1. F I S H T A N K

2. • Fish tank follows the story of 15 year old Mia Williams
who lives on a deprived council estate in East London.
When he mother brings home her new boyfriend all
changes for the young teen.
• She begins to see her mother’s boyfriend Connor as a
father figure which we can see she has never had.
Throughout the film we see her constantly trying to
reject this kind of affection which Connor fails to
understand.
• However the relationship between the two becomes
dangerously intimate leading to them sleeping
together with Mia’s mother totally unaware upstairs.

3. • The film won the Jury Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.
• It received a strong critical reception after it was showcased at the
Cannes film festival.
• The film was given a rating 15 by the BBFC but the filmmakers did
not originally request a specific classification. The BBFC felt it
contained reasons under the 15 and 18 classification.
• The key classification issues were that there was strong language,
sex, sex references, drug use, moderate violence and possible
animal cruelty.
• The main reason for the classification was ‘strong language’. In the
first 10 minutes we see Mia use the words ‘bitch’ when leaving her
friend a message and ‘cunt’ when she speaks to her friends dad.

4. • “At ‘15’ the BBFC Guidelines say: The strongest terms (for example, ‘cunt’)
may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use
of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.”
• However the use of strong language is justified in the film, especially
between Mia and her mother as it stresses their difficult relationship. The
constant use of the word ‘cunt’ in the film can be classified under an ‘18’
like films such as This is England. But because of the relationship the
characters have this language is needed to express it.

5. • One key scene that the BBFC had to consider was the
sex scene between Mia and Connor. As she is 15 in the
film and actress Katie Jarvis was also 15/16 years old at
the time, the BBFC had to consider whether any
offence was committed against the Protection of
Children Act. As she is legally a child it is against to
have sex before the age of 16.
• The BBFC had to view whether the scene was excplicit
in their decision. As the room was dimly lit and Mia is
scene fully clothed and their was no explicit nature to
the scene this was key scene for the plot for the plot of
the film.

6. • I think the film Fish Tank does explore a great
sense of realism for the middle class. Mia is
presented a socially neglected and emotionally
neglected teen who is outcasted by her friends
and mother.
• We begin to build a bond and sympathy for Mia
as she struggles through the film. We sympathize
with her as we can see she tried hard to fit in and
do the right thing, however this always fails or
ends up taking the wrong turn.

7. • I think the film highlights a lot of different issues
that occur in todays society. The fact that Mia’s
younger sister Tyler in one scene is seen smoking
and drinking cider suggests a very neglected child
who is free to do whatever she wants.
• Also, the use of strong language throughout
amongst all the characters as said before stresses
the relationship and upbringing of Mia as well as
Tyler.

8. • I think that the classification of 15 is an
acceptable one. Even though you do have 2
sex scenes, one being more graphic than the
other (of Mia’s mother and Connor) and there
is a lot of strong language, the BBFC clearly
see that this is needed to the atmosphere and
effect it has on the characters to help us as
viewers understand where they are coming
from.

9. • http://contemporarymediaregulations.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/fish-tank-case-study.html