Brief synopsis:

 

Ricky (played by Ashley Walters, aka So Solid Crew's Asher D) is just out of a young offenders' institute, heading home to Hackney and determined to go straight. Instead, he heads straight for trouble when he becomes involved in a street confrontation, siding with his best friend Wisdom (Leon Black) against a local rude boy. The trouble escalates into a series of tit for tat incidents that threaten to spiral out of control. Ricky's 12-year-old brother Curtis (Luke Fraser), hero-worships Ricky, though he appears smart enough to know he doesn't want to follow his example. Yet, despite the stern warnings from his mother (Claire Perkins) and support from her friends in the community, might Ricky's bad boy allure be too attractive for Curtis to resist

http://www.britfilms.com/britishfilms/catalogue/browse/?id=D9CC70591b32b25872kHi2591F85

Bullet Boy Review

By Ali Catterall

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Drama about black Britain's gun culture. The feature film debut of pop star Asher D, directed and co-written by Saul Dibb

Back in 1980, Franco Rosso's Babylon, starring Aswad's Brinsley Forde, told the story of young black Britain under siege. Filmed around Deptford, Lewisham and Brixton in south London and financed by the National Film Council, it drew a fundamentally honest, unsentimental portrait, employing a rich, unsubtitled patois. Understandably, much of the film also dealt with racism - white on black - and its tragic repercussions. 

Twenty-five years on, the most significant (and depressing) thing about Saul Dibb's study of black Londoners is its frank recognition that the hate and violence has since turned inward - manifested in gun crime. In Bullet Boy, 20-year-old Ricky (Walters, aka So Solid Crew's Asher D) is paroled from youth custody and attempts to rekindle a relationship with his girlfriend Shea (Samuels). Hooking up with his hot-headed friend - the ironically named Wisdom (Black) - he almost immediately runs into trouble with rival Godfrey (Lawson) in a road rage incident. As the tit-for-tat feud escalates, Ricky's impressionable 12-year-old brother Curtis (Fraser) discovers a gun which Wisdom has given Ricky for his protection - and the murderous cycle of violence continues. This is a film of firsts. Arriving some 15 years after a brace of similarly-themed American films, such as John Singleton's Boyz N The Hood, this is the first film to spotlight gun violence in Britain's black community, and makes an interesting comparison. It's documentary maker Dibb's first feature too, having previously made 'Electric Avenue' and 'The Tottenham Ayatollah' for Channel 4 television. And it's Asher's (okay, Walters') movie debut. It's a cute - and astute - stroke of casting: he'd read the script while in prison for gun possession. And the cast is one of the things Bullet Boy has got right, featuring gutsy and unsentimental performances, particularly from the all too convincing lead, but also from stand-up comedian Curtis Walker as a former bad-boy-turned-pastor and Perkins as a pragmatic matriarch. 

The use of non-professional actors also imbues proceedings with documentary-style naturalism, matched by the film's east London locations, photographed by Marcel Zyskind in pitiless natural light, and employed very effectively during a recurring motif of a dead dog floating on a river like the ghost at the feast. Though Dibb cannot hope to encompass the whole subject matter in a 90-minute film, his focus on how gun culture affects the entire family unit is an intelligent approach, making the wider issue accessible - and subsequently harder hitting. If certain sequences appear heavy-handed - 12-year-old Curtis playing shoot-em-up videogames as a prescient prelude to tragedy; the Godfather-style juxtaposition between a church sermon and a murder - well, perhaps that's the way it ought to be.

Verdict
A no-bullets-spared look at gun violence in the black community (or as Asher D says, "a few days in the life of the average black youth") featuring superb performances and touches of graveyard humour.

http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=144100&section=review&page=all#reviewnav

FRIDAY, 2 MAY 2008

Final Draft of Coursework!


"It's what we live for!"To what extent is the movie ‘Green Street’ (2005) an accurate representation of ‘football hooliganism’ in society?


