Final Independent study...

Independent study
“This is your last chance for a f***ing peaceful night, deliver the f***ing pizza she wants or your mum and dad will be down the f***ing morgue at four in the morning indentifying your f***ing body.”[1]
How are males represented in the true story of "Rise of the Foot Soldier?"
Historically, there has always been an assumption that men are the ruling sex, women are subordinate to them and their sole purpose is to please their sexual desires. However, this study will contemplate this argument and see whether this stereotypical view of “Men nurturing their society by shedding their blood, their sweat and the semen"[2] still exists by focusing on the representation of males in a contemporary text. The root of this study is based on a true story called "Rise of the Foot Soldier" which was produced in 2007 and directed by Julian Gilbey. The film illustrates the true events of the Range Rover murders that occurred in Essex in the 80's. The film is solely based around Ricci Harnett (our main protagonist) and the life of turmoil that he went through, alongside with him his hooligans and his fellow bouncers. For Harnett “aggressive male behaviour is accepted as a normal part of everyday life"[3] as each day he is faced with violent conduct to protect himself, his dignity and his power in order for him to make a living.
Throughout the film each masculine character is represented as a villain or a criminal which relates the genre of the film being action. Ricci Harnett plays the character of Carlton Leach, in the opening of the film Harnett is represented as a pub hungry football hooligan where his life was focused on mob brutality. This representation changes and emphasises the prospect of rags to riches as his hooligan days come to an end and his new life as a bouncer begins. It is portrayed that the character feels that "Masculinity is not something given to you, but sometimes you gain. And you gain it by winning small battles with honour”,[4] which is achieved through his new career. His ‘small battles’ during his hooligan period brought him to realise how honour can truly be gained. This is revealed through the characters costume of a suit needed for his occupation as we see his clothing change from informal to formal. However, this was only the first step up the criminal ladder for Harnett as he moved on to do bigger more treacherous jobs involving drugs. He spoke “Football was where the spite and hatred first came from.”[5] This quotation reinforces Harnett’s representation of his character throughout the film as he gathered the courage, bravery and confidence from football to take more brutal actions. It can also be interpreted that his love of football caused him to become violent and if it weren’t for football he may not behave in the manner he does; it’s because of his love and passion for football that his taste of hatred for the opposition came from. This addresses Cohen’s theory of moral panic amongst society as hooligans are stereotypically shown as fearful and is marginalised because of this. The use of the words ‘spite’ and ‘hatred’ are rather cold and bitter words which could be interpreted as reflecting a ruthless side to the character and once again highlighting his hooligan nature. He uses his passion for football as fuel for his anger and perhaps jealousy when other teams are doing better than his, or similarly if someone is a threat to him.
Terry Stone plays the character of Tony Tucker; and is represented as the “drug lord” in the film who smuggles illegal drugs into the country. His representation of a drug lord is perceived through the lifestyle of luxury he lives for example the parties he goes to, the girls he is with and the drugs he consumes. “Men renowned for the ability and inclination to be stoned”[6] is a reference which emphasize the characters portrayal. It shows how his status of being a drug lord allows him to live his life in any way in which he pleases, this quote captures the attitude that his status gives him the ‘ability’ and the power to be ‘stoned’. This also shows that men are allowed to take on this role as being someone completely in power of what he does.
Craig Fairbrass plays the character of Pat Tate, the most aggressive character of them all. He is represented as the right hand man of Tony Tucker who fights his battles for him. “A market was created for representations of power in the arena men could still claim as distinctively their own, plain violence”[7]. Here we see a view on male dominance, Pat Tate allows himself to be controlled by Tony Tucker as if he were a puppet fighting in the ‘arena’ for him. It also suggests that males are also striving to be dominant over other males. This representation challenges the stereotype of women being passive in society as we are shown that men too are struggling for power against other male. Pat Tat being subordinate to Tony Tucker allows him to have the emotion of power which links to Freud’s theory of the penis envy as he feels that he is being controlled over a powerful figure.
The representations of the masculine characters are a fair and realistic view of them. A typical male in the 80’s was seen to be the hard workers or breadwinners that control women who were just seen to be housewives. However, this fair and realistic view of them has a negative influence on the audience as it suggests to a male audience that they are the dominant sex and they can say and treat women the way want to. “Men arrived there as a result of their power striving, which led to a society drained of context.”[8] This quote follows the biblical idea that Eve (the woman) was produced from Adam’s rib (the male), therefore symbolising that women would not be created if it were not for man in the first case, consequently giving men power over women. It also gives the idea that men have been in control since the day of creation and should therefore continue to be the superior sex.
