Representation of London through 'Dirty Pretty Things' (2002)

Dirty Pretty things is a 2002 film that shows the story of a guy called Okwe who is a Nigerian doctor that has been falsely accused of a murder so he is forced to leave the country. Many of the characters that we see within the film are immigrants and people with important jobs that keep things running and these are the jobs that people tend to overlook such as taxi drivers and maids.

Ted Hovet describes this film as portraying a 'shady underworld of London' (Hovet, 2006) and this is true. The London that is represented within this film is dark and grimy. this film tries to show that there is a lot more to London that we tend not to see but it's to to say that the whole city is full of immigrants and drugs.

Okwe, the lead character remarks 'we are the people you do not see'. How true could this statement be? It gives some of the people we don't tend to see a voice. London is a background in a lot of films and it starts to get a bit repetitive. 'The city has been "over filmed ... so we were always trying to find bits of London that hadn't been in every other film"' (Hovet, 2006). The film takes us to the unknown and the unfamiliar, the places we know are there but tend not to see and this creates a very realistic representation of London.

Hovet, T. (2006). The invisible London of Dirty Pretty Things; or Dickens, Frears, and film today. Available: http://www.literarylondon.org/london-journal/september2006/hovet.html. last accessed 17th march 2015

Chloe O'Brien

Words - 243

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Representations of London through 'Harry Brown' (2009)

Harry Brown is a 2009 film directed by Daniel Barber, it follows Harry Brown (Michael Caine) an old man that served as a marine. He lives on a council estate in London that has seen a rise in gang and youth crime, after one of her close friends is murdered Harry Brown decides to take matters into his own hands as he feels that the police are doing very little about it.

This film touches on the discourse that the youths and gangs have taken over London and that its a scary place to be out especially of a night time and to be on your own. This film was released two years before the London riots and it depicted such scene in parts of the movie suggesting that the way

youths and people in gangs are heading for is only going to turn out one way and thats uncontrollable and unruly crimes such as the riots. As for the character for Harry Brown who is an extremely elderly man taking a stance for his community is something that can be said to be something that society is taken a much harder look out now. There are many different types of support groups and community works working towards changing the way that youths behave on the streets of not only London but the whole of the United Kingdom (not to the extremes that Harry Brown does).

Tylar Gilbert

Student Number: 1310195

Word Count: 236

Representation of South West London through 'South West 9' (2001)

                                                                     South West 9 Full Film

South West 9 is a 2001 British film about five very different characters. It takes place 24 hours before a shooting at a Brixton rave that one of the characters has set up. It combines themes of drugs, race, class, religion, and music in the multicultural part of South West London. In a way it can be seen to be similar to the film Kidulthood, with multiple ethnicity's and in a way a similar story line but not exact.

Brixton is typically known for its drug use, which is represented within this film. The film shows the selling of drugs and people taking drugs. Films and TV programmes usually show drug use, and it is not always in the negative light we would expect or in a way that will show the long-term effects of using it. Just like this one, it seems the norm to be selling drugs, growing them and taking them. They do however show the consequence of taking LSD and it turning bad for one of the characters, which is showing they are actually trying to give off that drugs are not the fun you think they are. This film just shows London to have drug raided areas. It is showing the way drug use was in South West London around the time this film has arose. To be honest I don't think much has changed if anything it has got worse. With more dealers and younger kids taking drugs.

This film picks up on the different multicultural people living in and around this area, in particular the image of intercultural mixing and circulation. This area is of London is known and described as unique for its diversity of characters. The film portrays this with the characters that are in it, using different races, cultures and people from other areas of England other than London, it shows how identity is also tied into this area. Throughout the film the characters don't appear to get on much transport and not a lot is featured within the film it gives the area a feel of isolation that it is cut off from the rest of London.

Brixton is one go those places you would expect chaos to go on in any one day, which is why the choice for the film to be film here was spot on, all locations in the film never left Brixton, which ties together the representation that this film gives; diversity and cultural within this area of London. 

