Representation of Contemporary British Gender - Fish Tank

How is gender represented?
In the film Fish Tank the main female character 'Mia' challenges the typical female stereotype as she dresses in male clothing and acts more like a male than a female, for example, through drinking beer and getting into fights. An example of a scene where she acts very un-lady like is when she urinates on her mum's boyfriend, Conner's, carpet.

However, in specific scenes within the film you do see an insight into her inner femininity as she expresses her love for dance, horses and Conner. This is shown in a particular scene when the horse she tried to save dies, its as if all of her dreams are dying and this is the scene in which she runs away. The death of the horse represents the death of her aspirations. Mia has stereotypical feminine aspirations yet her very male behavior does not reflect this.

A second significant, male, character who challenges a typical stereotype is Billy. He lives in a caravan so from a very judgemental audience, he may be perceived as a thug. However, Billy comes across as kind reliable and caring and a very genuine character.

The second main, male character is Conner, the mum's boyfriend. He is the opposite of Billy, as at first the audience may see him as a reasonable man yet he runs away from Mia and abuses her respect by having sex with her is one scene, when she is clearly underage.

Storyline
The basic storyline is a love triangle between Mia, her mum's boyfriend Conner and her mum, as well as Mia's previous boyfriend Billy. Mia falls for her mum's boyfriend which gets her in a lot of trouble towards the end of the film. Mia is put in many situations which cause serious issues, one of these being her having underage sex with an older man. Another issue that arises involves the family's social class which causes a lot of tension between characters, especially when the well off Conner comes into the film.

Overall, we believe that that the representation of all of the main characters in Fish Tank are shown in quite a negative light though their lifestyles, behavior and interaction with other characters.