- Genre= Social Realism. Wasp is set in working class flats somewhere in middle of England (possibly London). Using location that look familiar and British is very typical of social realism. The iconography of the picture of David Beckham is very iconic in the fact that at the time was film David Beckham was a massive role model for working class people as despite being a international football star he started off in a place very similar to the one in Wasp. The film has a objective narrative structure as we see things that the characters don't see straight away. For example when the wasp flies into the babies mouth we see it getting closer and closer before any of the characters notice. Objective narrative is commonly used in social realism usually to show the misfortune of characters or just to show a wider view of what is happening at the time. The theme of wasp seems to be the struggle of a working class single mother to look after her children and be the young women that she is.
- The characterisation of the mother is fantastic as we see what she is like from the very first scene of her walking to another mothers house in her nightgown and no shoes on. Andrea Arnold, the director has used Interesting camera framing on particular parts of faces to highlight facial expression and show emotion that the characters are feeling. For example there is a medium close up that shows the oldest child in a mother-like position - holding the baby and watching her mum flirting with a man in a car and looking worried and a little bit protective of her mother it's like role reversal. Another example is when a more shaky in-and-out-of-focus extreme close up, which is more to make the audience identify with the woman by showing what she's concentrating on the man in the car, Dave's face.
- The advantage of this film being a short film is that we are brought straight into some action, the mum fighting another mum in her nightgown and wearing no shoes. it feels as though we are just another person living on the estate watching the fight happen and this is a common theme the whole time. I was made to feel as though you were just looking into a seemingly average day at their house but with the arrival of Dave it changes everything. Due to the restriction on the amount of time the short film it has it means that the director, Andrea Arnold, was forced to show traits of characters through action instead of dialogue I found this a lot more interesting and gives it a more real feel to it as it is just like we are watching the families normal day. For example when they are at home the mum gives the oldest a bag of sugar to share out with her sisters, this shows that they are a very working class family with very little.
- Due to the film being social realist Arnold seems to have decided against Non-diegetic music in the piece as to create a sense of true realism. There are plenty of diegetic sound however which is crucial to making the film seem real as at the pool table for example if the mother hit the ball with the cue and no noise came it would take away the realism from that moment. The diegetic sound is something that the post production team would have to consider. The would need to decided whether to use Foley sounds or pre-set sounds from programmes like garageband.
- The themes and issues in Wasp is one of the struggle of a working class mum to cope financially and mental to look after her kid and live the life of a normal young woman. Working class is often targeted for social realist films due to the working class being a social class that the most people can relate to and those that can't are made to sympathise with the family in particular, despite the mothers awful parenting and aggression. The stereotype of the working class single mother was really reinforced in this film as she dreams of marrying David Beckham, a work class success story. The families struggle with money makes us sympathise with them a lot and despite her poor parenting I found I was sympathetic of the mother as well as all she wants to do is live a normal life that a young women should do.
Dominic Michau
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