Focusing on a historical text such as “The Firm” which was created in 1988 and directed by Alan Clarke portrays similar representations to that of “Rise of the Foot Soldier.” The male characters in both films are represented as football hooligans who fight for the preferred team. Bexy from “The Firm” and Leach from “Rise of the Foot Soldier” are both represented as the leaders of their fierce, notorious gangs who have to act brave so that they hold their reputation and status that they have built up. Bexy said “Man who bottles out gets bottled in”[9], this shows his opinion on violence, saying that someone who does not stand and fight is a coward and therefore will be punished. The use of the word ‘bottled’ reflects his colloquial language- language that would be used by a football hooligan. It also has connotations of a harsh, brutal nature that can be seen in gang warfare. On the other hand, Leach spoke “What’s this all about Eddie, there’s Millwall and Tottenham all over this place, I keep waiting for it to kick off”[10], which shows that Leach is almost surprised that there has not been a fight yet. This suggests that Leach is always in surroundings were there is hostility and finds it hard to be seeing peace around him. Likewise to Bexy, Leach also uses colloquial language such as the word “kick off “to refer to a fight or clash. By using this language the similarity can be drawn with Bexy as they both use informal words which are quite insensitive, therefore showing a link in their personalities and way of life. Concluding upon this, the film attracts a working class audience as the language that is used is more appropriate for social classes of C2 and below due to the fact that they are seen to be less educated than middle class.
The main cause for the male’s violent actions is because of the use of drugs. It revealed to the audience that by taking drugs there will be consequences such as mood swings, aggressive behaviour and addiction. Audiences, watching the film could engage with the consequences as they can be more alert of the dangers that drugs and drugs users obtain and create a solution to solve this issue; uses and gratifications: surveillance purposes. An example of this in “Rise of the Foot Soldier” would be, the point of view shot of Harnett in a club were he was under the consumption of drugs and the camera effects were blurred out so that it put the audience in the protagonist shoes and showed them how he is feeling. This had a huge effect on society as the amount of drug users increased and therefore drug dealers had more of a demand resulting in them attempting to smuggle more drugs into the country which made matters more risky. “It revealed that 40% of the 179 drug users in the island use drugs, with some addicts spending more than £200 a week on the substance.”[11] This statistic proves that there is an increase in today society within the drug users which means that the issue needs to be addressed and put forward by the media for it to try and be stopped before issues get worser.
As “Rise of the Foot Soldier” is based on a true story, there have been reports from BBC news on the case of the “Essex boy’s murders” clearly stating that “At the court of Appeal their lawyers argued a book, TV and film deal struck by key witness Darren Nicholls made his evidence unreliable.”[12] This report suggests that the film is an exaggerated version of the real life events; the film was sensationalised so that it appeals to wider audience. The director has maintained the story’s authenticity whilst incorporating elements of exaggeration. The scene which was most obvious to this exaggeration was the memorable train fight which took place. In this scene there were a gang of hooligan with baseball bats, chains and machetes standing on the platform awaiting the rival fans. This shows exaggeration as in reality they would no be able to hold weapons of this sort on the train platforms due to security.
The use of drugs and violence in the film have been maximised to attract a wider target market of a younger generations; teenagers. They have done this so that the youth can identify which path is the correct one to take in life and shows them how drastic consequences can be i.e. for surveillance purpose. It has takes the use of drugs to the extremes not just for entertainment purposes, but also to show the viewers what could happen. The director, Julian Gilbey, uses shock to reflect the consequence of drug use by linking all the worst case scenarios and to catch the viewer’s attention. Gilbey has made this evident to the audience by creating the character of Tony Tucker and his “inclination to be stoned”[13] throughout the film which reflect the actions he takes on other characters.
Moreover, the film portrays clear and concise elements of a patriarchal society, whereby men are the more dominant sex in society. The male characters in the film treated women with no respect and were represented as just housewives. Characters such as Leach, Tucker and Tate have used derogative actions towards women, putting down females on a whole. Each of the characters has a significant scene in the film which symbolises their power and status where they use women to pleasure them sexually in settings such as cars, living areas etc. This signifies that the women must have no worth to them as they are having sex in hideous settings. "If anything the media act to reinforce already existing attitudes and values regarding women and violence. They do contribute, but only part of the problem."[14] This reflects that the media are just highlighting the prospect of existing attitudes and values they have not necessarily promoted the issue. The idea that women are treated unequally to males was not brought about by the media but reported about, which suggests that female values would still be there even if the media was not, therefore showing the reality of how women are treated.
