bulletboy charliesangels

Unit 5: Critical Approaches to Media Products

Comparing and contrasting Bullet Boy and Charlie’s Angels

In this report I am going to be comparing the opening sequence of the two films: Bullet Boy and Charlie’s Angels, by showing how they contrast and how they are both prime examples of their different genres. I am going to start by analysing the opening sequence of Bullet Boy.

Bullet Boy is a low budget film that tells the story of two brothers growing up in one of London's roughest neighbourhoods, in where a minor street clash escalates into a cycle of violence that has tragic consequences. Bullet Boy is a very hard film to place into a particular genre, the genre of a film refers to the similarities in the narrative, and the screenplay from which films are constructed. Many people will see Bullet Boy as a tragedy, and it is in essence, but it also leaves the audience thinking about redemption. Ultimately the film ends by asking what will become of Curtis, a question for the audience to decide. Instead of deciding on a genre to place Bullet Boy with it is easier to look at target audience. A target audience is defined easiest by its gender and age range. Additional elements include race/ethnicity, class, sexuality and the background of the individual. Bullet Boy was filmed entirely on location in the streets of London. Many of the actors in the film were simply just at the right place at the right time and were asked to be in the film. A lot of the script is improvised which helps deliver further realism to the film.

The film Bullet Boy reflects an emerging modern reality of Britain's inner city culture and explores themes of friendship, gang rivalry and revenge. The title Bullet Boy doesn't just refer to one person, because it could apply to any of the younger male characters. During the course of the film a gun passes between all of their hands. There is a generation of kids growing up in areas where guns have become a fact of life, and where boys try to be men before they're even teenagers, and Bullet Boy shows the reality behind this. The target audience of this film is based on the stereotypes of those living in a black urban environment. When 18 year old Ricky is released from a Young Offenders Institute he desperately wants to avoid falling back into his criminal past. However, his lifestyle proves inescapable. Ricky almost immediately gets caught up in a road rage incident involving his best friend, Wisdom, and a local rival all for the sake of a broken wing-mirror. As the film progresses we slowly see the future similarities developing between Ricky and his brother Curtis.

After watching the film and reading this synopsis I can say that Bullet boy is aimed at or is directed towards young people, the film shows and has interests with urban culture and focuses on life as a black male in a hostile city environment. The themes and stories of the film are the desire for freedom from the ghetto and being trapped in a criminal environment. I can make my conclusions on the target audience of Bullet Boy by looking at the personalities and stereotypes of the characters in the film and the location it is filmed. A common stereotype that is shown in Bullet Boy is that all the major authority figures, being the police, prison guards and school teachers are all white. And these authority figures are put across as stubborn and unreasonable.

Throughout the film we can see similarities between Curtis and Ricky. Ricky is a typical youth for the area that he is living in, he wears baggy logoed track bottoms, hoodie and a white vest. Ricky speaks lazily and uses a lot of slang. Curtis is put across as being very innocent, he is wearing his school uniform through most of the film. Curtis also speaks slang, but not as consistently as his brother and not as casually. The film opens with Curtis in the boot of Wisdom’s car, it is dark, Curtis is trapped and using the light of a torch. From this we can see that Curtis and Ricky have a strong relationship, from the fact that Curtis would put himself out of his comfort zone and into the claustrophobic and dark boot of a car to just see his brother released from the institute. But form this feeling of being trapped and contained, we can relate that to Ricky being held in the young offender’s institute. From the boot of the car we are then looking through the window on Ricky’s cell door, this view is blurred to add the realism of Ricky’s containment. When Ricky is released from the institute we can see that he wants to change the direction his life is leading him. Asher D, the actor who played Ricky was himself recently released from prison for possessing a firearm. It could be said that unlike Ricky, Asher D managed to turn his life around by staring in Bullet Boy. When Ricky comes out of the institute, he sees Curtis and the first thing he says is “shouldn’t you be in school?” which again shows how strong the bond is between the brothers as it is the first thing Ricky is concerned about after exiting prison.

