An Analysis of Representation in 'The Selfish Giant'

The Selfish Giant is a British Social Realism film directed by Clio Barnard, and was released in 2013. The film was produced by 3 companies: BFI, Film 4 and Moonspun Films. The film was inspired by an Oscar Wilde novel of the same name, and was filmed in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Two 13 year old boys, Arbor and Swifty both come from underclass families and both families struggle to make ends meet, so the boys undertake work at a local scrap yard. 

Regional Identity

Electricity masts (1:12:16)

Run down shops (19:38)

The Selfish Giant is set in modern day Bradford. The first thing you hear when watching the film is a strong, thick northern accent, which is carried through out all of the characters. Yorkshire natives always shorten words, such as when Kitten says to Arbor "make self useful,lad", as it is in the Yorkshire nature to speak in such prose, which creates a sense of the true nature of the characters in the film, helping the audience experience such a grasping reality of the characters identity. Also, when Swifty asks his mum, "Did you lose the baby or Dad sell it". This shows the poverty and the struggle of the family, who sell all their furniture, just so they can eat and have a life. There is lots of swearing in the film, which connotes Northerners are generally more angry, and you can see this angry nature portrayed through the actions and dialogue of Kitten, the angry, brash scrap merchant. By making these characters angry, the director truly shows a realistic underclass community, and that these characters have not been as in depth-ly explored in other media texts, which creates a true identity of the region of England, as she is able to depict certain qualities of the characters to explore. In the film the houses look very run down, and poverty stricken, with most locations used to film, connoting that Bradford is an almost desolate town, along with the lives of the people that live in there. The long shot of the run down shops connote this area is very poor, as the graffiti shops, and shutters down on shops which are open connotes a rough area. This long shot is particularly powerful, as it captures the desolate and isolation of the local shops which should busy with lots of people, and instead it is empty and cold looking. This also connotes that  A scene of a domestic wasteland, has the backdrop of cooling towers and the wasteland if overgrown and riddled with weeds and unwanted growth, which reflects the industrial town Bradford once was. Also, the telephone and electricity towers in the fog and a blue colour palette is almost a pathetic fallacy, as it reflects the harsh realty of life up north, and how unemployment has affected these underclass famailes. The fight Arbor gets in at school brands all northerners as a fighting type, which also relates back to the angriness explored through character identity. 

Age

Arbor hugging his Mum (49:44)

Arbor feeding the fish (52:17)

In this film, young people are looked down upon, and taken advantage of mentally. Arbor and Swifty should both be at school pursuing an education, but instead they are out grafting to help their underclass families. The two boys act like adults, in order to create a better life for their families, but are downtrodden by Kitten and the scrapyard men until they see the boys could actually work and actually do a half decent job of grafting. The boys look up to Kitten, and i think because of Arbor's fathers absence, Kitten is almost a father figure to him. The fact that Kitten 'taxed' the boys by 20% of their grafting earnings because they were working under the age of 16 shows that there is almost a barrio between older and young people, and that young people are just a group of social misfits. The scene where there was a brick thrown through Arbor's front door is emotionally draining for the audience. Arbor's mother is stereotypically down trodden woman. She's the doormat to her sons, one with a dirty drug habit, and Arbor with ADHD. This scene is particular hard-hitting seeing Arbor's mother crying and Arbor telling her it's going to be alright, and holding her close, comforting her. This shows that Arbor tries to be the main male figure of the house, and the fact he is still just an innocent young boy at heart. The close up of the mother and son hugging connotes the bond between them, and creates significant emotion for the audience. Also, as this scene is going on, Swifty is cleaning up the glass from the broken window, which shows younger people have respect for the older characters. The scene where the police come over to speak to Arbor about the copper wire incident, Arbor's innocence is clearly justified as he feeds the fish in the tank. I found this a very powerful moment in the scene, as it reflects the young boy he really is, underneath the thick 'adult' skin and persona he portrays all through the film. The director has shown this because of the psychological affects that poverty stricken and underclass families have to go through every day in this country behind closed doors. Arbor's mother should not have to be comforted by her own son who's 13 years old, and she should definitely not be left to suffer through her depression on her own. This really to show the raw and half deal of which the underclass have to survive through. 


Disability

Arbor under his bed after Swifty's death (1:22:05)

There are various types of mental health illnesses explored in this film. Arbour has an extreme case of ADHD. Arbor's ADHD is definitely not sugarcoated in any way, shape or form. Arbor's brother, has taken to selling Arbor's Ritalin pills for money, so the pills never actually help suppress Arbor's ADHD. The representation of mental illness in the community is to mask the problem, not solve it. The 'take pills an you'll get better' attitude is one conveyed by Arbor's mother as she is physically and mentally not able to cope with his illness. Arbor is known for being aggressive and dangerous, which ended up him getting kicked out of school, connoting his illness prevents him from learning and gaining and education. There is a high lack of support in school and at home to help Arbor and his family. This shows Bradford is not as privileged as say suburban London, in which families would have support workers and child psychiatrists a phone call away. The death of Swifty agitates Arbor's ADHD and he spirals into the lowest, most depressed state we have seen. He becomes withdrawn and hides under his bed. The close up of Arbor staring straight up really creates a grieving emotion in the film. The light is natural and the only glimpse of Arbor's face is established by the natural light. When Arbor comes out from under his bed, his mum holds him and comforts him. This also shows, the unity of the family when things go wrong, at the end of the day, they are there for one another, no matter how hard it gets. This is a very accurate representation of mental illness in young people, and shows the very worst of the illnesses, to show the audience that no two cases are the same, and especially when provoked in such an underclass area of Bradford, they are dismissed significantly. Both mothers in this film, Swifty's and Arbor's suffer in silence from depression. They try so hard to make a better life for their family, but it never happens. The two downtrodden women are weak and can't stand up for themselves, and easily susceptible to dominating men, who make them feel fragile and mentally weak. This leaves them vulnerable to domestic violence, because of their weak and fragile states, and yet again, their mental illnesses take over, but are still forgotten about and brushed under the carpet. This is another prime example of life behind closed doors in British Social Realism, that there are many different situations going on domestically, which are never explored.