Football hooliganism is a widespread phenomenon and many people believe that it serves no purpose to the world except for creating disorder between communities due to the fierce rivalry between the opposing ‘firms’ incorporated. “The thing that always annoyed and scared me about the visiting Old firm fans was the way that they would always get off these buses clutching their cheap bottles of Buckfast wine and start to intimidate the locals.” [1] Usually consisting of Caucasian male members from the age of eighteen and up, this violent form of expressive behaviour is not only about standing up for the football team that you support but for the credit and acknowledgement that is received when a particular firm is successful in a riot against another. Various TV shows and films have tried to portray football hooliganism, but represent hooligans as only disruptive and use them in order to create disequilibrium within the narrative. The film Green Street by Lexi Alexander outlines this contemporary issue by representing the various elements of the ‘hooligan world’. It integrates the truth of male involvement with the subject and represents their ideologies through events surrounding the characters and the game of football without representing them all as antagonists to the equilibrium of the narrative as
Todorov suggests[2]. This study will be based on an insight into whether ‘Green Street’ is actually an accurate representation of football hooliganism in society or whether it is just created for entertainment purposes and to exaggerate elements of reality to fit the football hooligan subgenre.

As movies based on football hooliganism tend to have a higher amount of male characters than female, as Mulvey[3] suggests, ‘voyeurism’ becomes apparent for the target audience as the masculinity represented throughout the narrative is associated with voyeurism, action, sadism, fetishism and the controlling narrative, whilst femininity is associated with passivity etc. [4]This may be one of the reasons why the maker of ‘Green Street’, Lexi Alexander, has based her story on two male characters who are very diverse and created a symbiosis between them to show the different ways that people can perceive and deal with hooliganism. This gives the audience an opportunity to relate to either one of them and understand why they make the decisions they do in a society overflowing with football hooliganism. ‘Green Street’ instantly becomes part of an action subgenre as the topic on which it is based upon instantaneously brings the image of violent and antagonistic behaviour into the filmmaker’s mind. Alexander uses the repertoire of elements that exist in the football hooligan subgenre, for example, enforcing Strauss’s theory of binary oppositions through the portrayal of the hero versus the villain, which is not only used in order to relate to the football hooligan subgenre but because it is in fact an accurate image of football hooliganism in society and therefore may create a sense of moral panic for the viewer, as moral panic spawned largely in the 1970’s inextricably linking football to violence and public disorder.[5]

Men in ‘Green Street’ are represented as very masculine as the male hero in classical Hollywood cinema is usually recognised as powerful[6] to appeal to its target audience.
Messener (1990) says that the body is an 'object of social practice', meaning that the male body takes on the masculine roles because it is so obviously there and it is so physical so therefore a male tends to have a natural masculinity that the audience themselves look for because they expect this from the film. When the riots occur in the movie the theme of masculinity is highlighted with the line, “You stand your ground and fight”[7], which makes the audience recognize this as significant for the firms. However, the character of Matt Buckner played by Elijah Wood stands out from the rest of them as he wants to get away from the opposing team and no longer remains the hero of the film with Pete Dunham played by Charlie Hunnam taking his place as he is ready to fight. At this point, the film begins to link in with Propp’s theory of narrative roles[8], such as the protagonist, the helpers and the antagonist. Pete’s friends become viewed as his helpers rather than just fellow members of the firm. We the audience also view the events through Matt’s eyes as he does the voiceover and talks about things that are important to him. In this way the viewer who is unknown to the football hooligan subject can identify more with Matt’s character as an outsider looking in. Matt’s character leaves the USA for England to visit his sister and his sudden influence from ‘The GSE’, the protagonist’s firm, brings the audience to perceive football hooliganism as disparaging and as deviance as Matt leaves the ‘American Dream’ and enters violence and danger when he meets Pete. Shannon, his sister, is appalled that her brother has become a member of a Fight Club, her English husband Steve suffers divided loyalties between his wife and his tear away brother, who has influenced Matt in a way that is perceived as deviant.[9] The fact that Matt is an American and how he integrates so quickly with the firm shows how the American ideologies are important to the narrative.

