Fish Tank

Fish tank has a social realist genre, tackling the issues and life problems of those living within the working class in our society. It is targeted at a niche audience, analysing realistic events in every day life and how they take effect on certain individuals. In this specific social realism film, the director chose Katie Jarvis to play the protagonist ' Mia ', as he saw her arguing with her boyfriend at a train station. She had no acting experience and was casted as the lead role as she was noticed in a real life situation. Typical connotations of this specific genre is that it is very tense, violent, filmed and focused in an Urban area and mainly focuses on those of the Working Class. This film is specifically focused on the working class and the under class. Mia is not seen to be in education and neither is her younger sister. Her mother drinks a lot of alcohol and is shown to be unemployed. They live on an Urban estate of flats, where crime and poverty is surrounding them.
Throughout there are many hand held camera movements to create a sense of realism and that there is always something following them; that there problems are with them constantly. This is shown when Mia approaches a group of teenage girls a similar age to her, who are rehearsing a dance routine. She then starts a fight and head buts another girl, and while this is happening its like someone who is there records her every move. The camera transitions are very wild and panicked to support the idea of violence and a sense of fear. This behaviour supports how this genre targets the working class and under class issues in life. Her behaviour and violent mannerism is typical of the under class way of living and to be defensive. She has been associated with this kind of behaviour throughout her life and that she learns these things from her mother. This is yet another issue social realist genres target, and how parenting and caring is a lot different to those of a higher class.

In the last scene of the film, it shows Mia's kitchen and living room and how the wall paper is an image of ' Paradise'. It shows palm trees, a sunset setting, the ocean, the beach; showing a dream place to be in. This suggests how they want to escape from the world they are part of, and dream about something more pleasant and peaceful. A social realist film often shows how victims want to escape the world they live in and find something better however they often give up on this fantasy and just settle for what  is realistic to them. Mia's mother is seen to be unemployed and drinks large amounts of alcohol. This could show that she has given up on trying to achieve a better life and drinks to hide away the pain of what her life has thrown at her. Looking at a sense of paradise could make her feel better and that her life isnt so bad, when in reality it is. They don't have a lot of money, the TV is a standard box television, which for the present day is not common. There are no computer and technical devises in the house that cost a lot of money, this showing that they are deprived of material goods. The paradise on the wall, distracts the fact of their financial issues and family issues.