Kelechi Campbell

How are teenage protagonists represented in   Adulthood (2008)   and Dangerous Minds (1995)?

In this essay, I will be discussing the ways in which teenage protagonists are portrayed in my two case studies of films, ‘Adulthood’(2008) and ‘Dangerous Minds’(1995). I will be analysing how both films portray teenage protagonists and discussing the interpretations that could be made. Adulthood(2008), BBFC certificate 15 and is a British drama film directed by Noel Clarke. The film’s main stars are Noel Clarke, Adam Deacon, Jacob Anderson and Ben Drew. The film is a sequel to the film ‘KIdULTHOOD’, set six years after the murder of Trife. Sam Peel is released from prison but finds that life on the outside is just as hard as life inside prison. As he adapts back to normal life, he is followed by a new generation of young boys who want revenge. For the duration of the Film, Sam attempts to stop the cycle of violence but it doesn’t change the motives of his pursuers.  The second film, Dangerous Minds(1995), BBFC certificate 15+ and is an American drama film directed by John N. Smith. It stars Michelle Pfeiffer, Wade Domínguez, Renoly Santiago and Bruklin Harris. This is about Louanne Johnson, former marine, who receives a job teaching underachieving teens in a inner-city high school. After failing to grab the attention of these kids early on, she tries a new approach. She is armed with a no-nonsense attitude and succeeds in reaching the students. In both films, there are contrasting representations of teenage protagonists. In Dangerous Minds they portray teenagers to be capable and gifted. The narratives of the film show the teenage protagonist’s progression of growth and ability from the start to the end of the film. For example, at the start Ms. Johnson cannot even grab the classes attention but later through the film they show academic potential as they show their intelligence when learning poetry. The film suggests to the audience is that teenagers are powerful beyond measure but at times may be misconceived or misunderstood by society. Whereas in Adulthood, they portray British teenagers in a negative way throughout the film, showing signs of morality but clearly indicating various stigmas attached to the teenager stereotype such as drugs, gangs and being rebellious. I will be analysing how, through the use of micro elements; cinematography, editing, sound and mise-en-scene. In the first scene of Dangerous Minds, children are shown arriving to school on the bus in a disorganized and rowdy fashion, such as hanging on the outside and hitting the side of the bus. Subsequently reinforcing the stereotype of rebellious acts to the audience. The abundance of noise coming from the bus connotes a lack of discipline and etiquette to the audience. Non-diegetic sound in the form of score music (Coolio – Ganster’s Paradise) emphasizes such stereotypes such as gang activity and enables the audience to establish a connection between the song and the students. This scene portrays teenagers in a turbulent manner in a school environment which is usually calm and controlled. This emphasised the stereotype of teenagers being disobedient and rebellious to the audience.

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Kelechi Campbell

The mise-en-scene used in this scene such as costumes, props and colours could represent the modern day perspective of teenagers in that era. The scene shows various teenagers walking off the bus, Raul walks off the bus smoking, and another walks off with grills in his mouth. This implies even in a school, an environment with rules and stipulations, teenagers will still steer away from the behavior expected, to be ignorant and rebellious. Costumes are used to show the audience the social group each character belongs in or what personality the teenager holds. Such as Durrell, he is shown wearing a hoodie and grills in his mouth, this reinforces the director’s implications to the audience in what economic social group each character comes from. This could also imply that Durrell is accustomed to the ‘hood lifestyle’ and is associated with certain things such as rap and hip-hop, as many rappers are seen with gold grills in their mouth. Another example of this is Emilio, he is shown in a medium shot standing around in a leather jacket, shirt open and hair greased, greeting a friend.  The director uses a medium shot, focused on Emilio to invoke a feeling of dominance in his character by showing him standing out in a crowd full of others, also the leather jackets in the 90’s were dear and were also linked to mob affiliations. This connotation was also enhanced by the non-diegetic sound in the form of background music. The combination of these create representations of gang and crime affiliations in teens. In Dangerous Minds, the scene where Ms. Johnson introduces herself to the class supports the stereotype of teenagers being disobedient as the class aren’t paying attention to her as she’s trying to speak. This portrays the students as rowdy. This scene links to Levi Strauss’ theory of binary oppositions of man VS woman, this represents the male protagonist to be dominant over the male, conforming to the stereotype of a man. This is shown in the scene where Emilio confronts Ms. Johnson face to face, the director uses a series of close up shots to show the emotion on both Emilio and Ms. Johnson’s face, showing the intimidation she feels, this is expressed by the body language of Ms. Johnson, as it very closed as if she is scared. This portrays the dominance as it shows even in a position of authority, a male student still dominates a teacher who is female. This shows teenagers are portrayed in a more authoritarian role and suggests teenagers had a more domineering presence in that era. Later scenes of the film show progression in the teenage protagonists, both academically and morally. A scene that shows this is when Ms. Johnson is reading a Bob Dylan poem about death, this marks the first time Emilio voluntarily participates in the classroom, the non-diegetic music used by the director in the form of ascending piano chords symbolises a point of enlightenment for Emilio.

