Here is the (at least) one-page paper I had to write about Fish Tank. I don't think it's to the best of my abilities because I was struggling with remembering and connecting things with one another. I honestly hate writing about films that I enjoy, especially when I have some type of questions provided to me ahead of time to think about in the paper. It's supposed to relate to sex and gender, hence why I was referring to males and females quite often in the paper. Anyway, here it is.
[Show spoiler]Andrea Arnold’s 2009 British drama, Fish Tank, offers the viewer a harsh reality of how hard life can be, especially for individuals struggling with finding themselves. Fish Tank throws the audience into the life of a lonely fifteen-year-old girl named Mia Williams. Mia is a socially awkward girl who resides in Essex with her single mother, Joanne, and her young sister, Tyler. Nothing seems to make Mia happy except for her passion for hip-hop dancing. It is the only positive thing that she has going in her life. Mia’s home life consists of poverty, drugs, and unacceptable sexual behavior on behalf of the adults in her life. Her mother spends the majority of her time partying with friends and dealing with hangovers. Her younger sister tends to keep to herself, smoking cigarettes with friends and cussing like a sailor. One day Mia’s mother decides to bring home an Irishman by the name of Connor O’Reilly, and from that point forward, everything seemed to change for the better of both Mia and her family. Mia looks up to Connor, as he is the only positive (male) role model that she has ever had in her life. She trusts him and feels comfortable around him because he encourages her to pursue her dream of dancing and helps her to adjust to this new and confusing world surrounding her. Not everything is what it seems, though, as Connor has his own demons hidden away from the public’s view. Fish Tank is one of the more modern films of this current generation that explores such concepts as gender and sexuality. While there are numerous examples throughout the film, the most significant, in my opinion, is through the character of Mia Williams. From the very beginning of the film, we recognize that Mia is very different from all of the girls she hangs around with. She resembles a tomboy in many aspects because of her attitude, the way she dresses, and the tough exterior that she displays out in public. She has no real friends and has a hard time opening up to anybody in her life. Her only forms of communication are through name-calling, degrading, and shouting obscenities. The one thing that interests Mia the most in life is hip-hop dancing, which is a predominately male activity. When she is not walking around Essex or fighting with her family members, she is training and practicing in hopes of being a hip-hop dancer someday. The only thing that Mia is truly lacking, however, is confidence, which Connor eventually helps her attain. Part of the reason for her uneasiness, in my opinion, is due to puberty, while the other part is due to being a nonconformist. The age of fifteen is a critical point in everybody’s life because the body is changing and feelings of sexuality begin to emerge. This is often accompanied with feelings of confusion because she is now seeing the world from a new perspective. Because of her poor socioeconomic background, the absence of positive role models in her life, and her body changing due to puberty, Mia is a lost soul who is struggling to find herself. On the other hand, Mia has always been a nonconformist and gone against the grain for all of her life. Mia dropped out of school and refused to take anybody’s advice or guidance. It is not until Connor O’Reilly comes into the picture that she learns to live. He guides her to the best of his abilities, tries to make her come to her senses and drop this chip that has constantly been on her shoulder all of her life, and inspires her to go out and make something out of herself. Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank is more than just a lesson on life, love, and relationships. Rather, it is about being a unique individual and not conforming to society’s expectations for us. From the moment we are born, until the moment we die, society labels and ascribes various gender roles onto us, which we are then expected to live up to. Fish Tank challenges these notions and does so in an excellent way by shifting the focus from what society wants us to be to what we as a unique individual want ourselves to be. One could argue that Mia Williams is a “fish” that is trapped in this “fish tank” of Essex. She’s looking to be her own unique personality, but her home life and her lack of self-confidence, among other things, are continually holding her back. It is not until after she meets Connor that she can actually break free out of the “tank” and move on with her life. All in all, Fish Tank is a very relatable film because there is some point in every one of our lives where we want to be ourselves without conforming to the roles and expectations that are assigned to us at birth.
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