The women in the film are represented as victims to this male dominancy which is portrayed in the film. The women have no say and if they attempt to then they are faced with violent aggressive behaviour from the male. “It’s easy to say that testosterone causes aggression; the truth- that testosterone levels and aggressive behaviour are linked in a circular relationship”[15] This quotation sympathises with a female audience as the increasing levels of testosterone causes sexual frustration within the man which leads to aggressive behaviour towards the female, leaving the audience feeling sorry for the women. The women are almost seen to be the male’s possession whereby; they can be picked up and used any time, which confines them to be perceived as subordinate to men. Historically, women were seen in the media as housewife’s suffering a “dual burden”[16] were they will look after the house, children and husband. This has a positive effect on the male audience (preferred reading) as males can personally identify with male pride which has increased due to the amount of women the male has had sex with. However, it has had a negative effect on the female audience (oppositional reading) as they are just seen to be degraded by males as they are being used as sex objects. However, women in today’s society are seen as more promiscuous as it has become more acceptable due to second wave feminism as the introduction to the contraceptive pill allows them to control birth rate.
This proves the assumption that the man is the ruling sex and that women are subordinate to them and are just seen to please their sexual desires. As quoted by Laura Mulvey herself “there is no purpose for women in the media, as they are only being objectified as sex objects to satisfy the male gaze.”[17] The words “male gaze” reflects the male audience and how women are shown in promiscuous scenes to attract their attention persuading them to watch further. This suggests that women cannot be in films if they do not have the right appearance; the blonde bimbo. The “blonde bimbo” or the “Essex girl” is seen to be women with big breasts, blue glazed eyes and blonde hair which unconsciously draws the attention of the male audience so they “gaze” at what is being shown on screen.
Furthermore, in the opening of the film Harnett’s character was represented as the “typical man”, strong, bold, brave and confident. Nevertheless, as the film prolongs the character’s representation breaks and evolves into the “new man”. The “new man” is perceived to be a man who aims to be caring and sensitive and gets in contact with his feminine side. Young and Wilmott suggested that the new man came about due to women expectations changing so that men are as equal as women and do jobs women do. "Poofs can look like real men...therefore real men look like poofs."[18] This quote refers to men being equal not matter what their sexual preferences are. It implies that if a “poof” can look like a man, then subsequently a man can look like a “poof” which suggests that every man has the new man in them.
The “new man” in Leach was evolved in the later stages of the film where the character’s bravery, strength and pride all blew to end as he flooded himself with tears; he had just found out that Tucker and Tate were dead. This sympathized with the audience as, in the beginning of the film Leach was represented as fearless and cold hearted and by the end of the film his representation broke showing that males can be emotional. “Gender is like fluid and can change within different contexts and over time”[19] This reinforces the evolution of the “new man” within Leach and suggests that with time the new man does reveal itself in some shape or form. The fluid acts as a means of an unfixed construction which is always changing with time, like the modern man today is in touch with his female side and is not as shy to show it. The reason for this is because society has become more accepting with males being more feminine.
Gilbey has maximised the level of “new man” shown to the audience so that the characters role does not break. This suggests the Gilbey has ended the film in this way so that the audience understand what has happened and what the consequences are. It is an overstated view of emotions by the character from the director so that the audience can see the harsh reality so they do not get involved in illegal issues.
Ultimately, the title of the study was based on a debate to discuss the way males are represented in the true story of “Rise of the Foot Soldier”. In the film, the audience see features of both the man and the “new man,” which represented that the man has the “new man” in them or vice versa. Leach in particular, was showed with both elements of the man which suggests that society is in a changing progress were people are more free to express their emotions and feelings. It also can enforce that women are battling strong in the power strive of society, to be equal. Gilbey has represented these characters in a fair and accurate view point however; their actions have been exaggerated and maximised so that the film looks more interesting which will attract a wider audience into watching the film. Gilbey, in other words has mediated the text by exaggerating certain actions of the character which had an influence in the true event that actually did take place as “At the court of Appeal their lawyers argued a book, TV and film deal struck by key witness Darren Nicholls made his evidence unreliable.”[20]

Word count: 3057

[1] Rise of the Foot Soldier- Julian Gilbey 2007
[2] Gilmore D 1990: pg 230.
[3] Lewis G 1983: pg 11.
[4] Mailer N 1966: pg 61.
[5] Rise of the Foot Soldier- Julian Gilbey 2007
[6] Clare A 2002: pg 73.
7 Connelle R.W 1987: pg 215.
8 Faludi S 1999: pg 599.


[9] The Firm – Alan Clarke 1988
[10] Rise of the Foot Soldier- Julian Gilbey 2007
[11] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3045179.stm
[12] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7070586.stm
[13] Clare A 2002: pg 73
[14] Kimmel M.S 1987: pg 212
[15] Faludi S 1999: pg 599
[16] Dumcombe and Marsden
[17] http://filmtvindustry.suite101.com/article.cfm/women_in_film
[18] Healey M 1994
[19] Foucault, M 1980 pg54
[20] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7070586.stm