Actor Deconstruction of Social Realism Films

Actor Deconstruction of Social Realism Films

Fish tank

The main character in fish tank in a 15 year old called Mia. She is the leading role in the film as she struggles through the coming of age plotline.

The use of a teenage character is effective as it means that they have vulnerability that is not questioned and they can make the wrong decisions. This often leads to a greater character development as the protagonists learns through the film, this is more enjoyable for audiences as they won’t got bored of the constant naivety. The young age will also make the character more relatable for the audience. Pitched at young adults, this film I relatable and therefore more of the audience will find the character likeable.

This is the most likely route that we will take with our characters. If we make the protagonists 15-17 it will make a vulnerable character that can have a deeper character depth and development. It is also the easiest path for us to take as our group is primarily girls.

The Selfish Giant

There are two protagonists in this film; Arbor and Swifty, both aged 13. This plotline is realistic for young boys in a working class environment.

By having a younger character they sympathy for the protagonists is heightened, this is due to the public’s general reaction to protect the younger generation. This reaction is relied on throughout the film as the young character are put in difficult positions that the audience will, at times, feel uncomfortable to watch. These difficult situations are the main theme of the film and as the characters go through their developments they are still too young to have that much of a reversal.

This type of character will be harder for us, as a group, to include as the age is too young for us to incorporate and none of us has younger siblings. As effective as this age would have been to our plotline it would have also been impractical.

Submarine

Oliver is a 15 year old that, much like Mia, struggles through a coming of age plotline, although the issues faced are much more generic to the age range.

This type of character is common in drama and social realism films and as mentioned before, the use of a more vulnerable age is appealing to film makers as their character development is more relatable and their decisions are more jaded by youth.

This age and category of character is available to us as well but due to the minority being male in our group the character will most likely be a female.