Once Ricky is released from the young offender’s institute similarities between him and Curtis still occur. The car is shown driving away from camera, after this we see the lads parked up while Ricky and Wisdom have a cigarette. While this is happening we can see that Curtis is holding a strand of grass in his mouth like a cigarette as he is watching his brother smoke and is following in his example.


Representation is a key issue that is brought up in Bullet Boy. The representation of a film is the way in which the reality is Re-presentated to its audience. Representation was an important factor in the production of Bullet Boy because miss-representation can have an effect on people’s real life experiences. Sual Dibb directed Bullet Boy and in his statement on the official website he explains how he wanted to show the reality of the lives of people who live in situations like Ricky and Curtis. Ricky gets caught up in essentially a trivial feud. He’s in an environment where pride and reputation are everything. But Curtis is still a child. His life is less corrupted, his future is in front of him, at least until Ricky brings a gun home to the bedroom he shares it with him. While certain inevitabilities stem from this premise, Sual Dibb says how he wanted to explore the mix of chance, social pressure and personal choice that would eventually decide their fates. Their mother Beverley understands this dilemma better than anyone; she tries to hold the family together but is powerless to control what her boys do, where they go, and who with. And ultimately the destiny they are falling into. Bullet Boy is a low budget film, and rather than confirming to the codes and conducts of a big Hollywood picture like Charlie’s Angels, it focus’s more on delivering the reality of the social standards of life than seeking a profit from a large audience. Bullet Boy has worked up more of a cult following and is respected for its realism. The hypodermic needle theory implies that mass media has a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences. The theory suggests that the mass media could influence a very large group of people directly and uniformly by injecting them with appropriate messages designed to trigger a desired response. The hypodermic needle model suggests that media messages are injected straight into a passive audience which is then immediately influenced by the message. It suggests that the media is a dangerous means of communicating an idea because the receiver is powerless to resist the impact of the message. There is no escape from the effect of the message and the population is seen as a sitting duck. Critics acclaim Bullet Boy as a shockingly stark and gritty portrayal of what life is like for a young black man growing up in urban London and all the trials and tribulations that go with it. If you need a reality check then this is a must see movie.

Charlie’s Angels is a high budget action/thriller/comedy movie that was based on the popular TV show from the 70s. The narrative of Charlie’s Angels is basic and easy to predict, like most Hollywood pictures. The film tells the story of a captivating female crime-fighting trio who are masters of disguise, espionage and martial arts. The film tells the purely fictional story of Charlie's private investigation company, which is addressed by programmer Eric Knox, owner of Knox Technologies, whose revolutionary voice-recognition software has been stolen. Charlie's Angels Natalie, Dylan and Alex are sent to place a bug in the system of bitter rival Roger Corwin, who is under strong suspicion. But after the deed is done, the Angels and their boss Bosley home base is destroyed and Charlie's life may be in immediate danger. Charlie’s Angels follows the conventions of a typical high budget Hollywood film and is aimed at as wide an audience as it can manage with the soul intention of a high profit. Despite this fact the film can be seen as being more of a chick flick than anything else.

Chick flick is slang term for a film created to appeal to a female target audience. Although many types of films may be directed toward the female gender, chick flick is typically used only as a reference to films that are heavy with emotion or contain themes that are relationship based, though like Charlie’s Angels, are not necessarily romantic. The light heartedness and female main characters would certainly direct the film towards a female audience. The way in which Charlie’s Angels represents the female characters is very controversial. Some would see that the film is showing that women can be strong and dominant and meet the standards of how male heroes are portrayed in the media. But the other view is quite opposite to this. Some people would say that the stereotypes used in the film are sexist and insulting to women. Some stereotypes in Charlie’s Angels are reversed in an attempt to avoid falling into these stereotypes, for example Cameron Diaz is cast as Natalie, Natalie is Blonde, the common stereotype of blonde haired people being less intelligent is reversed because in the film Natalie is the smart one of the trio.

Charlie’s Angles is a very different film from Bullet Boy. I am going to be explaining these differences and showing how the films can be compared and contrasted. The first obvious difference