ESSAY #1 BULLET POINTS

Bullying, fitting in and betrayal are all things that either yourself or others around you have experienced.

Mean Creek directed by Jacob Aaron Estes, bullying (overshadowing idea) which helps unfold other themes throughout the film... helps us further understand the complexity of bullying.

‘Through visual and verbal techniques’ Estes has made bullying memorable as is helps us come to grips and have a greater understanding of bullies and their reasons behind their actions.

PARAGRAPH 1

-bullies are complexed, and they may have deeper meanings for bullying, such as but may have family issues. background etc. (not just to “be a bully”)

-Marty, a “white trash” teenager demonstrates the idea of the bullying cycle and reproducing your pain in someone else due to family experiences

-Kyle Martys fatherly figure since his dad commited suicide catches his younger bro Marty with gun, having some “target practice”.

-we immediately see how quick kyle is to snap and orders Marty over and grabs him by the ear and flips him round.

-we go from a mid shot immediately to a LA shot of kyle making him look in control and superior

-Kyle then spits out “dad didn’t hit as hard as I do” switching to a HA of marty showing he is small and vulnerable. THis shows us that his father was abusive, passing on to kyle which leads to Marty being around the aggressive behavior.

DP- to show us one of the underlying layers which trigger bullying within teenagers and humans, and the reasons why Marty acts the way he does towards others .

-helps us grow an understanding of the idea of bullying and the different reasons behind it

e.g Marty and Kyle at home. (showing the bullying cycle) reproducing the bullying in someone else.

DAD-KYLE-MARTY-OTHERS

PARAGRAPH 2

-Bullying is memorably because is not onle helps us understand the reasons behind the bullies but it also unfolds numerous other ideas to help us understand the theme such as fitting in.

-Estes created an elaborate character of George, who we first establish to be a destined villain then turns out to be a sad, lonely and damaged socially awkward boy with his greatest desire to have friends.

-After george has been invited out on the boat trip, the morning of the outing we see George in the mirror, adjusting himself in the mirror shows hes nervous etcetc.

-When hes in the car we start to really establish him as a character and see a different side of him. Start to see all he wants is friends and to “fit in” yet when hes in the car all the shots isolate him blahblah

-We grow to understand he is socially awkward and doesn't know how to act in these sorts of situations , this is shown by his dialogue and how he speaks (stutters) “its a beautiful day for a boat trip with some buddies” (no idea whats go one blahblah

-cracks weird/awks jokes

DP- for us to establish the deepers meanings within bullying and why they do it, some people just long to fit in with soceity today. just want friends.

PARAGRAPH 3 consequences of bullying

-Something that society today does not think too far into is the consequences of bullying effects of your actions.

-When the gang of teenagers plot revenge on george they do not think so far into the consequences of their actions, yet of course the smacks them right back in their face as their so called plan ends with the fatal death of George.

-It will haunt them forever.

-Yet this contrast with the start of the film where Sam, the victim of Goerges bullying says “If we hurt him won’t we be just as bad as him” shows us Sam has some maturity etc, but they still continue on with their plan and it backfires.

- learn to take responsibilty, shown through Sam steppinginto the light at gs house, front of the gang.

-shows us that there are always consequences for your actions, and that two wrongs do not make a right.

-Memorable ideas can stay with audiences long after viewing the film. In Mean Creek, by Jacob Aaron Estes, an idea he makes memorable is the theme of bullying.

-Through the idea of bullying unfolded other themes, helped us understand reasons behind bullying and the consequences of peoples actions.

- Its leaves us as the viewer thinking about society today, and how everyone longs to fit in, and what it can do to someone if they don’t.

	Created by daisysmith over 10 years ago

Level 1 NCEA English Note on Mean Creek Revision Links, created by daisysmith on 20/10/2013.

Mean Creek Revision Links