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How Are Teenage Protagonists Represented In Freedom Writers (2007) & Kidulthood (2006)?

I am going to explore representation through micro techniques in the film Freedom Writers by Richard LaGravenese (2007) in which teenage students are affected by gang violence and racial tension and how it affects their education in Long Beach, California. Erin Gruwell is represented as an innocent and oblivious young teacher as she is eager to start her job with high expectations. The narrative in Freedom Writers represents how aggressive teenage protagonists transform their behaviour from the beginning to the very end of the film. This is shown in a two shot of Eva and Sindy fighting with no one trying to break up the fight. This symbolises how reckless and aggressive young people can be as they choose to fight instead of stopping and bringing about peace, this represents how teenage protagonists are portrayed. The narrative also includes teenagers getting caught up in gang violence and how they live their lives through racial tension; there are a series of flashbacks and jump cuts of Evas early childhood to highlight that she grew up in a bad background due to gang violence, discrimination and her father being put in prison. This is used to show how teenagers are represented throughout their lives. The teenage protagonists are represented to be unruly and troublesome but they eventually change throughout the film and become more engaged with education and stop themselves with being involved with gang violence and racial violence. This film links to Stuart Halls theory of how race and class are often blurred; there are a variety of races within the film and because of cultural upbringing we often associate with particular class.The teenage protagonists walk into the classroom and instantly talk between themselves while their new teacher tries to teach and engage with them. The audience can see that the teacher is standing in front of the classroom, by observing her costume you can instinctively tell that she is the teacher as she is wearing an appropriate dress. Erin Gruwell is introduced with a mid-shot with the teenagers walking into the classroom. As students began to settle into the classroom, they started to form groups with people theyre familiar with and instantly talk among themselves. This could suggest the disrespect teenagers have towards adults and how society view their disrespect and unruliness. There is a close up shot on Eva Benitez; the close up shot is used to show the emotion of the protagonist, as her face is seen to be serious. From her facial expressions you can infer that she tends to be very anti-social with people and is mainly focused in herself and no one else. She is sitting on the desk, she is shown to be slouching, this suggest the she is uninterested with what the new teacher has to say and already shows signs of disrespect towards her thus showing how teenage protagonist are represented. This is similar to Kidulthood as one of the students is seen to be disrespecting the teacher. As the scene progresses with a jump cut, the camera beings to zoom in towards her face, this signifies the unease and confusion as she has now become uncomfortable. This may portray the racial tension within the film and how teenage protagonists are represented.

Most of the film is located in a high school or secondary school, this gives the appearance and suggests that young teenagers go to school to achieve an education however throughout Freedom Writers the protagonists are seen to be fighting in wide shots and vandalising school property by grafting on the wall in a wide shot as well. This represents how teenagers abuse their privileges and continue to cause havoc. The beginning of Kidulthood is also located in a school and this is similar to Freedom Writers.The costumes of the protagonists are baggy trousers and shirts, fitted caps or hoodies. This portrays how society view young people from what they wear; Jamal and Andre are both seen wearing baggy clothing, it presents the similarity of young people and how they wear their clothes this shows that teenagers are classed just because of their clothing. Alejandro is in possession of a gun hidden within his trousers, he tries to take it out when he sees everyone fight each other before getting caught by Erin Gruwell. This could represent how teenagers are seen and how they act as they live through gang violence and racial pressure.I am also going to explore representation through micro techniques in the film Kidulthood by Menhaj Huda (2006) in which teenage students choose to be involved in with gang violence to earn credibility. The teenage protagonists in the film behave in a violent and lawless manner. Theyre represented as reckless young teenagers who commit crimes such as petty theft and serious violence. The film also links to Stuart Halls theory of how race and class are often blurred. The film shows the main three protagonists are trying to earn respect and credibility through sexual relations and the involvement of crime. This highlights the representation of teenagers in a bad light as they are seen trying to earn respect in the wrong way. The protagonists are shown to be very troublesome, disrespectful and unruly; this shows that the teenage protagonists are represented to have bad characteristics and this spotlights how teenagers are viewed from society. Trevor a.k.a. Trife who plays the main protagonist in the film Kidulthood is presented to be a superior figure for example Trevor is walking with two of his friends, Jay and Moony, in a three shot. Trevor is positioned in the middle between the three of them, this emphasises Trevors dominance as he is presented as the main protagonist and the leader of his small group. In the opening sequence, the camera movement is tracking the main protagonists as there are a series of jump cuts from one group to another in a two or three shot, this shows the teenagers are primarily seen with people. The costumes of the protagonists are mainly baggy jackets, hoodies, ties knotted up and white shirts not tucked in. This reflects and represents that teenagers choose to disobey the school rules and they use informal language such as slang through dialogue, which represents them to be this way. This is similar to Freedom Writers and how young teenagers are represented by their clothing. Trevor is represented to be aggressive and fearful as he is seen by the audience giving a teacher a death stare from an over the shoulder shot from the teachers perspective, the teacher quickly turns away as he is scared and doesnt want to cause trouble with Trevor. This links back to Trevors dominance and his personality to be fearful and aggressive. The representation of Trevor is portrayed to be a typical young black teenager, harassing a teacher who is telling the students to get back to lesson. This represents the unruliness and disrespect that young people have towards adults and this is similar to the teenage protagonists in Freedom Writers.There is a close up of a gun wrapped up in a towel and a carrier bag, this is used to prevent fingerprints being found on the gun if the police find it, this suggest that he is involved with crime and violence as he holds the firearm that is used to attack people. A jump cut is transitioned to Trevors face to show that he scared and concerned. Focus pull is initiated on Trevors face to the firearm, this used to show the unease of Trevor as his facial expressions show that he is scared and from this you can infer that he doesnt want to be a part of the crime lifestyle however he is willing to stay within the crime lifestyle only because of respect and credibility. This represents teenagers making wrong decisions just to gain respect or credibility; theyre not capable of making smart and mature decisions.Through my analysis I found a conclusion that there are differences between teenage protagonists and adult protagonists and how theyre represented in films. It is easier to classify young teenagers in a negative light and also easier to portray them in the genre of teen drama, crime and action. This links to Freedom Writers and Kidulthood as both films represent young teenagers to be involved and subjected around crime, gang violence and negativity and this is passed down to give the audience an insight of how young teenagers are represented through society. I believe that teenage protagonists are represented as juveniles, troublesome and bring a negative light towards society. I explored and represented this through cinematography, editing and Mise-en-scene to highlight the representation of young teenagers through society. Both directors emphasise the sound through dialogue of the teenage protagonists, by employing informal language such as slang and swearing to represent that young teenagers use foul language and swear unnecessarily to seem aggressive as they speak. On the other hand, the directors find ways to make the audience sympathise with teenage protagonists and we question if teenagers are often prejudged, misunderstood or discriminated against by society.Word Count: 1,510

Luigi PhillipsTextual AnalysisA Level Film Studies