Social Class

Swifty & Arbor looking down on the railway workers (02:23)

The Establishing shot in this film is of a railway track. Arbor and Swifty are seen to be drinking energy drinks out of cans at midnight/early hours of the morning, which is surprising for 13 year old boys to be out that late. This connotes that the boys are from underclass families and they have a dysfunctional family life at home, which is why they are playing on the railway tracks. The characters are generally dressed in dirty, grubby old clothes and cheap tracksuits, which look unwashed, because the families are too poor to afford washing powder. In Swifty's household, there is no electricity or heating and the room is very dark and almost derelict, and Price Drop sells their sofa, just to pay the electricity bill. The natural light shine faintly through the window, which is almost pathetic fallacy in a way. The light coming into the room also reflects the lives of the people in the film. Education is overlooked significantly in this film, as Arbor doesn't have any intention of going to school, even after his mother receives a truancy fine, which she wont be able to pay. Both of the mothers in this film realise that education is the only thing their boys have, and the only chance they will get to change their life, and not be another run of the mill, underclass group of adults. These situations happen everyday in real life and i think the director has used this to illustrate the mother's cry for help in real life situations. The scrap yard run by Kitten is one of the main places of employment in this area of Bradford, it's for men who want cash in hand, and for the less educated. This proves that school life and education is not an important part of living in an underprivileged area, it is scarcely encouraged to attend. This connotes Bradford is a town of grafters and not office workers. The underclass get their hands dirty and try to earn a living as best as they can. The poverty is so low, and it is reflected in the houses, the dirty doors, broken gates and the cello tape to fix broken window panels. This shows the underclass will do anything to get a source of income, and will spend wisely to make sure they can afford to provide for their children and families.


Gender

Mrs Swift & Pricedrop (12:37)

Arbor's household and the majority of the film is predominantly male dominated, which causes conflicts. Men are conveyed and strong individuals who are the breadwinners for their families. The men have jobs and the women are housewives. Pricedrop calls Mrs Swift, his own wife 'useless' which stereotypes men as domestic abusers in mos cases.There is no opportunity for women to work in this area, as the only real, basic employment is the Scrap Yard which needs strong men. Women are weak, and are derogatory beings to males, they are undervalued and are only really used to for comfort. Mary, Kitten's wife is a strong traveller woman, who has a good heart, and is kind to Arbour and Swifty, I think this establishes her maternal instinct as traveller families are usually very large, and women are also second best to men, but still remain strong under their husband's thumb. Mary is very affected by Swifty's death, and she cries as she uncovers the tarpaulin. This proves, even the strongest women in this community can be weak. Kitten is a very stereotypical northern man, and threatens to cut Arbour's hand off for stealing, before he attempts to do it. This portrays men as heartless and cold. Swifty breaks this male stereotype as he is very affectionate with the horse, and towards Arbor. Swifty's love for horses is very different to Kitten's view, a ho

Majority of the scrap workers are male
(26:22)

rse is for work and money, and not to pet and love. This is shown during the racing of the horses, Swifty is devoted to how the horse is feeling, and knows when the horse is spooked, and endlessly shouts at the racers to slow down. Kitten's only hope is to win the bet and get all his winnings. This proves that Swifty is not the stereotypical man, and Arbour tells him to 'toughen up', this shows Bradford men should be strong, cold hearted and if you're not strong, you're barely a man.

Sexuality
Casual homophobia is used throughout the film. There are no LGBT characters explored during the film, but the word 'gay' is used as an insulting term. It is ingrained as part of the underclass northern culture, that being gay/lesbian/bisexual or transgender is not at all accepted, and there is no option to be a member of the LGBT community. This proves there is little acceptance to minority groups in the community.

Ethnicity

Explores traveller culture through horse racing (29;26)

There are two predominant races explored in this film. White people are represented as 'chavvy' scroungers, who steal and will do anything for money. The whole film is set around a scrap yard atmosphere, in which stealing and illegal deeds are done. These characters are born and bred to hate the police and legal authorities. Mary commented that the government were cracking down on scrap yard laws, and warned Kitten he'd have to stop doing illegal deeds. These qualities represent white people as unlawful British citizens, who are risk takers and will do anything to make sure they have social security. Traveller culture is also examined during the film. Kitten was branded a 'pikey' and 'wannabe traveller' by many people in the film, even though his wife is a traveller, Kitten is a 'gorjer' (non-traveller), but portrays himself as one, owning a horse and scrapyard, and traveller activities, such as horse-racing on the motorways, just after sunrise, so the police don't catch them. This shows that travellers in the Britain intertwine themselves into the general community, like Swifty's family, who are a stereotypical large 'traveller family' but they're actually gorjers, and break the mould, by being poor, even though Swifty loves horses and offers to race for Kitten.