represented in my two case studies of films, Attack the Block and Super 8.

The film Attack the Block was released in 2011, BBFC certificate 15+ and is a

British sci-fi- thriller film directed by Joe Cornish and produced by Studio Canal,

for a Niche audience. The films main stars are John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker,

Alex Esmail, Franz Drameh, Leeon Jones and Luke Treadaway. It is about a

group of troublesome teen boys and a woman who are out one evening, and

witness the first of many meteorites that crash in their neighbourhood. The boys

decide to go after it, and kill the unknown alien, however they are then later

faced with trying to kill off hundreds more aliens successfully. The storyline

supports Levi Strauss theory of oppositions being the key meaning in the

narrative of a film, such as good VS evil and human VS alien. This is supported inthe storyline as Moses and his gang are presented as evil in the beginning when

they rob an innocent woman, who is presented as good when she is talking

kindly through dialogue on her phone. However, it quickly changes later in the

film when the boys are faced with fighting aliens and protecting their homes.

The second film, Super 8, was also released in 2011 and the BBFC certificate is a

12+ . It is an American sci-fi thriller film directed by J.J.Abrams. It mainly stars

Elle Fanning, Joel Courtney, Zach Mills, Ryan Lee and Gabriel Basso. The film

follows the theory of Todorov, as it is about a group of teenage boys that have a

passion for filming, which is their equilibrium. When they go out to film at a train

depot, however, the Protagonist witnesses a truck ride onto the tracks thatcauses a massive derailment, being the disruption of the equilibrium. Following

the discovery that there is an Alien, and when Joe convinces him to leave,

restoring the new equilibrium.

In both films, there are recurring representations of teenage protagonists to be

heroic and powerful. The narratives in both films reflect the teenage

protagonists growth from the beginning of the film to the very end.Themessages and values highlighted demonstrate that teenagers are often

misunderstood and do not always have an option to escape crime. I will be

discussing how, through the use of micro elements; cinematography, editing

sound and mise-en-scene.

In the films, there are various representations of protagonist characters. Moses,

who plays the protagonist in the film Attack the Block, is presented to be

superior out of the group of boys. In the opening sequence, we first see Moses

appear with his four other group members in a wide shot, Pest, Dennis, Jerome

and Biggs, just before they decide to rob a woman in a deserted street. The

setting of an urban neighbourhood with graffiti reflects the characters are in a

low status in society because of their appearance and illiterate language of slang

through dialogue, which presents them to be this way. For example, the dialogue

used when Pest says yo blud!, is an indication of how young teenagers arestereotyped to speak in society today. This links to Stuart Halls theory of how


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race and class are often blurred because we often generalise groups by assuming

they fit a stereotype, which is a message by Joe Cornish to make us think about

prejudice. By analysing the mise-en-scene we instantly know that Moses is the

protagonist because of his character positioning in the wide shot, where he is

placed in the centre between two of the boys when surrounding her. This shows

that he is represented to be the leader of the gang, as he is also the first malecharacter with diegetic dialogue and to be in a close up shot. There is a

synchronous non diegetic sound at the time of his appearance, when the score

music is deep and emphatic. This is alerting and is used to indicate that Moses is

a fearless character with bad traits. The non diegetic score music is played with

the diegetic dialogue in the background in order to build tension and to make us

wonder what will happen next.

This teenage protagonist is represented to be aggressive and persistent when he

demands the phone from the woman, threatening her with a knife, which we see

him flick out in a close up shot. The representation of Moses is therefore

stereotyped to be a typical teen; young black boy, wearing a hooded jumper,

harassing a woman and carrying a weapon out late at night. These things relate

to boys that have had a bad upbringing, and feel they have to prove themselves

to hold a reputation. This represents teenage protagonists to be pressured,

making us feel sympathetic towards the teenage protagonist, reminding us that

he is only a young boy, but is living in crime.

Looking at his appearance and attitude in the opening sequence, we can also

assume that he is not friendly nor an innocent protagonist. This is shown in the

shot-reverse-shot between the protagonist and victim, which presents the

intimidation and fear that Moses presence can bring to other characters in thefilm, shown through the expression on her face in the frames, where she looks

panicked, reminding us that Moses is in lead for an important reason.

This is linked to Levi Strauss theory of binary oppositions of Man VSWoman,which represents the protagonist to be masculine and dominant, which conforms

to the stereotype of men. There is also an extreme close up shot just after he

reveals the weapon, where we can see the protagonists eyes are screwed topresent his cold attitude towards the innocent victim. There is a low angled shot

just after he demands for her ring, which highly indicates his power by

incorporating us viewers to also be beneath his status in that shot. This shot was

constructed at that moment due to the affect of making this teenage protagonist

look powerful and superior.

There is a brief weather shot, where the night time sky is fully shown to expose

the first meteorite crashing down, which is a bright white ball. Semiotics are

used to mirror the idea of hope and freedom for the victim, to get away safely

from the fearful teenage protagonist that reflects darkness. She does manage to

escape straight after a synchronised diegetic crash of the meteorite lands on a

car, following a little explosion. There is diegetic dialogue from the boys, when

they inform the protagonist that she is getting away, another indication that they

all inform Moses of any problem because he holds the power.


