ESSAY REVISED

Ideological critical approach + Binary opposition

PLAN

Fish tank – Binary opposition = paternal vs lover, uses the cover of paternity to sexually exploit Mia, a young vulnerable girl from a poor socio economic background

Inability to escape dependence on men (dependence vs independence) – Her escape is through dance, a small act of rebellion and freedom that tragically only leads to her objectification as her dancing is sexualised showing how even small freedoms are eventually suppressed by the oppressive male

We need to talk about Kevin – Binary opposition = Nature vs nurture, the nurture aspect as in not all woman are naturally suited to be mothers which can have negative consequences, exaggerated here to dramatic effect with the tragedy that occurs

The nature aspect partly removes blame from the mother, Eve as Kevin seems unable to connect with his mother, he is naturally distant – The question is connection and blame lays at society's feet as the implication is mothers should be able to naturally connect with their child, therefore when Eva is unable to she shifts all the fault of inability to connect at Kevin's feet as she is unable to accept her own short comings as a mother due to societal stigma

- Have yet to do an intro or conclusion 

The main two themes of Fish tank are exploitation and escapism which commonly overlap, exploitation manifests itself into the binary opposition of paternal vs lover, as a new mysterious man enters Mia's life. He is her mothers lover Connor, but what he is to Mia goes back and forth between paternal and lover for the first half of the film until his true intentions are made clear, re contextualising this first half and through a feminist perspective which makes it clear Arnold is portraying Connor as a predator who grooms Mia. Mia is a young vulnerable girl without a farther figure that lives in a volatile unstable household, Connor fully exploits this by taking on a paternal role to Mia to gain her trust enabling him to groom her. This grooming results in the statutory rape of Mia in the climatic dance and sex scene between Mia and Connor. Arnold uses soft amber lighting that is pointed at Mia like a spotlight, as tho putting her on stage or it could be interpreted as the bright sun from the tropical wallpaper behind her, both similarly escapist fantasies that she believes Connor will facilitate through his caring paternal nature. This paternal nature is reinforced through dialogue, as he praises her telling her her dance was 'really good', essentially exploiting her insecurity which is performing in front of people. This paternal side is however juxtaposed with a more sinister sexual side, beginning with Mia's dance sequence. The dancing itself isn't explicitly sexual, and if anything the use of performance and clothing only serves to emphasise Mia's vulnerability as she is dressed in pyjamas which have childish connotations, and her dancing isn't particularity impressive. What makes the dance sexual is Connors perspective and implied intentions, which is firstly shown through lighting which silhouettes Mia, showing how Connor objectifies Mia as her female outline is emphasised through this lighting. Further objectification of Mia is shown through a medium shot with Mia in the foreground out of focus, and Connor in the background in focus slouched and holding a bottle of alcohol by his groin. Firstly through making Mia out of focus it forces us into Connors intoxicated perspective, reflecting his physical state and also mental state as he figuratively sees Mia as just a female to conquer, her face and who she is is unimportant to him reflected in her portrayal in this shot as an out of focus blur. This use of depth of field also forces the spectators focus onto Connor, who is slouching in an almost menacing manner, staring intensely at Mia with a bottle of alcohol placed by his groin. Arnold places the bottle here to connote phallic imagery, or suggest that Connor has an erection therefore implying his sexual intentions towards Mia which are made even more sickening by Mias objectification and portrayal as innocent in her clothing as well as her naive performance. This performance also notably reinforces Connors paternal role as she looks to him for guidance, but he responds by sexually exploiting her.

In we need to talk about Kevin there is an ongoing conflict in the reasoning for Kevin's violent actions, and through a feminist perspective we can better understand this conflict which manifests into the binary opposition of nature vs nurture. This conflict can be traced back to Kevin's reluctant mother Eve, who struggles in her new maternal role but her concerns and discontent are suppressed by societal stigma that dictates a mother should be able to instantly connect with their son, which Eve struggles to do leading to tragic consequences due to this apathetic societal response. In terms of nature and the feminist perspective, we can remove blame from Eve for being unable to connect with her son, as Kevin is portrayed as unresponsive and even outright hostile to Eve. In a certain scene Eve attempts to get Kevin to roll the ball back to her, but he is completely unresponsive shown through his performance where he barely moves as well as a medium long two shot at a side profile, which shows the futility in Eve attempting to connect with her unresponsive son (showing distance between the two as they're crammed to the distant edges of the frame). The act of playing with a ball is also a typical child hood activity, something Kevin outright rejects showing he is naturally unable to connect with his mother in a conventional way as well as presenting him as unusual. This shifts the blame away from the struggling Eve, which is also metaphorically done through the rolling of the red ball to Kevin, red connoting the blood shed Kevin carries out later on the film, therefore showing Eve to be desperately shifting the blame to Kevin, in a society that holds her falsely accountable. Following this scene is the typical societal response to a mother who struggles to connect with her son, as well as the response echoed by Franklin. Eve takes Kevin to a doctor to see if he has a problem, the doctor however finds no problem showing the societal response to the mother that the problem is not with her son, it is with her, she just needs to be a better nurturer.

Further in Eves defence it is made abundantly clear that Eve feels uncomfortable in motherhood before Kevin is even born, implying she is naturally unable to connect with her son as maternity does not come naturally to her. This is best shown in the birth scene which is uncomfortable at the least, punctuated by Eves painful screams which accompanies the disturbing visual of a close up of Eve screaming reflected in the bottom of the lamp. This reflection is however extremely distorted, emphasising Eves screaming mouth and widened eyes which appears grotesque showing this birth to be equally grotesque and distorting for Eve, which goes against the societal expectation of the supposed joy and miracle of childbirth; instead we find pain and anguish and later isolation. The layered sound of screaming and the nurse calmly telling Eve to 'stop resisting' also adds to this uncomfortable feeling. The nurse echoes the societal response 'stop resisting', implying the societal view that Eve is denying her nature but this whole experience is presented as being incredibly unnatural to Eve and this response only further isolates her. The use of the close up which fills the screen also works to make the spectator uncomfortable through claustrophobic means helping the spectator to empathise with Eve. The next shot portrays Eves isolation in a medium long shot with her centred in the frame. She looks defeated and awkward as she sits stiffly upright in the hospital bed, she is surrounded by a dull white interior, she is wearing dull white clothes and is covered in a dull white sheet. While the colour white associated with motherhood should have angelic connotations, the connotations here are of sterility and oppression in this motherhood role that figuratively and literally sucks the colour out of her life. Through blocking isolation in motherhood is also shown, as Franklin is placed at the edge of the frame, physically separating Eve from her husband her her baby who she now feels isolated from. The choice to place Eve central in the frame is also important in that our eyes are firstly drawn to her, firstly showing how unconformable and isolated she is, then our eyes are drawn to Franklin and the baby due to him wearing slightly brighter clothing and also gently rocking the baby (minimal movement). In this way Arnold shows Eves isolation then the source of that isolation. The colour palette of dull colours as well as the props which depict functional objects, foreshadows how joyless the endeavour of motherhood will be to her, to her motherhood is a task. Her isolation from mother hood shows how unnatural maternity is to her and therefore moves blames away from her for the actions of her son that society condemns her for despite her being not entirely at fault.

- This is unfinished but in the interest of meeting the deadline I will conclude it here (for now until I finish it completely)