Alexander incorporates the realistic stereotype of the ‘ring-leader’ in the firms to present the way that this role is adopted in reality. Pete’s influence on Matt makes him want to become a member of ‘The GSE’ because Matt begins idolizing him so much. Pete takes on the role of the archetype to which the audience will be able to identify with, as throughout the narrative he espouses typical elements that exist in Propp’s theory, where at first an interdiction is addressed to the hero and then the interdiction is violated when the villain enters the tale[10]. The representation of the presumptuous hero is an element that has occurred in the football hooligan subgenre in the past. For example, in ‘The Football Factory’ (2005)[11] the firm leader Billy Bright is represented as an over-confident and ruthless character in order to represent the realism of such a person in the hooligan society. Matt’s personal choice of joining forces with ‘The GSE’ firm links to how the film incorporates a coming-of-age theme which is also portrayed in ‘The Firm’ (1988) by Alan Clarke,[12] which is reflective of the hooligan society in the past, with the character of Yusef joining the firm at a young age and trying to deal with the violence suddenly surrounding him. The maker of ‘Green Street’ could yet have created the intensity of ‘The GSE’ and ‘Millwall’ rivalry for entertainment purposes and the for the uses and gratifications of the audience as the movie is firstly part of the football hooligan subgenre of which action is an important part of its repertoire and therefore has to contain typical action scenarios to appeal to its target audience. This ties into the debate of whether, as Grierson suggested, is the ‘creative treatment of actuality[13]’ and whether the authenticity is lost due to the demands of the subgenre. Masculinity ties in with the way in which ‘The Firm’ (1988) also incorporates rivalry with specific firms and masculinity is also important when they say “We come in peace, we leave you in pieces”[14], outlining their belief of using fighting as a way to be superior and to prove your manhood rather than to relate it to football.

‘Green Street’ also fails to accurately portray the importance of British involvement with football as Matt who is an American, watches football only once, and yet we're expected to believe that the fight he's caught up in at the end of it is reason enough for him to devote himself to violence and chant the words, "West Ham 'Til I Die."[15] In the same way the representation of the characteristics of football hooligans in not represented accurately to the audience as “their typical cockney accent is portrayed in an effortless way because the leader of the West Ham "firm" sports the worst Cock-er-nee accent since Dick Van Dyke's in Mary Poppins.”[16]

Women in ‘The Firm’ are represented minimally and only in one way, as housewives and classless whereas in ‘Green Street’ they are represented as more sophisticated and feminine. Both films differ on this and consequently raise the issue of which representation is accurate and which is not. It also reflects how society has changed over the years and how the role of women has developed overtime and this may result in the text having to represent the zeitgeist. ‘Green Street’, is itself directed by a female, which shows how in reality the roles of women have definitely changed because now a female is able to take on and create a movie that incorporates such issues. In ‘The Firm’ the members of the firm wear their work clothes throughout most of the movie which may outline their need to hide their second ‘jobs’ to the outside world. However, in ‘Green Street’ the characters are hardly ever shown in their work clothes and are instead always wearing casual gear including Burberry which is a true portrayal of reality as, “in England, football hooligans have become as loyal to the Burberry brand as they are to the sport… police aren't complaining -- the plaid makes it easy for them to spot trouble-causing fans that try to blend in with the public after rowdy matches”.[17] This has become one of their trademarks as well as their taunting of one another during football matches which inevitably lead to riots, Walvin (1994) reported that 'A French man who saw a football match in Derby asked "If this is what they call football, then what do they call fighting?".[18]

The stereotype of football firms being violent and anti-social towards each other is reinforced in ‘Green Street’, as the members of opposing teams tend to hit each other with bottles, pennies etc during matches. “A hail of pennies being thrown by Manchester United Fans at West Ham was like something out of an old war film with the English archers all letting go of their arrows at once”.[19] Violence is justified in ‘Green Street’, when Pete says “It’s what we live for!”, showing that they view the violence as an important part of their being now that they have devoted themselves to their firms. This goes against the suggestion of Susan Faludi who says that that while many of those in power are men, most men have little power.[20] This shows that by keeping football hooliganism in a violent nature there is little chance of the crisis of masculinity being enforced onto it. Dawn raids, arrest and trial, CCTV and banning orders all testify to the ongoing battle with football hooliganism. [21] In ‘Green Street’ there are a lot of images of security guards, CCTV cameras and police on horses, all ready in case a riot would begin. For example, when Pete takes Matt to the football match, he instantly tells him to cover his head with his hood and tells him that “We are the most watched country in the world”[22]. This links to the issue of how football hooliganism is seen to have come from England and how other countries have picked up on it.