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This causes the audience to question why if he really wants the life he is involved in or was he forced into it. A medium shot focused on Emilio is uses to show his emotion and interest Emilio is experiencing, this behaviour portrayed goes against the teenage stereotype of being ignorant and not being typically smart. Through this scene the director uses close up shots of Ms. Johnson, showing how stunned she is, implying she is so surprised the children are actually making valuable contributions, going against teenage stereotypes. Through this the audience sees the teenage protagonists actually stray from the stereotype and enter a more intellectual level that the audience did not anticipate. Adulthood similarly portrays teenagers in a negative way from the first scene of the film. The director uses an establishing shot of below the city motorway to make the location, a party clear to the audience. The diegetic on-screen sound of grime adds to the communication of what is happening in this location. The director uses a number of short cuts in this scene to indicate the many aspects of the party that reinforce the stereotypes of teenagers, fornication, drugs and money. For example, the director uses props in the form of blunts to link the perceived stereotype of teenagers to drugs. The party is underneath a motorway, which implies that this is socially unacceptable and seems to be hidden from the surface, much like gangs. The connotations of this continue through aspects of mise-en-scene such as costumes, wearing tracksuits or hoodies, giving the suggestion of a lower economic group. Later in the film, where three boys, Oman, Henry and Dabz rob a car. By analysing the mise-en-scene such as centre positioning in shots, we instantly know that Dabz is the protagonist, there are a lot of close up shots of Dabz. As they are committing a crime in broad daylight, it is alerting to the audience as it implies they do not care who sees, which ties in to the perceived stereotype of teenagers being rebellious to societies morals and rules. This reinforces representations of criminal acts and teenagers, emphasising the stereotype of teenagers. This scene is used to indicate Dabz and his boys as fearless characters with bad traits. The non-diegetic music in the form of rap music, glorifying criminal activity is played with the diegetic dialogue to match themes of gang activity and teenagers. Dialogue is also used to reinforce the portrayal of teenagers, colloquial language is used by a majority of the teenagers to communicate to everyone else for example “I’m gonna beat that bruv!”, insinuating connotations of street life and lower economic groups among the boys using this language.  There is a scene where Sam is going leave the house to murder someone, he is confronted by his mum at his front door, the director uses close up shots to

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show the audience the emotion that is being conveyed between the two parties, you can see the pain both of them are feeling, despite this Sam still leaves, showing the force of crime as a stronger hold on the teenager then family does. This is used by the director to portray teenagers in a negative light as it shows even in their most vulnerable place where they are faced with the person they love most, they will still stray and conform to the stereotypes of teenagers. This shows the hold the street culture has on teenagers. In the fight scene between Sam and Jay, the director uses an arc shot to show the audience the reality of the situation, both characters have a stand off with a baseball bat and a gun, this characterises Sam and Jay without the director having to use dialogue. The dialogue used later in the scene by Sam such as “You think I wanted this bruv?” with close up shots used by the director invokes feelings of empathy through the audience. When Sam takes the gun off Jay and pulls the trigger to his own head, nothing happens as there are no bullets in the gun. This scene in the film may be used to imply the things you see on the surface could all be a front. The guns, drugs and clothes, could be used to hide their insecurities and fears of life. This is because he had a gun, used for the purpose of intimidation, yet when it came down to the crucial moment, he didn’t live up to the stigma of teenage stereotypes. The costumes are also significant, in the fight scene, Sam’s clothes are in a dirty state. The representation of the clothing being dirty is aimed to make the audience believe that they have fought a brave amount to restore their problems, a message and value that teens are willing to change if put in a harsh enough situation. Through my analysis of both films, I believe that the films had similarities but for the most part contrasted in the way that they portray teenage protagonists. Opening sequences of both films they portray the teenage protagonists as rebellious, disobedient and unmanageable. Both of the films teenage protagonists support societies stereotypes. However, in Dangerous Minds, the teenage protagonists are shown as a progressive force of knowledge and power as they show signs of intelligence and go on to show great capability and ability. Whereas, in Adulthood teenage protagonists Sam and Jay show little to no significant indication of improvement in character. They still surround themselves with the lifestyle of drugs, gangs and crime that the audience expects them to stray to, leading the audience to not only acknowledge the stereotype but agree with it.

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