Attack The Block Case Study

 Attack The Block (Joe Cornish, 2011)

Directed and written by Joe Cornish and released on May 13, 2011 in the UK, rated 15.

Had a budget of $15 million and made $6 million in the international box office.

Starring John Boyega and Jodie Whittaker, who were lesser known at the time, also featuring Nick Frost.

Produced by:

Screen Gems

StudioCanal

Film4

UK Film Council

Big Talk Productions

Distributed by:

StudioCanal (UK)

Sony Pictures Releasing (USA)

Representation:

Positive Portrayal:

-Youth

-Community

-Working Class

-Women

-African-British people

Negative Portrayal:

-Authority

-Upper/middle class

-Drug Dealers

-Council Housing

Effects Theory Influence:

As per the effects theory, there are some aspects of the film that could have a negative impact on the audience after viewing. Firstly, the violence and use of weapons in the film could be imitated by audiences, since many of the weapons shown in the film are easily available (such as a baseball bat, knife and use of fireworks as a weapon) and at the beginning of the film the gang is eager to kill more aliens, which could promote violent behaviour. Drug use could also be imitated by audiences, as the film somewhat normalises smoking weed and many characters use it casually.

Stuart Hall's Reception Theory:

Stuart Hall came up with an alternative audience theory called the reception theory, where a media product's meaning is encoded into it, which is then decoded by audience members, resulting in different people understanding the media product differently.

In Reception theory, there are 3 ways in which an individual audience member can understand a text's meaning, called "Audience readings";

-Dominant / preferred - This is when the audience understands and agrees with the encoded meaning of the text, which is the same way that the producer of the text intended the text to be understood. In relation to Attack The Block, a dominant reading might understand the political message of the film, and agree with it eg. that members of the working class are under/misrepresented in society, challenging the status quo that higher class members are inherently superior.

-Negotiated - This is when the audience does not understand the encoded meaning of the text, and as a result have little or no opinion on it. They may still enjoy the text, but fail to see the meaning behind it. In Attack The Block, a negotiated reading might miss the political message of the film and only come away thinking about the cool action sequences and design of the aliens. A negotiated reading could also be a mixture of dominant and oppositional readings for different parts of the text's message.

-Oppositional - This is when the audience understands, but rejects the encoded meaning of the text and opposes the intended view of the producer. They disagree with the message behind the text. In Attack The Block, an oppositional reading might understand the political message of the film, but disagree with it eg. that criminal gang members should not be glorified and the police should not be presented negatively since they're the real heroes of the world. 

BBFC Rating:

The BBFC's rating of Attack The Block was by no means clear-cut, because some aspects of the film begin to extend into a potential 18 rating, especially the portrayal of drug use.

To start, the BBFC immediately disqualified the film from any rating below 15 as a result of the very frequent use of strong language like 'f**k' (over 50 uses) which is not appropriate for a 12 rating or below.

The next category is violence, which is also showcased frequently in the film. There are several bloody / gory sequences including a face being ripped off, an implied beheading and scenes with lots of blood spurts and characters covered in blood. However, this violence is in part justified by the context of the film, in that there is a fantastical setting with most violence being in self defence against evil alien creatures. The aliens themselves are also somewhat comic in nature, as their design is a simple large, hairy beast with glowing teeth. The use of weapons are also shown quite extensively, including easily available weapons like a baseball bat, knives and fireworks. Again this is mitigated by the context of self-defence, and the film does not glamorise weapons or violence.

The most controversial content in Attack The Block is the portrayal of drug use and drug dealing in the film. There are multiple scenes where characters smoke weed and some scenes also take place in a room used for growing marijuana, which is used as a safe house. However, a character is arrested by police for possession of drugs.

BBFC decided that the film does not, as a whole, promote or encourage drug misuse since it more approaches drugs as an aspect that simply reflects the world of the film, since some characters are more critical of drugs while others happily use them. Also, the drug dealer character is presented as a villain in the film. The protagonist also refuses to smoke anything before an important mission while other characters have their judgement impaired by smoking weed.