Kidulthood

                                         

-Look at the poster image. How does this confirm or contradict your expectations of Kidulthood?

From the poster of Kidulthood its obvious that this is a movie about young people, and was made for young people. It portrays these actors as dark and gritty, for example Sam on the front cover is wearing a full tracksuit and carrying a baseball bat. The name of the movie doesn't really make you think of knife crime and youths fighting so the poster contradicted my inital expectations from when I heard the title. The name Kidulthood makes me think more about grown up kids behaving maturely but contradictory to these they spend most of the movie acting like angry children.

Why do you think the title Kidulthood was chosen?

I believe that the title was chosen with the intent of making a point about how kids are forced into adulthood at a young age. The word kid makes you think of children running around playing it parks and playing simple games so when mixed with the word adulthood it completes switches the meaning of the word and combines the meanings so they meet somewhere in the middle.

Setting the Tone

The action is set in a school playground. How does this contradict traditional associations of the playground and what effect does this have?

Traditionally when you think of a playground you imagine children and games so for the director to set the action and drama in this location makes a point to the viewer and shows us that these aren't sterotypical children running around having fun, its a much harsher reality and its clear that these people have been forced into adulthood at a young age to survive and fit in.

How is tension and/or agression conveyed through the body language and facial expression of the each group of characters?

Each group of characters potrays the feelings through different use of body language for example the social outsiders (nerds) appear timmid e.g. always having their shoulders hunched up and looking at the floor, where as the bullies (sam and friends) always stand tall with their shoulders back looking like their confident and looking for a fight.

Is it easy to identify the outsiders , if so how ?

I personally found it very easy to identify the outsiders they were always the ones that looked uncomfortable throughtout the movie , the qiute ones that are always keeping to themselves and trying to steer clear of the louder more aggresive groups in the movie.

How does the film maker build tension into the story of sam and Claire at this point?

The film maker set it up so that we see Claire ,(sams girlfriend) with Jay in the playground and Jay is so scared of Sam that he calls Claire by a different name incase somebody heard that he had been with her.
This shows the Sam is a character to be feared, and because Claire is disloyal its implied that later on in the movie their actions will come back to hurt them.

What words would you use to describe the images of trife we see in the opening sequence of the film? How do they support what is going on around him? How do they contrast with them?

In the opening scenes we are introduced to Trife when we see him drilling a gun in the school and then he goes outside and smokes weed with his friends. This fits well to the storyline because you wouldn’t expect to see a fifteen year old drilling guns and smoking drugs.

How does the soundtrack add to the feeling of tension?

The sound track is a gritty song; it implies trouble or something bad. It’s also the type of thing that the kids of today listen to.

What are the main stories in the film Are these representative of the majority of young people?

The main strories in this film are the relashionship beetween Trife and Elisha, the fighting beetween Sam with Trife,Jay and mooney

What kinds of activites do we see the kids doing throughout the day?

These kids smoke weed alot in this movie , they get into several fights and have disrespect for everything and everyone around them e.g. smashing up shops , shouting at security guards.

How do you feel about the language used in the film? Is it an accurate representation of how young people speak?

In my opinion the language used in the film is a fairly accurate representation of how teenagers in speak although I feel that they might have overdone it because throughout the movie they never stop speaking like that, they make it seem like youths speak a different langauge which adds to the whole steretypical view that teenagers are bad , different and always cause trouble.

How do you feel about the incident where Trife is accused of stealing the burberry cap? How does the filmmaker influence our throughts by the way in which it is presented?

I think the filmmaker was trying to bring up racial prejudices in britain because as soon as Trife enters the shop the security guard follows them , although on the other side of the argument when three people walk into your shop with their hoods up, being rude and loud their fairly likely to be stealing something.

On one hand I feel bad for them being followed around whenever they go and being made to feel like criminals, but on the other I can see where the security guard is coming from because they looked like the type of people that might steal.

How are the adults in this film represented in this film represented?

