Get Carter + Bullet Boy HW - Liam Tomkins

Show how key sequences convey the main messages and values of the films you have studied for this topic (40)  

  

In the film of Bullet Boy, one of the main messages is that there is a cycle of crime and violence between generations. One generation starts the cycles and it is continued throughout younger generations. We first see this in the introduction where Ricky is in a jail cell and Curtis is in the boot of Wisdom's car. They are both in dark, confined spaces. This shows that if Curtis follows the same life as Ricky, he will also end up in prison. We then see the cycle of crime continuing when Ricky is smoking cannabis on the back of Wisdom's car, Curtis is imitating Ricky by putting a blade of grass in his mouth. This shows that the younger generations learn from the older generations and siblings have a greater influence of the younger generations because the younger sibling assumes that the older sibling is correct. We also see this when we see Curtis and Wisdom from Ricky's point of view, looking out of prison at them, this view is obstructed by metal bars. Ricky, Curtis and Wisdom are all products of their environment, showing that crime is a cycle that repeats itself within an environment.  

 As Ricky travels back to the city, the scenery changes from being green, open spaces to a tight, urbanised environment, this shows that Ricky's environment restricts him. There are a series of close up shots of Ricky, Curtis is also visible in the background, this visually connects the two characters. Ricky is also in low-key lighting, whereas Curtis is in high-key lighting, showing that Curtis is yet to be shaped by his environment. These close up shots also show the claustrophobic nature of Hackney. Bullet Boy suggests that you are trapped within your environment if you view it as having no escape, shots from Ricky's point of view show this because they are filled with metals bars and bare walls, showing that Ricky sees Hackney as a prison that he is trapped in. The cycle of violence in constantly repeated because the environment builds a culture of crime and it is accepted as the norm, Ricky wants to earn his money in a non-criminal way, but he is mocked by Wisdom for this, showing that people within the environment see crime as the only option to earn money. The cycle of crime is continued by minor things that shouldn’t cause further crime, for instance Wisdom says he 'wears his scar' for Ricky, making Ricky have a perceived debt to Wisdom that he thinks he needs to repay, when in reality he could just tell Wisdom he doesn't owe him anything. When Ricky enters an environment, he is controlled by it. Everything Ricky does is a retaliation to something that has been done to him, showing that he is controlled by what is happening around him. For example, Ricky and Wisdom shoot Godfrey's dog because they go into an argument due to Wisdom hitting Godfrey's car.  

 Ricky is motivated by his perceived debt to Wisdom, he will not leave Hackney until it is repaid. This shows that Ricky is controlled by his environment and that it is the deciding factor in everything he does. Every time we see Curtis and Rio together they are committing a crime, each time we see them the crime because more severe. It begins with Rio smoking cannabis and ends with both of them playing with a gun. This is also applicable to Ricky, every crime he commits is worse than the previous one, this shows that Curtis and Rio are both heavily influenced by their older brothers, showing that the cycle of crime continues through a family because the younger generation believe what their older siblings are doing is the right thing and they should follow in their footsteps.  

Women are a large factor in everything Ricky does. His mother is the deciding factor in almost all of Ricky’s decisions, for example the deciding factor that made Ricky leave Hackney was that he was kicked out of his house by his mother. Without her kicking him out, he wouldn’t have left and would have stayed in Hackney. 

In the film of Get Carter, one of the main themes is the treatment of women after the swinging sixties and female liberation. There are several women in Get Carter that show how they were treated by men in the 1970s. The first being Anna, who is used as a sexual object by Carter and nothing else. Anna is passive and Carter is active, Anna will not doing something unless told to by Carter, this shows that Carter does not see Anna as having her own pleasure unless it is dictated by him, this is shown when Carter is telling Anna to take her clothes off when she doesn’t want to. There are lots of close ups of Anna when she is laying the bed, this means that she is positioned as a sexual object for the spectator, the close ups mean the audience are very close to Anna, she is used to draw in the male audience members, showing that men in the 1970s viewed women as objects. Anna is interrupted by Fletcher who thinks her rolling around on the bed is strange, this shows that he does not see her as a sexual being, this shows that female liberation was yet to be successful. Anna is represented to appeal to the 'male gaze', meaning she is made to appeal to male audiences. 

Another character that shows the poor treatment of women is Edna, Carter's landlord. Edna serves four roles within the film, the first being providing somewhere for Carter to stay, the next being a sexual object for Carter, she is a servant to Carter and finally she represents independent women, this is a new gender role that had only been introduced in recent years and was still to be accepted by many men. Edna is an independent women, however as soon as Carter enters her house she 'reverts' back to more traditional gender roles. For example Carter returns to the house and Edna confronts him, however everything she says is ignored by Carter who tells her to make him a cup of tea, this shows that Edna has gone from being an independent woman to being a servant to Carter in the space of 30 seconds, showing that women were not taken seriously by men when they were challenged. This also shows that during the 1970s many men still saw themselves as superior to women and disrespected them whenever they tried to assert any form of authority over them. Due to women not being taken seriously during the 1970s, this created a culture that allowed men to abuse women because they were not taken seriously. Edna never leaves her house and caters to any of Carter's needs, showing that even though she appears to be an independent woman, she still does whatever men want her to.