Character Profiles

As the film is a social realist dramatisation in the thriller genre, the film revolves primarily around one character, Erin. We chose to use a female lead character due to most thriller films using male lead characters, for example 'Kidulthood' and 'Harry Brown', where the females are usually understudies or not as relevant to the main story line and so we wanted to challenge this code of convention as a way of trying to make the genre more sexually equal.

Erin, the lead character, throughout the course of the film, will take on two roles, both protagonistic; 'the good guy' (or good girl in this case) and antagonistic: 'the bad guy'. She will need to take on both roles within the film due to the situations and problems that she encounters throughout the film and also due to the changes she makes to herself to allow herself to survive in such a negative environment, having to become a lot tougher and ruthless to make herself heard.

The protagonistic side to her is shown in the first half of the film, where Erin is alone, shy, vulnerable and unable to stand up for herself. Her mother's alcoholism which has led to a violent and unproductive home life affects her confidence and ability to achieve at school, on many days, making no input to her lessons at all, and walking the corridors like a blank piece of paper, a ghostly figure that goes un-noticed by those around her, due to her self seclusion into her own mindless world. She spends a lot of time alone, thinking and outside away from the grasps of her mothers vicious tongue and inability to protect and look after her own daughter. When offered help at school by her form tutor, Erin, through self pity, refuses help and to even speak about the situation at home, and walks out. She is seen by the viewer as fragile and delicate, like a lost lamb that is weak and in need of love.

After she witnesses a boy get beaten up in a local park by some 'thugs' from her school, Erin goes over, with first the intentions of seeing if the boy is still breathing but results to standing, towering over him, watching him suffer as blood spills from his head. The power overwhelms her and its at this moment that the viewer sees a change in her character, and a realisation in Erin's own mind occurs, snapping, giving her the sinister motivation she feels she needs to take control of her life, and tackle the dim problems that choke her, day in day out. She then becomes the antagonist, a series of events before hand lead to her to spiral out of control, smashing her mother's alcohol bottles and cutting her own hair off in front of the bathroom mirror, as if a new image, will reveal a new more powerful self.

At school she begins to stand up for herself and threatens those that try and mess with her including her teacher. She runs away from home after incident involving a knife and faces a terrorising night on the streets of the inner city, once again alone and desperate. Her inability to communicate and lack of socializing due to the traumatic experiences of her home life, leave her unable to seek help, with literally no where to go, and so she is forced to return home after spending a few nights on the streets in the cold crisp nights of November. She returns home to find her mother in the same state as she left her, and the sad realisation that her life will never change is the last image the viewer sees before the credits come up, showing that for most there is no escape from the deprivation that faces the inner city areas, and for most things like the occurrence of Erin's day, is an everyday experience and normal part of every day life.

Other characters featured within the film include; Erin's mother, Erin's teacher, the 'popular' gang and the boy who is beaten up, and all play a vital role in the events that lead to Erin's outburst and dramatic change of character and personality.

Erin's mother is a divorced, unemployed alcoholic who spends nearly all of her time at home drinking, she is a major part of Erin's life, and a key aspect in the seclusion that Erin has placed upon herself. She is tired, worn out and generally unhappy with her life after facing a tough and draining term of depression, after her husband left them when Erin was a child. She tries her best to provide for her daughter but finds every day life a struggle and resorts to the bottle as a way of escapism and relief from her everyday life. Due to the depression, and inability, much like her daughter, to talk about her problems, has a violent streak to her, that is most prominent when the drink has taken a hold on her, and it is usually Erin who has to face the full brunt of this, in both verbal and physical manners. Although her mother, sober, would never intentionally hurt her daughter, as she is now all she has left, the alcohol creates a dual identity to her mother, much like Jekyll and Hyde, which when unleashed is devastating and unstoppable, no matter how much she fights it, but underneath the stresses and turmoils, she worries about her daughter and the lifestyle she is forced to live, as she feels that she has not much to offer or provide for her, who in reality is her world.

Erin's teacher is caring and devoted to her work, and has always shown an interest and concern in Erin's approach to education and interaction with others. She is mildly aware of Erin's mother's alcoholism, but blind to how bad the situation has actually got, but afraid to question Erin in case she makes matters worse. She has her students best interests at heart, but is unsure of how to tackle a girl so secluded from the every day hustle and bustle of school life, which other children flourish in. Throughout the film she gives Erin many opportunities to tell her about her mother and the drinking, but Erin is reluctant and stubborn and adamant not to tell anyone, thinking she can face her problems alone. The result of this is Erin becoming agitated by, in her eyes, the probing that her teacher does, when in reality, she is concerned with the welfare of her pupil and this leads to incident with Erin threatening her teacher with a knife and then fleeing the school premises. Erin's teacher of course understands her instability and at first refuses to press charges but is forced by the Headteacher and the police and so this leads to Erin running away from home.

The Gang of boys play a major role in Erin's transformation and downward spiral out of control, when she witnesses them beat up a boy from her school in a local park. Erin looks up to the gang and admires the control and power that they have over the other peers at her school. She craves the power and glory that they flare about so effortlessly and it is in this moment that something inside of her snaps, and she decides to take control of her life, using violence, as she thinks that this is the answer to bettering herself and escaping the misery that is her life. The Gang themselves are mindless thugs that control the school, stealing money and getting into fights with anyone that tries to confront them, they consist of all boys, and have a few girls that tag along with them occasionally, which are known to be a number of the boys girlfriends. Erin's frustration at being alone is made worse by this clique and she craves the attention that the girls get from the boys as well as the power they exert on others through their violence and anger.

Finally, the boy who is beaten up by the gang in front of Erin, offers the pinnacle moment where Erin decides that violence is the key to success. As she stands above him looking down at him helpless and pathetic on the floor, she feels an utter sense of power, self worth and a rise in her self esteem that sets of a spark in her head, giving her a craving for more, which uncontrollably spirals to the point where she is more unstable than before. This boy much like her, is seen as a blank face, a ghost to the other kids at school and just like her he faces his own problems of living in such a socially and economically deprived inner city area, and in reality its sad to think that the only person who is likely to understand her loneliness and vulnerability; the only person that she could have confided in and made a companion in, is in fact, the very person that makes her turn to violence as way of gaining control, through seeing his vulnerability.