Fish Tank Review.

The summary of the film fish tank is about a young troubled isolated teenage girl called Mia (played by Katie Jarvis) who lives in a lone parent family in a run-down council estate. Mia big dream is to become a dancer as it is the only thing that makes her feel free. However, her dreams are shattered as she faces great obstacles with her selfish mother and when her boyfriend Connor comes into Mia life.

Some people argue that the film was not worth watching because it did not have a "story line". This is because, we are so used to watching big budget blockbuster and expect high quality filming with a great ending ect , therefore some people's expectations decreased whilst watching 'Fish Tank' as it was a low budget film. However, even though ‘Fish Tank' was a low budgeted film, I believe there was some aspects of the film which was good because it kept me appealed in watching it. The genre of this film is social realism, which I think is great because, it makes the audience aware about the world we are living in, therefore it gives them a true, realistic picture. Moreover, about half way through the opening of the film, we see the protagonist (Mia)  looking at a group of girls dancing and smirking at them suggesting they are bad dancers; from this point, as audience we know an argument or a fight is going to happen with Mia rivals. As she approaches them they all begin to swear at one another which makes Mia head butt the girl. Even though from the beginning of the opening we do not know the main character well, from this specific fight it suggest that she is the type if girl who does not take any nonsense from other people, and is willing to stand up for herself. 

In the film, Mia is represented as a lonely, vulnerable, feisty and hurt teenage girl who is stuck in a 'Fish Tank' because she cannot have the desirable lifestyle and is watching the world which she does not have access to as she is a deprived child. When I was watching the film, I did not understand what was the point of having a horse? As I thought it was a stupid idea and why she kept going to see if it was okay; however, I was wrong as there is a deeper meaning behind the horse. This is because; the horse is symbolic throughout the film as it represents Mia freedom. The fact that she kept breaking the chain trying to set the horse free is a comparison of her trying to escape from all her troubled problems. Furthermore, you would expect her mum Joanne (played by Keirston Wareing) to be helping her daughter with her problems, instead she is stuck at home 24/7 and does not even care about her own two daughters; it is almost as if she does not acknowledge she is a mum and her role is to look after her own family. We first see Joanne arguing with Mia as she slaps he head and refers her as a "little cunt" which conveys, she is not worthy of being a mum. Joanne is represented as being a care-free, single mother, who smokes, drinks, parties ect  and is a bad role model to both of her daughters, as she finds it fine that they both smoke and drink like her especially the youngest daughter. Joanne seems happy when Mia is not around, as she does not take interest in her daughter education and just focuses on herself and how she looks. This is effective, because it gives a realistic picture of society today, as some mothers do act in the similar way like Joanne. As a result, their children grow up being rebellious and lonely because they do not have a stable life. 

Moreover, we begin to see a relationship starting to develop between Mia and Connor (mother boyfriend). This could be because, Mia sees him as a father figure, and somebody who she can trust as he makes her feel wanted and that is something she has never felt before. At first, as audience we being to believe that Connor is a decent guy who actually cares about this family as he is represented as being caring and down to earth especially to Mia, when he tries to support her with her dancing and compliments her; however he is too good for this to be all true. His true colours are shown as we find out he is a married man with a young daughter but at the same time he has sex with a teenage girl. This could suggest, that he is a paedophile? however he was drunk at the time and realised his mistake; it is ambiguous. Additionally, from that moment and onwards I began to feel really sympathetic towards the character of Mia because she felt used and helpless in the situation as she trusted Connor. All she has ever wanted is to be loved, and she has never ever got that from her damaged mother.

Overall, I believe that the name of the film 'Fish Tank' highlights that dreams of deprived children can not come true as they do not have the support from their own parents. The film is well presented as it conveys the realism of how some families are in society today and the impact it has on the children. Katie Jarvis (Mia) plays a good role of her character in showing the audience the problems troubled teenagers face because of how they have been brought up. In the film, we could refer her as a feral child when she was peeing on the carpet, which could suggest that she has not been socialised well when she was young into knowing what is right and wrong and has been lacking maternal deprivation from self centred mum. Also, the ending of the film could of been better however, it does link to the whole narrative of the film and shows the cycle of her life. Mia leaves at the end which could suggest that she is free and can now focus on positive things, as she is not trapped any more. Lastly, the uses and gratifications which I think is most suitable for this film would be identity. This is because, some teenagers could relate to the protagonist and the problems she is facing, therefore it would make them feel connected to her.