We all know that the British invented football hooligans. But the ugly side of the beautiful game is truly at its most brutal on foreign shores, and football violence is thriving in countries all over the world.[23] Even though hooliganism is known to be called the ‘English-disease’ it is not just prominent in England. It may be known as firstly the ‘British Disease’, due to the oppressive and violent past that England has gained since times of colonialism, when England held much of the world under its empirical power[24] and the spread of disease later relates to how this name may have been created. Seasoned travellers are not surprised at responses in Rome and Seville.[25] This is because harsh police action has to be taken place at football matches all around the world. However, in ‘Green Street’ this is never mentioned and could link to how football violence is being sensationalized within the text to keep the target audience entertained and also to sustain the issue of moral panic among the audience.

A reason for the high amount of carnage and destruction caused by football hooligans could be because of their excessive drinking of alcohol. In both films, ‘The Firm’ (1988) and ‘Green Street’ (2005), the general meeting place is in the local pub where men drink and discuss their hooligan business. After a few drinks the men are ready for match day and ready to face their opponents on and off the field in a provoking manner. This separates them from the idealistic view of hooligans when in the past the male idea of the British ruling classes, was the product of a nineteenth-century synthesis of aristocratic style and bourgeoisie values.[26] Their working-class status and the fact that they are all male creates an image of how they are involved with alcohol consumption and how they are perceived by the state, as official statistics show that due to excessive alcohol consumption the male death rate (18.3 deaths per 100,000 population) was more than twice the rate for females. In ‘Green Street’, the firm members sing “Get some drinks in!” [27]in a particular tune that is revisited many times during the rest of the film. This shows that the members idolize alcohol and drink it at any given opportunity which causes them to perform anti-social acts. The tune in which they sing it in is also used in ‘The Firm’, which is a pre-90’s text, showing that this is something that may be a true reflection of the outside world. Football hooliganism is seen as an anti-social element in society that clings parasitically to football and just won't give up.[28]

‘Green Street’ also shows the ways in which the media is involved with events that occur in the football hooligan society by making Matt’s character a secret journalist who has not joined the firm for work purposes but has to keep this a secret as he knows if his fellow members found out he would be completely removed from the firm. Pete also mentions how the media exaggerates events more than they should be when he says, “West ham wins three nil in a blinding performance and our little scrap makes the headlines”.[29] This highlights the media’s involvement with football hooliganism which is a reality and accurately portrays firm members’ hatred of them. In Phillip Davis’ film ‘I.D’ (1995)[30], secrecy is also portrayed in the way that the character, John, who starts off dedicated to the police force goes undercover as an aspiring hooligan member and also gets caught up in the beliefs and ideologies of the firm. This therefore shows how news values are shaped in reality to create more moral panic of hooligans and their deviant behaviour.

The heinous fighting and violence linked to football hooliganism in media texts such as ‘Green Street’ is to some people overstated as, often the extent of this disorder is exaggerated by excessive media[31]. This may be the case in ‘Green Street’ too as in ‘The Firm’ even thought there is violence, there tends to be more taunting and vandalism than fighting and Lexi Alexander’s representation of excessive violence may be included to cater to the needs of the target audience who have initially come to the cinema to be searching for escapism rather than searching for surveillance. This raises the issue of whether films such as these influence the people viewing the text to join such antics and take on roles that are represented in the text. ‘Green Street’ only mildly outlines the usage of taunting only during the riot between ‘The GSE’ and another opposing firm that are made up of mainly black members whereas ‘The GSE contains significantly white members. One of ‘The GSE’ members begins to taunt them and uses racial abuse to do this by calling them ‘Zulus’ in order to get a reaction out of them. This links into the way that racism is incorporated into the text as it is another factor that tends to be incorporated a lot within football in general as, football grounds provided one of the largest public arenas in which racism could be openly expressed. [32] In ‘The Firm’, the majority of firm members are White, while there are a couple Asian and Black members. Yusef is black and is allowed into the firm and this shows that football hooliganism may be less concerned about people’s race than actual football was at the time with predominately White players. ‘Green Street’, on the other should be representing more ethnic minority members because as time has gone by, the actual sport of football has allowed more men of ethnic minorities to join teams, but this is an underrepresented truth in the film. However, there is still a lot of racism incorporated into football and in particular football hooliganism which remains till this day. There were 47 arrests for racist chanting in 2001/2 [33] and racism is usually white on black and even happens between players and hooligans. Racist chanting in the 1970’s and 1980’s often took the form of members of the crowd making monkey noises at black players on the pitch. [34]‘Green Street’ is accurate in its portrayal of this kind of behaviour when Bovver goes towards the opposing team and begins to chant loud racist words to them.