Most of the adults in this movie are portrayed in a positive light but at the same time its like these adults are afraid of the teenagers for example when the teacher tells Trife to go to lesson Trife stops at stares at him like he's going to hit him and the teacher just shuts up and turns around.

The adults in this film that are shown in a negative are Trife's uncle and his friends , the storyline goes into a dark twist when ever his uncle is involved in the story , for example Trife drilling guns and cutting people. I think this movie would have been unfair if the filmmaker had chosen to victimise adults for the whole movie while teenagers ran around causing havoc.

How do you feel about the way in which young people are represented by the media in a A)film b) print media?

After events like the student riots and the constant knife crime in areas of London its easy to see why people are starting to form negative opinions on the youth. The unfortunate effect of all the negative portrails is that even good teenagers that have respect and behave properly are hit with generalised banner that were all fighting, killing and using drugs.

What do you think the reaction of someone aged 50+ might be to the film? What would you say to them?

I think if anybody over 50 saw this film they would start to form a really bad impression of kids today , it would probably be enough to make old people stay at home for fear of bumping into teenageers.If I could speak to them after watching this movie I would explain to them this is a vicious portrail of teenagers and that they shouldn't take it seriously as its a docu-DRAMA.

Do you think the film raises issues of gender or race?

Throughout the movie their raises issues of gender for the way that a girl is punched and beaten up for being a virgin but when says thats she had sex with somebody they call her a slag and continue to beat her up. Race is also an issue the comes into the movie during the scene where the security guard accuses Trife of stealing.

In what ways do you think the film could help empower young people?

I think if this movie is empowering young people then its doing it in a very negative way , through fear tactics , the only reason they would be empowered is because adults are scared of them after watching movies like Kidulthood full of teenagers stabbing eachother and taking drugs.

Activity 2

What is meant by the term docu-drama - research the term and post to your blog.

In film, television programming and staged theatre, docudrama is a documentary-style genre that features dramatized re-enactments of actual historical events. As a neologism, the term is often confused with docufiction.
Contrary to docufiction, which basically is documentary, filmed in real time, “reality” in docudrama is filmed at a time ulterior to the events it portrays. It is based on narrative and fiction. Docudrama producers sometimes use as location for a realistic setting (fiction) a natural stage - see stage (theater) -, the place itself where the dramatised events are supposed to have occurred: it may mean a false documentary or journalistic narrative, like The War of the Worlds (radio drama), by Orson Wells.

Research gang culture and crime in the west London area:
Do you think Menhaj Huda has portrayed the real West London, a small section of West London or dyou believe he has sensationalised the whole film?
Has the producer stereotyped his characters ? If so How?

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Knife crime among young people is a growing problem in the UK according to a special BBC programme on Sunday.

In the last year more than 20 teenagers have died as a result of knife attacks in the UK - that's almost one teenager every two weeks.

In 2003,

I dont think Menjah Huda has portrayed the real West London the crime rate in West London isn't as high as other parts of London. I would agree with the statement that Menhaj Huda has sensationalised the whole film.

He has taking something that rarely happens and made it seem like a daily occurance in the life of a teenager.

                                     This is a knife crime documentary - "Straight from the streets"

It gives you an idea of the difference beetween the docu-drama take on knife crime and a real life documentary about it with facts and interviews.

Adverts like these are put in magazines and newspapers so that teenagers can see them and report knife crime.

Know someone with a knife? Text Crimestoppers
Originally piloted in 10 areas across England and Wales, Crimstoppers' knife crime texting service is now available nationwide. You can text Crimestoppers anonymously on 88551 if you know someone who carries a knife. Texts pass through a special server to maintain your anonymity - Crimestoppers cannot trace your phone number or any details about you. More about our texting

All the characters in this movie have been stereoyped all the teenagers in this movie are doing something wrong weither it be drugs , fighting or generaly causing havoc.

If I had to choose a documentary that represented knife crime properly and showed people whats really going on in poor areas with high rates of knife crime I would definetly choose "Straight from the streets".