Bullet boy slide
- 1. Genre The genre of Bullet Boy is Social Realist. Social Realist is described by the BFI as: Better than any other genre, social realism has shown us to ourselves, pushing the boundaries in the effort to put the experiences of real Britons on the screen, and shaping our ideas of what British cinema can be. While our cinema has experienced all the fluctuations in fortune of Hollywood's first export territory, realism has been Britain's richest gift to world cinema. The genre makes us care about the characters much more as it feels much more like our lives than any other genre. It connects to us as we as the audience can understand the situation that the characters are in… it makes it feel more realistic. It is not glamourized so relies on the story telling and suspense to create the desired effect on the reader rather than comic relief or fear.
- 2. Macro Features Macro- The narrative of the story follows a fairly regular story arc as the film progresses. Equilibrium- Normal life is established with prison and crime being normal in their society, the theme of being trapped is established. Disruption- Ricky’s bad decision making has started to show. He decides to go to a party rather than straight home. Climax- Wisdom is killed and Ricky tries to escape but is murdered at the train station before he can leave New Equilibrium- The Effect of Ricky’s death is shown, Curtis throws away the gun.
- 3. Bullet Boy - Narrative • Conflicts - Ricky with his family - Godfrey with Ricky & Wisdom - Ricky & Wisdom with the authorities • Suspense - The killing of Godfrey’s dog - When Curtis was pointing the gun at Rio - When Beverley slapped Ricky and kicked him out of the house
- 4. Bullet Boy – Living with crime • Bullet Boy shows what living with crime is like as there are always people surrounding the person that chose a life of crime that constantly get hurt. It’s almost like the family have to accept the fact that they’re now second best and no longer first priority as a life of crime is more preferable to some selfish people. Crime is the norm and it can influence the younger generation into a life of crime when they experience it firsthand.
- 5. Bullet Boy - Setting Set on the streets of Hackney, London. Set on a council estate which is usually associated with the underclass. Ricky lives in a block of flats that are quite dull. The blocks of flats represents poverty. The experiences that the younger generation can have can lead them to a life of crime. The telegraph poles are surrounding Hackney suggesting the characters are trapped in a world of crime and Ricky could feel like he is back in prison.
- 7. Representation in Bullet boy Representation of race or minority groups The film stars an all African-English group of characters. Ricky's step father is a priest and his mother heavily religious, maybe using prayer as a way of trying to protect her children as she feels she has no power over them herself and every time she doesn’t know how to control or handle her boys she gets the priest over. Representation of crime It is clear that crime is well represented theme from basically the start of the film. We can see this as Ricky, who is only 18, is first seen being released from prison and is issued a probation order. Representation of family relationships Family is a big concern of Ricky's throughout the film. It is clear that he has a good relationship with his 12-year-old brother, Curtis, hides in a car boot in order to see his older sibling. The gun given to Ricky by Wisdom also play an important role in the overall family dynamic. Ricky gets angry when he finds out that Curtis had hidden the gun and I think this is because he does not want his brother going through the same processes as he has already done (assault, prison). Representation of violence Due to his time in prison because of an assault charge, Ricky is released with a probation order. We can see that Ricky is desperate to avoid anything like this again when having to back Wisdom away from the rival gang member after smashing a wing-mirror. Maybe this was something that Ricky would have caused a stir about before his time in prison, but because of his probation order, he has to think carefully about what is worth causing a fuss over.