Delinquents By, David Jones

Question:

"discuss how the director of a print text influenced viewers to respond to issues raised in one TV drama or series":

:The movie Delinquents is about Adolescence, the time when teenage friendship boils over into adult desire, the time when a young girl Lola meets a young boy Brownie Hansen. Society tells them they are too young to be together, but yet they are too in love to be apart, Lola and Brownie's obsessive passion for each other breaks all the rules laid down by their parents and society. Together they run away, but society and their parents break them apart. In the end their love is so strong that no person, no law and no institution will ever keep them apart. All the above were not only shown by the story line, but most importantly the techniques used by the director of the film. These techniques are responsible for the amazing effects and the way the director gets us involved in the film and makes us think and feel the way he wants us to.

From the very beginning of the movie we start to see some of these film techniques. When the movie starts we see Brownie riding a bicycle up a hill, but this bicycle being a very simple 1960's style and Brownie's clothes also tell another story about the 1960's. We the see text on the screen indicating that we are in Bundeburg, Queensland and the year is 1957. Then as Brownie rides his push bike into the town centre we see the typical town of Bundeburg in the year 1957. The cars, surroundings, music and atmosphere is of the year 1957. All of this gets the viewer involved in the movie and makes him or her feel as if they were there in Bundeburg during the year 1957. Brownie then sees a group of young, fresh school girls playing games, but we see these girls wearing short dresses that are too short for their particular time period. This is the first of many signs we see of the younger generation trying to be different from what society expects, trying to be individuals, trying to express their inner-self.

Just as we see Lola in the movie and are getting to know her we hear and see her playing the piano. First when her mother is in the house and then when her mother leaves the house. When Lola's mother leaves the house we see her start to play a more jazzy type of tune compared to the classical recital she was playing when her mother was in the house. This technique tells us that what Lola is doing when her mother is not around is not acceptable and is frowned upon by her mother. It shows us Lola's inner self expressing itself, wanting to escape and not to be let out only when it is allowed to. The technique of symbolism has been used in conjunction with the white flower and white shoes that Lola wears when she first meets Brownie just after the incident at the cinema complex. The colour white represents purity, she wears light blue and white which are the same clothes that the Virgin Mother Mary wears. Lola's innocence is shown, so is her virginity. We now see Lola as a sweet well brought up girl, but then we see her dancing with Brownie in a way forbidden by society, once again see her inner-self expressing itself and we know see lives unhappily because society banishes her inner self, her real self, the real Lola.

And as in most situations like this, if one is pressured to a particular point, they will rebel. Brownie and Lola fall in love and run away. They are then branded as trouble makers and defiant troublemakers, then they face the hardest punishment of all, separation. Lola has been restricted by the law and her freedom is limited, she goes from her mother, to care taker and then finally a corrective school for girls until she reaches the adult age of 18. When she reached 18 and was freed by the law she returns to be with Brownie once again. Lola is now a women and has changed, she no longer does what everyone else wants her to do, now that her inner self is free she has realized that it is now time for Lola to make decisions. This has been shown by the way we saw Lola's face in the beginning of the movie half cast by a shadow, which means that only half of Lola is present, the other half is kept tucked away. When Lola becomes a new women we see her full face and realize that Lola now has control of her life and the hidden part is now a part of her life.

The body language in this movie shows allot about the characters in the beginning of the movie. Just as Brownie enters the town centre he delivers letters to a service station and looks across the road to see a group of fresh young females, his actions immediately stop, he walks to bicycle slowly and rides across the road, not taking his eyes off his centre of interest. He then lifts the front end of his bicycle off the ground to impress and arouse the females he has been keeping his eyes on. The girls respond by looking at him and playing their games with a high magnitude of elegance. We see them again later walking down the road, once again expressing their elegant gracefulness

The audio in this movie adds to developing an effect for the audience. When we first see Lola in this movie playing the piano, she is playing a classical tune, the piano is an instrument of elegance and when we see Lola playing the piano we see her as a sweet young girl from a good family with the correct values. Then we hear the music that she plays when her mother leaves and by hearing this music we can see something else in her. What we see is once again Lola's inner self. The music that Brownie and Lola dance to when they first meet is seen by society as bad, because Brownie and Lola conform with this music it shows they are trying to break away from society. Audio techniques in this movie have played an important part in influencing the viewer's thoughts and opinions.

The techniques in this movie show how life was in 1957. The way society thought, the values of society and the constitution of 1957. For example when Brownie goes to the movies he is denied a seat in the theater, but a pair of elderly people were seated despite the fact that Brownie was in front of these people and had the right of way. The way Lola was taken back into her home by her mother when she ran away, the law supported Lola's mother, today we see such incidents as a father grabbing his daughter to take her home while she was smoking marijuana and the father being arrested by the law. When Lola had abortion it was Lola's mothers discussion, not Lola's, today the law must have both the parents and the female to have abortion's permission before the abortion can take place. Without the techniques that were used in the movie we would not be able to see the main points and aspects of the movie. The techniques in this movie make it what it really is, without them the movie would be absolutely pointless.