Representations

Both Iris and Jen feel rejected from their families like most young teenagers.

Like most teenagers, Iris and Jen feel that their bond of friendship is much stronger and closer than that of the the ones with their families. This is because during the teenage years, secondary socialisation occurs and adolescents move away from the family and form small, close contact groups. Friends become family. Therefore, it will target a teenage audience because teenagers can understand and relate to the concept of close, personal relationships with friends.

An event that occurs in the trailer is when Iris is diagnosed with cancer. Cancer is an illness that many people can relate too, it has been said that we all know of at least one person who has been affected by Cancer. This event is also designed to cause an emotional reaction with the audience and "tug at their heart strings". This event is also designed to create sympathy for the main character (Iris) and even when Iris and Jen are parted their bond is still strong.

The hill in the trailer is a significant place as it was where the the two main characters (Iris and Jen) first met.    A hill is a place where children roll down so it denotes fun, laughter and joy. It is also metaphor for the ups and downs of their relationship; the ups being the fun, happy times and the downs being the drugs, bad crowds and ultimately, the cancer.

Iris and Jen are both from working class families. Iris is Caucasian and Jen is mixed race. Children from working class families are more likely to follow bad pathways because their lifestyle (environment - hard and unforgiving) leads them to it. They don't get what they want, so they will misbehave.

There are less opportunities for the working classes and the main characters are a stereotypical media representation of the working classes -  they are stuck in a rut and do not believe that their lives can be any better than their parents lives. They do not attend school, and subsequently end up socialising with gangs and criminals and like many teenagers with little hope, they partake in criminal activities, like drug taking and car jacking.


Family dynamics