Overall, the representation of football hooligans in ‘Green Street’ (2005) is to some extent accurately portraying the reality of football hooligans to the audience by creating realism with its integration of particular themes such as racism, masculinity, stereotypes and prejudice that are all linked to hooligans on first sight. It also defies certain stereotypes such as the uneducated label given to them and the idea of them being violent by nature through showing them with their families and in their jobs giving the audience a sense of identification. Although some parts have been created for pure entertainment purposes such as the sudden integration of an American citizen into the firm, the film also has realism incorporated throughout which are portrayed through the character’s quest for success in each riot. There are however effortless attempts to make the characters seem like real hooligans with their cockney-accents and clothing but they do not seem to connect with the viewing audience. As a result, ‘Green Street’ is a good attempt to portray football hooliganism to an audience but it fails at some aspects to give the audience an accurate representation of football hooliganism in society.


Word Count: 3,146


[1] McCall, Kenny, Robb, John: After the Match, the Game Begins(2007) John Blake Publishing, London (England), Page 59
[2] Tzvetan, Todorov: Equilibrium theory 
[3] Mulvey, Laura: Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1975)
[4] Nelmes, Jill: An Introduction to film studies (third edition) (2003) Routledge; 3Rev ED Edition, NY, Page 84
[5] Jewkes, Yvonne: Crime online (2007) Willian Publishing, USA
[6] Nelmes, Jill: An Introduction to Film Studies (third edition) (2003) Routledge; 3Rev ED edition, NY, Page 77

[7] Alexander, Lexi: Green Street (2005) UK

[8] Propp, Vladimir: Narrative theory
[9] http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=149531
[10] Propp, Vladimir: Narrative theory
[11]: Love, Nick: Football Factory (2004) UK
[12] Clarke, Alan: The Firm (1988) UK
[13] Grierson, John: Creative treatment of actuality

[14] Clarke, Alan: The Firm (1988) UK 
[15] http://www.filmfocus.co.uk/review.asp?ReviewID=326
[16]http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2005/09/05/green_street_2005_review.shtml
[17] http://www.brandchannel.com/features_profile.asp?pr_id=130
[18] Marsh, Peter, Frosdick, Steve: Football Hooliganism (2005) Willan Publishing, UK, Page 16

[19] Pennant, Cass, Smith, Mickey: Want Some Aggro? (2002) Blake Publishing, England, Page 43

[20] Faludi, Susan: The Betrayal of the American Man (2000)
[21] Pennant, Cass: Top Boys: True Stories of Football’s Hardest Men (2005) Blake Publishing, England, page 12

[22] Alexander, Lexi: Green Street (2005) UK

[23]http://www.discoverytv.com/emea/football+hooligans+international.htm
[24] http://www.tcnj.edu/~fisk2/page%205.htm
[25]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=BLOGDETAIL&grid=F11&blog=yourview&xml=/news/2007/04/05/ublview05.xml
[26] Spicer, Andrew: Typical Men: The Representation of Masculinity in Popular British Cinema (Cinema and Society) (2001) England, Page 8


[27] Alexander, Lexi: Green Street (2005) UK
[28] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1491743.stm
[29] Alexander, Lexi: Green Street (2005) UK
[30] Davis, Phillip: I.D (1995) UK
[31] http://www.liv.ac.uk/footballindustry/hooligan.html
[32] Crabbe, Tim, Back, Les: The Changing Face of Football: Racism, Identity and Multiculture in the English Game (2001) Berg Publishers Ltd, England, Paste 51

[33] Marsh, Peter, Frosdick, Steve: Football Hooliganism (2005) Willan Publishing, England, Page 19

[34] Marsh, Peter, Frosdick, Steve: Football Hooliganism (2005) Willan Publishing, England, Page 20

For a movie set in a world of thugs and violence, Green Street Hooligans has a surprising amount of heart. Part of that might be explained by the fact that it's cowritten and directed by a woman, Lexi Alexander, which might not be such a shock, since the film never loses sight of the humans involved in the amazing fight

 sequenceshttp://www.comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php?id=11026

For the actual street, see Green Street (street).

