Fish Tank Analysis

The Fishing Scene

This scene begins with Mia getting out of the car with her little sister, mother and her mother's boyfriend, Connor leading them to a nearby lake. The entrance to this lake is blocked off by a large gate to prevent vehicles from entering, as Mia, her sister and her mother do not hesitate to think twice about the fact that it may be illegal to enter this area, this shows what kind of moral standards they have - evidently very low. 

The kind of language that they use to speak to one another also reflects their morals; extensive use of swearing at each other shows that the way they have been brought up was flawed by the lack of a father figure to properly discipline the children, also, the mother is also very young and drinks and smokes which also affects the children's moral standards. The way that they talk to one another also shows that they do not get along with each other as a family with just one parent.

All lighting in this scene (along with the whole rest of the film) is naturally occurring, this emphasises the raw reality of this film's genre - to make it seem as gritty and realistic as possible. This is a typical convention of the Social Realism genre.

Their behaviour in this scene compared to other scenes in the film has changed vastly. This scene shows them having a family outing and spending time with each other for the first time in this film now that Connor is with them. This represents males as more powerful than females and better leaders of a family by being the key to keeping a family together and well disciplined.

Shortly after arriving at this lake, Connor wades in and urges one of the girls to join him to aid his fishing. Mia instantly wades in after him, showing a connection between the two (definitely not the last time this happens in this film) and establishing the role of a father figure for the family, although, Mia may do this because she finds Connor attractive due to a previous scene which involved a large amount of the female gaze (similar to the male gaze, but instead of females viewing other females from a heterosexual male's perspective, a male is forced to view another male from a heterosexual female's perspective).