“The Selfish Giant” is a feature film of the social realism and crime genres written and directed Clio Barnard. It was produced and released in 2013 by Artificial Eye, Film4 and The British film Institute.
The narrative is based on the story written by Oscar Wilde back in 1888, with Kitten’s character symbolising ‘The Selfish Giant’ and the young male protagonists Arbor and Swifty representing the mistreated children who taught him of his selfish ways at the price of their life.
The main themes within this film include; friendship, poverty, exploitation, violence, abuse, struggle and selfishness and these themes are portrayed effectively throughout the film in order to create meaning through the use of microfeatures, such mise en scene and cinematography.
The mise en scene used in ‘The Selfish Giant’ is extremely effective in portraying the theme of the poverty that Arbor and Swifty’s families deal with on a day to day basis. For example, if you look closely, the black jacket which Arbor is seen wearing in almost every scene, is actually covered in rips and tears. This connotes both poverty and neglect and could either suggest the worryingly high amount of physical labour needed to have been experienced in order to cause this much wear to the jacket, or, the lack of money needed to buy a new one. Both of these connotations accurately represent the lower social class status of Arbor and his family, which is part of Barnard’s intentions in creating a social realism film set in a place such as this council estate in Bradford, Northern England.
This leads on the next aspect of mise en scene; the setting. In ‘The Selfish Giant’ this switches predominantly between two main settings; Arbor and Swifty’s small, cluttered council houses and the metallic, industrial-looking scrap heaps, both of which have a negative and slightly depressing feel to them, perhaps representative of the negative events to come. Likewise, the props used throughout the film mainly include large pieces of scrap metal and wires that Arbor and Swifty have stolen, which are essential to the overall narrative of the film and portray the somewhat shocking lengths that the two protagonists are prepared to go to in order to support eachother and their families.
Cinematography is also another example of how themes such as poverty and friendship, are presented within ‘The Selfish Giant.’ For example; the close up shot of Swifty holding Arbor’s hand shown both at the beginning and the end of the film, creating a circular structure within the narrative, act as a symbol of the undying friendship between the two boys. In contrast to this however, the use of close ups are also used during some parts in the film, along with low key lighting and fast editing, in order to emphasise the angry, erratic mood.
In conclusion therefore, it is clear to see that the use of microfeatures such as mise en scene and cinematography are effective in presenting important themes and creating meaning within ‘The Selfish Giant’.
(Word Limit = 500 words
Word Count = 501 words)
Angelique, well done for keeping the words down. You have correctly identified the genre and themes. However your third paragraph is a shopping list of themes with no examples to evidence your understanding. I still feel however that you need to condense your thoughts onto the paper, paragraph four you spend too long explaining the 'jacket'. Remember you need to demonstrate that you have an excellent understanding of how films are put together and what meanings the filmmakers have placed in the film and who the intended audience is. We are getting there, Well Done.
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