Green Street is a 2005 drama film about football hooliganism in England. It was directed by Lexi Alexander and stars Elijah Wood and Charlie Hunnam. In the United States and Australia, the film is called Green Street Hooligans, while in the United Kingdom it has the title Green Streetafter initially being called Hooligans. In other countries, it is called Football Hooligans or just Hooligans. In the film, an American college student (Matt Buckner — played by Elijah Wood) falls in with a violent English football firm (the Green Street Elite) run by his brother-in-law and is morally transformed by their commitment to each other. The movie received an R rating from the MPAA for brutal violence, pervasive language and some drug use. The story and screenplay were developed by former hooligan turned author Dougie Brimson.

http://www.moviesonline.ca/film2003.htm

Green Street (Hooligans) Review

By James Mottram

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Set in the world of football hooliganism, Lexi Alexander's film casts Elijah Wood as a former journalism student who joins West Ham's 'firm' and runs riot with his newfound mates in London's East End

Hot on the Reebok-clad heels of Nick Love's The Football Factory comes Lexi Alexander's marginally better Green Street, another attempt to delve into the world of British football hooliganism. Based upon West Ham FC's own unofficial gang of ruffians - or 'firm' - known as the Green Street Elite (GSE), the film tells of how disgraced Harvard student Matt Buckner (Wood) gets sucked into a world of violence.

Arriving in England, Matt is introduced to the gang by his brother-in-law's younger sibling, Pete (Hunnam), now the self-styled leader of the GSE. While Matt's sister Shannon (Forlani) is appalled that her brother has become a member of his own personal Fight Club, her husband Steve (Warren) suffers divided loyalties between his wife and his tearaway brother. 

As the film progresses, the once-great GSE - on the decline since the departure of their mysterious leader The Major - experience a renaissance after the weedy Matt joins and discovers he has a taste for blood. Expelled from Harvard for drug dealing - in fact, he took the rap for his rich roommate - Matt has a lot of pent-up anger, which he foists onto unsuspecting louts. Meanwhile, West Ham draw Millwall in the FA Cup, meaning a head-on collision between two of the league's hardest firms. Led by the gruesome Tommy Hatcher (Bell), scarred by the loss of his own son during a clash years before, the Millwall boys are out for revenge - not helped by the defection of greasy GSE member Bovver (Gregory). Just in case you don't quite get the main theme, Pete handily sums it up: "We stuck by our mates and stood our ground. That's what it's all about."