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The costume consists of a bandana across the boys mouths, in order to covertheir faces. This was worn before the robbery, suggesting that the characters are

often in trouble and covering their identity. There is a cut transition to the

protagonists face after she fled, where he is the first to pull his bandana down in

a close up shot, revealing his whole face for the first time. The other characters

are out of focus, and are positioned behind the protagonist to end the scene withhim still leading as the main subject. This is what is expected to be seen by a

protagonist, because we are following them through their journey, which plays a

part in making a film enjoyable for an audience, because we watch the character

grow through each scene until the very last.

In the last scene, we see Moses represented as a hero, contrasting from how he

was seen in the beginning of the film as evil and merciless. There is a clear

indication that his character has grown and matured as he takes on the

responsibility and attempts to kill the aliens by himself because he thinks he is to

blame. There is a medium shot behind him, where we can see weapons in his

hands, and swords attached to his bag. The director used this shot intending to

make us view him as a strong warrior because of his stance where his shoulders

are broad, and his bowed head, representing him to be fearless and indicating

that the next scene will be promising.

In the film Super 8 , the protagonist Joe is represented as a caring and forgiving

character, strongly contrasting from the character of Moses. We see this in the

scene where the train derails. The use of low non diegetic score music, following

the hectic dialogue from all the characters speaking at once foreshadowed that

something bad was about to happen. Joe shows signs of concern for his friends,

especially Alice, who is the second protagonist and the only girl there, when hediegetically shouts her name in a close up shot as the crash is in action. The ideas

of gender in the film indicate that girls are less able to protect themselves, and

cause worry. This therefore represents her to be a weak protagonist, and tells us

that it is unlikely that she will defeat the alien. However, his concern for her also

highlights that teenage girls are often a young boys weakness, when he runs in a

pan shot, but abruptly stops and turns to look for her, putting himself in danger.

The lighting in the derailment scene has been edited with darker tones of navy

and grey, to compliment the mood and to reflect the charactersfear, particularly

the protagonists, furthermore indicating that non of the characters are asintimidating as the characters from Attack the Block, particularly Moses. He

represents the more conventional idea of a teen, because he is often highlighted

as violent and dangerous, which is how society often generalises male teenagers

to be.

In the final scene, J.J.Abrams directs Joe so that he is highlighted to be a hero and

to emphasise his protagonists importance in the film. When Joe confronts the

alien, we see that he is in a dirty state and his costume is ripped and burnt from

the explosions., similar to Moses appearance in the final scene. Therepresentation of teenage protagonists are aimed to make us believe that they

have fought a brave amount to restore their problems, a message and value thatteens are willing to change if put in a harsh situation.


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There is a long note of non-diegetic score music softly playing in the background

as Joe speaks to the alien, then it slowly mellows out, used to inspire the

audience. Furthermore, he is seen to be brave for this reason, and his diegetic

dialogue when he tells the Alien, I know bad things happen. This is said in a

close up shot, where the Alien is holding him in the air by the waist with onehand. The character positioning reflects Joes growth from the beginning of the

film to the very last scene, as he is a level above the other characters, making him

stand out. The shot reverse shot between Joe and the Alien clearly highlights

how his dialect affects the Aliens mood, when his face softens and his heavybreathing calms, making the scene less intense and more inspiring. This shows

that he is determined to help his friends and family from the danger, and restore

the equilibrium, similar to Moses intensions by the end of Attack the Block.

However, there are differences between how teenage protagonists and adult

protagonists are represented in the films.The adults in the films dont play alarge part, which represents them to often deter from trouble and take a more

responsible approach in harsh situations. Such as Joes father, who warns him

though harsh dialogue as he shouts out to him You will stay away from her!referring to Alice. Although there is a clear concern for his son, it is shown in the

shot-reverse-shot that his protection signifies that he is not allowing his son to

be brave and independent. Similar to the character of Sam in Attack the Block,

who when first introduced is seen through her facial expressions as being scared

to walk alone at night. The build up in dynamic music shows that we should

expect something bad to happen, which is highlighted in the eye line match as

she walks towards the boys and they notice her, followed by whispers in their

dialogue. This emphasises the group as they huddle and represents adultprotagonists to be victims of teenage gangs.

It is easier to generalise teens in a negative light and to revolve them around

crime and action, such as these two films do. Attack the Block has messages and

values that suggest that teens are misunderstood, such as Moses, who proves to

be a vulnerable boy in a rough neighbourhood, which may be difficult to escape

from. This is shown further on in the film, in the phone call between him and

Sam, when she enters his room. There is a sudden string of soft music that plays

and a silence between the characters, which cuts to the shot-reverse-shot, to

mark the moment that she reacts in shock and as we realise as an audience, how

young he is when she asks in dialogue if it is his room, and he replies, yeah. We

sympathise as the setting represents a young protagonist, with cartoon animated

bed sheets and a messy room, which we can relate to a normal young boy, rather

than a violent teenage thug. Similarly, Joe in Super 8 is a caring teenage

protagonist, as his main focus throughout the film is to protect Alice at his own

risk.

Through my analysis, I believe that overall the protagonists are represented as

heroic and powerful. This is shown through their character positioning, and the

shots used, which highlights them from other characters in each frame, making

them the subject. Both directors find ways emphasise their protagonistsimportance, using semiotics and dialogue, and reflecting their bravery by


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bringing them forward and taking full responsibility in order to protect their

loved ones. But at the same time, they find ways to make us sympathise with

teenage protagonists and we question whether teens are too generalised and

misunderstood.

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