SSC Film Studies

What Role Does The Media Play in La Haine?

In the media scene in La Haine, the sequence begins with a high angle shot of the trio, from the media. Straight away this shows how the media looks down on people from the projects and how the people in the projects are expected to look up to the media for guidance and news but instead they reject the media.

The trio look as though they are in an animal enclosure there is even a hippo slide to reinforce the idea of it being a zoo like enclosure, the fact that the news woman and camera man wouldn’t get out the car makes the project seem like a safari park. When Saïd says “I screwed her like an animal” and then to the news crew Hubert says, “this isn’t the zoo” which shows the group mentality.

In this sequence Vinz is demonised by the media when he is filmed looking violent, the cameraman shakes the camera and zooms in on Vinz, which makes him look more confrontational than he actually is, the negative consequences of this stereotyping is shown later in the art gallery scene when the French man says “they’re from the estates” to describe the trio, and explain their behaviour. This is negative because all the French people have to go off on what happens in the estates is the news.

When the news van first comes in it goes past then reverses which suggests that they where looking for something (violent youth) and found it , the news woman also says “I’m just doing my work” which suggests she’s not passionate and doesn’t care about the truth she’s just there to fulfil her role in finding a bad image of the projects.