How far do the opening sequences of the films you have studied for this topic introduce their key messages and values?

How far do the opening sequences of the films you have studied for this topic introduce their key messages and values?

Although both movies are made in completely different times, in different societies, they both coincidentally have the same intro. Both reflecting the society they are in, going from a bright,country area, to a grim, cramped city.

In Get Carter, the train scene shows Carters journey from London, to Newcastle. But during the train journey, we pass through the bright countryside, and the closer we get to Newcastle, the darker the scene gets, reflecting what Carter thinks about the society and Newcastle as a whole, the place of his birth. Then as we come to the end of the line, it is virtually pitch black and the music goes from a funky theme, to a single, slowing drum beat, shadowing the slowing speed of the train, the slow society and the lack of diversity and culture in grimy Newcastle. 

In Bullet Boy, we also have the same effect, during the course of the journey back to the city, we notice how bright that the country is, and we get a sense that the characters are free and safe without the struggles of everyday life. But once we get close and the eventually back into Hackney, instead of it getting darker, the camera becomes more confined and closer to Ricky. Most of the shots are from the interior of the car, this showing just how small and cramped the city is and how confined Hackney is as a society and a community. The one or two shots we have of outside the car are of buildings and walls, and it is framed particularly well to look like walls of a room. The director has done this on purpose to create the effect of entrapment of Ricky and how once you are in Hackney, because of the lack of money and the high crime rate, you are stuck and cannot help yourself out. 

Also the particular shot of Wisdom driving Ricky and Curtis back to Hackney along the straight road connotes not only how Wisdom not only drives Ricky straight back into the life of crime he is trying to get out of, but also how straight forward crime is in society, and how that it is the only choice, there are no other directions in life, or any choices otherwise.

 In both Bullet Boy and Get Carter, we see Carter and Ricky taking drugs, without remorse or guilt, even though it is illegal. This again, reflecting society and that drugs are dominant and prominent inside each. In Bullet Boy in particular, Ricky is smoking pot in front of Curtis, and Curtis is mimicking him chewing grass, this also foreshadowing the plot of the movie in the it is Ricky's influence on Curtis that drives him to do what he did, but also reflects a society of crime in that it is the elders that rub off on the younger generation and it is a vicious cycle of crime and shows how it is on going every generation.

In Get Carter, the drugs used are much harder, and have worse effects. Society in Get Carter is mostly post 60s, which was meant to be the 'liberation' of women, swinging and full of happiness and love. And although that might of been the case of everyone smoking pot and being happy, the directors intended reading of the film is that this might of been the case for a few years, but now the drug users have moved onto harder drugs and become addicted, and the happy time that once was is long gone. The two cities in the film seem to be run by mobsters, this apparent in both films because of the lack of law enforcement in them. It is portrayed that both societies are run by men and gangsters, and they ultimately hold the control over the characters. The only difference being that Jack Carter is the perpetrator of crime and moulds society to how he sees it and wants to see it and it acts accordingly to him, whilst Ricky is the victim of a crime ridden society and tries desperately to escape, only to be dragged back in and ultimately it becomes his end. We see that this is the case in Bullet Boy because with being in the city for less than 5 minutes, they are already caught up in a respect dispute and this escalates into him being killed.