Fish Tank Analysis

Fish Tank is a 2009 British coming of age drama with the sub-genre of social realism and was written and directed by Andrea Arnold. It was produced by Nick laws and edited by Nicolas Chaudeurge. The film won the Jury Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival; it also won the 2010 BAFTA for Best British Film. The film had a budget of £1.8million and runs for 123 minutes, they made £1,451,678 in the box office. Set on a council estate in Essex, Fish tank is focussed on the story of 15-year-old Mia played by Katie Jarvis. She’s just been thrown out of school, has fought with her friends, and is heading down a route of self-destruction. Her sister Tyler (Rebecca Griffiths) is too young to offer any real support, and her mum Joanna (Kierston Wareing) is more interested in partying than raising her children. But one day her mum brings home her new boyfriend Connor (Michel Fassbender) and it turns her life upside down. The main themes in Fish tank are jealousy, betrayal and lust. They are all shown throughout the majority of the film. When Mia wakes up one morning to see Connor in the kitchen, she is torn between anger and lust. Soon the relationship between Connor and Mia’s mother blooms, and he begins to bond with the whole family, but just as things seem to be going well the bond oversteps the line.

Mia shows a passion for dance and when she’s dancing she gives off a natural warmth and energy that seems muted by trauma and social isolation when she’s at home and out on the streets. Dance seems to be Mia’s way of showing her self- expression. This trauma is shown a lot when she’s around her mother Joanne, as she’s not given any loving attention instead she’s given an occasional threat or insult. Social isolation however is shown when she finds the neighbourhood girls in a parking lot and ends up in scuffle with one of the girls. After head butting one of the girls the police and social workers are called and Mia is told she is being sent to a school for the troubled youth. Mia fixates on freeing a frail horse that’s alone and chained up and decides she wants to set it free. The horse represents Mia in this situation because the horse in isolated and is trapped by the chains just as Mia is isolated socially and trapped with her cold mother who couldn’t care less what she got up too. At the end of the film a balloon is seen flying into the air which shows Mia’s freedom when she leaves with her new friend Billy. Mia is attracted to this alluring white horse just as she’s attracted to Joanne’s alluring new boyfriend Connor.

Connor is remarkably unnerving in the film; Fassbender exaggerated Connor’s kindness just enough to make the scene feel uneasy but not enough to make you think he was deliberately aiming to be something other than a father figure. Eventually Connor does go too far with Mia, and Fassbender gives us a mixture of lust and guilt. But Mia allowed him because she has desperation for love and care, the things she doesn’t usually receive at home.  An older man pursues a teen-age girl, but there’s a stronger candidate her own age for her affections: Billy (Harry Treadaway), a skinny boy hanging around the neighbourhood, who’s shy and inarticulate but mysteriously unafraid of quarrelling with Mia.

 I did notice in moments throughout the film that slow-motion was used especially when Mia and Connor were together. They seemed to be used to show the tranquil, relaxing atmosphere that was not around whenever Mia was near home. It perhaps showed the few moments that Mia enjoyed in her life, the moments where she just wanted to slow down time so it would last forever, the moments where she felt companionship. Also close-ups and mid shots were used a lot with Mia and Connor together to perhaps show how close they were. Mia’s mum is absent during a lot of the film and when she is in the scene it’s for short periods of time usually using a close up or mid shot. Both of these shots only show part of the person which matches her lack of presence in her daughter’s life. The same shots featuring Mia and two different people portray very different stories about her feelings which is very powerful. The use of the handheld camera is used for the vast majority of the film but is used less during the middle of the film. This may be because at the beginning and end Connor is not around so in Mia’s eyes their life is so much more unstable but when Connor is around their lifestyle seems to be so much better and they come across as a secure family. At some point when Mia is dancing the camera shows her from behind and her whole body looks like a shadow which tells me that dancing makes Mia feel like her true self the part of her nobody else see’s because shadows only show you and they are always there but they only come out during the night just like this side of Mia only comes out when she’s dancing.

The film does seem to show the stereotypes of council estates. Mia is running around in a full tracksuit where as the other girls are wearing skimpy clothes including her mother. Parties seem to be happening everyday with music blasting throughout the flat even during the day. All the buildings are in terrible conditions with abandoned flats inside like the one Mia uses to practice her dancing, and troubled children wandering around everywhere shouting inappropriate words at each other. Within these stereotypes however Mia is not as exaggerated and is seen as more of a victim in this ‘Broken Britain’. She only shouts and fights back when she recognises something as dangerous or trouble and is not deliberately starting fights for no apparent reason like the initial stereotype of council estate teenagers. All the teenage characters are working class but the main male character is middle class which may reflect the dominance middle class people have over the working class. In this case Connor had power over Mia.  

Throughout the film there is constant background noise. There is never a scene where it is completely silent. A lot of the time there is shouting in the background if nothing else which adds to the thought that Mia may have had quite a troubled up bringing living in a area like this. However these sounds are ignored by Mia which tells us she is used to them. The sky is usually bleak and dreary but it is still quite bright.

The film is remarkable for its depth. It’s not drilling in a message about the hopelessness of poverty, nor is it stylising the lifestyle of those living on council estates. Alcohol, drugs and smoking are neither demonised nor glorified. This web of problems and possibilities is interwoven to create a film that succeeds in harnessing all of the dramatic power available in its desolate setting without draining it of its realism.

In my opinion all of these elements make for gripping viewing. I found that the compelling characters and their movingly real stories really interested me. It’s a hard-hitting drama with bags of character, loads of issues and an amazing central performance.