Representation Of Black Youth In Attack The Block 2011

Released in cinemas on the 13th May last year, Attack the block turned out to be an extremely popular film amongst UK teenagers. With the films moral being that predominately black teens from council estates aren’t always out to cause trouble, its teen viewers were appreciative not to be stereotyped. However with the DVD release date being not long after the horrific London riots, has the moral behind this film been jeopardized?

The film is set in a London council estate, where a group of gang members closely escape an attack from something that was clearly not from this planet. The gang step up to taking on these aliens in order to protect their hood. They are rewarded at the end of the movie as they manage to wipe out the aliens, saving the town and proving that they will go to extremes to claim what is theirs.

Franz Drameh plays the character ‘Dennis’ – one of the main gang members. I asked him whether he agreed with the moral of this movie being about council estate teenagers not being ‘all bad’. He said,

“The film starts out with teens being portrayed in a stereotypical way, with the gang robbing a defenceless woman. Then it shows what teenagers are really like, just normal people. I don’t think the moral is necessarily that teenagers are now doing good, but rather that teens from any background are not one-dimensional, they do right and wrong like everyone else”.

I personally agree, there has not yet been a case where the portrayal of a character or group has changed peoples’ opinions on them. This particular gang is only a stereotype, we are aware that it is a fictional film and that this certain behaviour does not necessarily occur in every teen group.

I also asked him how he felt about the DVD release date being shortly after the London riots and whether he believed that there was some connection. He said,

“The riots did show a negative view of teenagers, however they were only really committed by a handful of trouble-makers. I don’t think that the riots and Attack the block have any correlation, as the film is fictional. Yes, there are some underlying themes of council estate teenagers but it is not a political film. It is a genre movie about an alien attack, we need to bare that in mind”.