                     Chloe O'Brien

words - 415

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Representation of London through 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' (1998)

   

  'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' (1998) is Guy Ritchie's movie which was released more than a decade ago but many things covered in this film are still relevant today. It is a crime thriller which represents very real situations and experiences of certain people in London city in a very comic way. This movie contains variety of characters that are very different in many ways but all very interesting and charming. It may look that it represents mainly the dark side of London but it is made in such a nice comic way that the audiences rather sympathies with those cruel criminal characters than hate them. The movie touches the issues such as gambling, drug dealing, violence and illegal businesses but at the same time follows the story of good friends who proves that they are ready for anything in order to protect each other. 

   Many scenes represent the daily habits of many Londoners like spending lots of time in the pub, trying their luck in the card games. It is very entertaining movie that shows the funny side of the real crimes and illegal activities in London city. 

Ieva Kaleininkaite 1307775

190 words.

Representation of West London through 'Notting Hill' (1999)

Notting Hill is a 1999 film directed by Roger Michell. It focuses on the life of a book shop owner (Hugh Grant), who's life drastically changes when a well know Actress named Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) comes into town and they begin to fall in love.

The film Notting Hill is not a true representation of this particular part of London, its very much a Hollywood Glamour take on the area. The film fails to show the racial diversity that Notting Hill is known for, with the likes of is very famous Notting Hill Carnival that celebrates the Afro-Caribbean community and culture. Instead it focuses on that of the white middle class which is only a small portion of the people that actually live there.

Tylar Gilbert

Student Number: 1310195

Word Count: 125

Representations of West London though 'Adulthood' (2008)

Adulthood is a sequel to 'kidulthood' and also set in the area of west London but does have a slight different representation of the area. This is because it is set six years later and more of less shows how things have changed and how one of the main characters have matured tries to apologise to people he had hurt and for the people who served him wrong to serve justice, therefore challenging the original representation.

Through out this film it goes against it s stereotype in which it created in the film 'kidulthood' of teenagers being uncontrollable, angry and unsuccessful and shows how some of the characters have moved on a done well with their life. An example of this is Alisa, she becomes a young mum who tried to give herself an abortion by hitting her stomach in 'kidulthood' to now in 'adulthood' being a good mother who did not want her daughter around people that could be a bad influence, which was shown when Sam comes to her front door and tried to talk to her. Another character that broke the stereotype was Moony, who got out of all the gang crime and violence and ends up going to university and creating a better future for himself. Which then changes the representation of the area being a bad place and showing that people have made the best out of their lives even though in 'kidulthood' the area s represented in a bad way.

Armani Moffatt

1203387

246 Words

Representation of West London through 'Kidulthood' (2006)

Kidulthood is a British drama film about the life of several teenagers in the West London area. It is directed by Menhaj Huda and written by Noal Clarke, who also stars in the film. This film follows 2 days in the life of 15 year olds from a mixed income area in West London. After one girl had been bullied by some of her 'peers' and her father doesn't notice she seems to have had enough of it and ended up hanging herself. The school was then given the day off the next day to supposedly 'grieve' for the girl although some of them show they don't have any sorrow for what happened. Throughout the day a series of events unfold within their lives showing graphic scenes of violence, drug taking, casual sex and organized crime also including some other extreme activities.

Marx’s makes a good point that I wanted to start with he believed that all cultures are produced by ‘social conditions’ and these depend upon social class and age is also a contributor. Young people want to be separate from there parents and be individual, if you have watched this film you see most of the youths go out and take the day to day life on their own, with only a few times there parents being in the scene. Life for these lower class youths in London seems to be full of drugs, race, crime and sex. The teenage boys are represented as violent but some males have modeled there behavior from such films as this leading to a rise in gang culture within London, especially within the middle and lower class society’s.

There is a lot of slang used within this film and even walking around London you can here the youths of today using the words ‘Fam’, ‘Blud’ and many more. CAT defines language as a reflection of both a speaker or groups need for social interaction with others and as a reflection of ‘the desire for social approval’. (Giles,N. Coupland and J. Coupland, 1991:18). This couldn’t be truer for this film, image one of the lads talking with a ‘posh’ accent speaking proper English instead of interpreting it; he wouldn’t have been accepted within the crowd and the social norm of a typical hoodie. London is shown within this film to have these ‘hoodies’ everywhere and they get demoralized wherever they go.

392 words

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Chloe O'Brien