Wednesday, 31 May 2006

Noel Clarke won the Laurence Olivier Award in 2003. He currently stars in Doctor Who as Mickey [Billie Piper’s boyfriend.] KiDULTHOOD is a very personal project for him, a lot of the characters are taken from real life people in his life and many of the scenes were created out of real life situations.   Describe your character; Sam... He’s almost your typical villian. He starts off mean and he ends up mean. There is a point where he weakens slightly with his girlfriend Claire [Madeleine Fairly], but it’s just for a second. It’s a tough journey for him, because he’s all about male pride. He makes his choices you know. Sam is one of those people whose a bully because it happened to him. Pretty early on he probably had to make a stand, but instead of becoming someone who just went quietly about his business, he went the other way. It’s a case of “if you can’t beat them, joint hem!” There’s a specific guy that he is based on. He tried to bully my friend – who the Moony [Femi Oyeniran] character is based on – and me at school, but we weren’t having it. He’s thick as shit. The oldest Sixth former there and now he’s overlord of the school. He knows he couldn’t go to college and do this kind of stuff. He knows he couldn’t behave like thias in the workplace. But at school he has a power that he will never have again. He relishes that! Sam is nobody outside of school. When he sees younger boys starting to look for a bit of power he has to constantly knock them down. The worst thing that could ever happen to Sam is for him to get dethroned at school. For someone to show that at the end of the day he is just another guy. It would be over for him. That’s the only power he has. How did you begin to write KiDULTHOOD? The week I started writing this, I read three things in the paper about kids killing themselves while their parents were busy arguing. The film touches a nerve. It’s on the pulse of what’s happening in society right now with young people. How they behave and what they do kids these days are growing up too fast. It’s accelerated because of technology and the media. Why did you write KiDULTHOOD? “You can’t say ‘Put money into your child,’ if you are talking about a single mother.’ You can’t say, ‘there should be more of a family unit’ if someone is just living with his father. You just have to highlight what’s going on and hope that people find the answers from their own families. Instead of writing a 90-page report or making wristbands for a stop-bullying campaign, I can probably be more use by saying this is what’s going on. I don’t believe anything [in the way of violence] is glamourised in the film. It has not influenced society. Society has influenced it. It can only exist because these things are already happening.” Do you think people will be shocked by the film’s themes of bullying, sex and drugs? The film shouldn’t shock people, because it’s in the newspapers every day! It’s constant. It doesn’t show anything that isn’t happening. I was collecting articles for a year or so about teenagers getting up to bad stuff. There’s at least three or four a week. It’s rife. I bet if I look in the paper today they’d be something about it. We can wear all the wristbands we want for bullying – or whatever – but that’s not going to stop it. What will stop it are people becoming aware of the situation. Society had encouraged the film because bullying in schools, kids in ‘hoodies’ ad happy slapping’ – whatever you want to name it – is happening already. The film is highlighting that. It’s not promoting. It’s not justifying. It’s not offering answers. It’s simply saying: “this is going on. Deal with it.” A lot of people see KiDULTHOOD as controversial but its not meant to be, my main aim for the film was for it to be as true to live as possible. Who is KiDULTHOOD for? It’s for the kids like the characters in the film. Kids face hard decisions early on in their lives and also for people from an older generation who want to understand and get an insight into what life ois really like for some kids nowadays. Because anything that kids get up to, they do when their parents are pout. All parents think, “not my kid!” I used to ask my mum – in all my sweetness – what shifts she was working for the week. If she said Monday and Tuesday, the girls would be round on Monday and Tuesday for all sorts of shenanigans in the house. They’re out the door at 8.30 `and Mum’s back at 9! It’s what kids do. It’s real. Are these kids misrepresented in the media? Definitely. The three main characters in the film all wear hoods, but their not really villains. They’re just kids. It’s just an item of clothing but people need something to latch on to when bad things happen. While this film represents kids in society today, it does not represent all kids. It represents this particular group of kids on this particular day. If you caught them on a Wednesday, they might just be going to the cinema. You just happen to catch them on a Thursday and it just happens to be a particularly bad day.  Has youth changed in the UK? Oh My God, yeah. I can remember the day when you could have a fight with another kid and that was it. Now you have to come back the next day with your friends and a baseball bat. It’s a pride thing and it’s made worse because everything is much more out in the open: drugs, violence, sex. I’ve heard kids say things on the bus you just wouldn’t believe. How important is the setting for the film? Esentially the story could be told anywhere. Most kids in this age group will be able to relate to the themes within the film in one way or another, although it might not be through the specific situation shown in the film. I have seen enough from South and east London so I thought it was time that West London was represented in its own way. That’s why I was adamant that it was short around there. When you do see films about West London it’s all Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant! You know Notting Hill, Four Weddings, Actually Love…or whatever it’s called, and Jones. All of that stuff! I though it was good to show another side. Just down the road there’s Victorian houses and two minutes away there’s a council estate. Because of all that these peoples’ social lives do inter-mix. I like that! Trife’s bedroom in the film was actually bedroom where I used to live. It gave authenticity to the film. Plus… it was all we could afford at the time! It was nice to see actors Aml and Adam sat on the bed where I used to sit with the real Jay years before.   What’s you greatest inspiration? I think I take after my Mum. I’ve learnt how to treat people from seeing things. That’s all I’m saying. I’ve learnt how to treat a woman from seeing the way it should be done. I’ve got a lot of friends whose careers have just burnt out. But when they’re partying at 3 a, I’m in, reading my script backwards and forwards and sideways. I’m not interested in fame – you’ll never see me in Heat magazine – but I do want to be successful. If I was sweeping the roads, I’d be the best person doing it in Britain. If I was posting letters, I’d finish my round before everyone else. I don’t think I’m the best actor in the country of my age, but I’ll aspire to be the best and if I see someone better I’ll work hard to improve. http://www.kidulthood.co.uk