Anaylysis of Representation in 'The Selfish Giant'

Regional Identity

This film is set in Bradford located in the north of England during post industrialisation. In the opening minutes of the film we see the director use a lot of wide shots to help convey the setting for example in this screenshot we can see all the shops are closed down which connotes that this area is dangerous and crime is a regular occurrence here and it also connotes that this are is poor and these shops have gone out of business. Graffiti is also denoted on the walls which connotes there is a lot of petty crime here and not enough funds or infrastructure for the council to remove this litter. The representation this gives to the people of Bradford is that they are poor and have to resort to crime.

Another representation given to Bradford through this screenshot is that they are gypsy or gypsy like. In this screenshot it is denoted that a man is riding a horse and in the scene we can see him racing another horse while other people are betting on the outcome. Gyspys are stereotyped to do this a lot and so it is connoted that these people are gypsy or "wanna be pikey" which kitten is called in the film.

Age

In this film Arbor and Swifty earn money to help provide for their family and they both have taken it upon themselves to care for their families especially Arbor who has no father at home and has tried to take that role himself as we even see him console his mother when she is upset. This connotes the incredibly maturity these 2 have for such a young age.

We are reminded of just how young these 2 actually are when we see them in school and become just normal kids.

The adults in this film all look to be damaged and weak and not able to provide for themselves or their families. The character price drop is the failing man archetype and we see him having to feed his kids cold beans and selling his furniture to get by.

The older generation take advantage of Arbor and Swifty as he makes them do dangerous jobs and he reaps most of the rewards and even in one scene takes away some of their earning claiming it's for taxes.

Disability

Arbor has an aggressive for of ADHD and we can tell that Arbor has some sort of anger problem from the first scene where it is denoted that he is under his bed hitting against the wooden boards connoting that he is angry and this how he takes out his anger ,another example we can see is in the screenshot above which comes from the scene of when he is aggressive towards his mother because she is not appreciating the work he did for the money. In this society seen in the film mental illness is not something that can be cured and should only be masked with pills never fully curing him and only making him acceptable for society for a brief amount time when he is outside of his house.

Another character with a mental illness is Mrs.Swift who is suffering from depression but it is never dealt with and hidden from the public as it is seen as something to be ashamed of. Both mental illnesses in this film are never truly dealt with and just swept under the rug and the director makes a point of never properly dealing with it to anchor the point that in this era and region mental illness is something that is meant to be shameful and should be kept hidden.

Social Class

Social Class is a big part of the story in the selfish giant and we can see how big a difference there is between underclass and working class and the different levels of class in these two classes. Even though most of the people int his film are working or underclass there is still a level of hierarchy between these people.

An example of this is that Arbor is excluded from other people at school and bullied because he is ranked at a lower level of working class than the rest of the people at his school. 

As well as that there is a battle between middle and the working class as we see Arbor's mother in an argument with the teacher at the school. He speaks to her with a very demeaning and patronising tone which suggests he feels he is of a much higher intellect and he needs to speak to her like a child for her to understand.

Gender

I feel that women in this film are unfairly represented as weak and most of the female characters in this film are very two dimensional and there is not much depth shown in the characters. In this film we never see the women work and kids as young as Arbor and Swifty need to work to support for their families. We can see how dependent the women are on men as Mrs' Swift does not even have her own name and is only known as the wife of Mr. Swift. Arbor's mother in this Michelle Fenton has had 2 kids drop out of school and one of them is in prison, this shows that she may not be an entirely adequate mother. We can see that the father of Arbor and his brother is not around which makes it harder for Michelle to be a good mother but does this mean the film is suggesting that without men, women are powerless.

Men in this film even though they are working and bring money to the homes they are still seen as inadequate, price drop is an example of this and he is denoted to be a man who cannot provide for his family as his made to feed them cold beans and sell their furniture to survive this connotes that he is the failing man archetype

Sexuality

The culture in this film are denoted to use the word gay as an insult which connotes that they are homophobic and that being gay is a bad thing. We can see this when Arbor's brother calls Swifty and Arbor gay and that they use it as a word to insult each other.

Ethnicity

The majority of characters in this film are white and from where the film is set. Most of the characters in this film are denoted to be underclass and violent people connoting that all people from this area and/or race are like this. Whereas the only other character of a different race is the kid sitting next to Arbor at school.

In this screenshot we can see Arbor is messing about and not concentrating on his work but on the other hand the person sitting next to him who seems to be from Asian decent is working hard and keeping his head down, separating himself from distractions.

The people seen in this film are viewed as worse than Pikey's in Kitten's eyes as he is called a want to be pikey meaning that he feels that he is inferior to Pikeys and wants to be one. Generally travellers are viewed negatively by the public so the fact that he wants to be one connotes that he has a very negative view on himself and the people around him.