Comparative Analysis

The five films within this comparative analysis are:

• The Most Beautiful Man in the World
• Youth
• Two Cars, One Night
• Soft
• About a Girl

They're all products of the genre social realism and explore the theme of age, more specifically the youth.

In The Most Beautiful Man in the World, the theme of age is the key topic here with the climax of the film being the interaction of the shirtless man and inappropriately dressed young girl. The reason this interaction is so powerful and can be interpreted in many ways is due to the age of the two sharing the interaction and the contrast between the situation of what could be seen inappropriate due to the mise-en-scene - costume and also the way the 'stranger' touches the young girl on her bare skin and this scene arguably created a lot of the exposure for the film from the amount of controversy it created, which is said to of made a split between the audience of people who were completely opposing the film and the other half finding it film poetry. In Youth, it clearly explores the issue of youth from three different perspectives of 'social groups' within a regular school: a goth, an insecure girl and the 'cool' kids. Micro elements from the technical category of the camera work - close-ups and hand-held camera movement are being used in order to connect with the audience and also show insecurities of the youth protagonists. In Youth Part 2, often the insecure girl is shown with close-ups of her 'comfort' eating and sometimes shows parts of her body like her stomach that she often looks at in disappointment in a close-up to make the audience feel the discomfort of the situation. In Youth Part 1, sound is explored as more of the primary technical element by bouncing in shape to follow the mood of the boy when he is happy and stimulated from exploring to when he is 'caught' by his dad. In Two Cars, One Night, age is a prominent theme in the film as that is the whole reason they're imprisoned within the premises of the two cars as they're not older enough to be able to go into the motel with their parents or stay at home. Age is a constant issue for the protagonist as he continuously tries to act older, lies about his age and pretend he knows an older stranger to the girl in hopes of impressing her - therefore glorifying age and seeing it as age = strength. In About a Girl, age is imperative towards the resolution as the audience begins to understand that the film is about the youth growing up in modern times, teenage pregnancy and that her age is a huge factor towards the abortion. 

In The Most Beautiful Man in the World and Youth they both share a theme of parental neglect, this is represented clearly in both films through the clear need of exploration/stimulation from the young protagonists and then a small intervention from the guardian's where they disapprove of the actions of their kids. In The Most Beautiful Man in the World, parental neglect is shown through the clear lack of her mother attendance when the girl is bored and is in need of stimulation and the only time that she interacts with her child is when the young girl is fully exploring the nature and is stimulated by the interaction with the man she has just met, however the mother interferes and stops it. In Youth - Part 1, the boy has been woken up with the arrival of tea and the sun-light coming through the window when his mum opens the blinds, this therefore shows attention and care from the mother but he still seems discouraged to get up and get ready for some reason, when he starts to play his music he begins to increase the energy within the shot, this is shown through his actions, but also through the micro elements from the technical category camera work - fast-paced editing and hand-held movement, once the stimulation passes the climax and the boy then begins to slow down and kiss the mirror this creates a strange atmosphere but still carries on with the theme of being stimulated, then the dad is finally giving the boy attention, although seemingly he disproves of his son with one look and the boy seems unhappy again. In Two Cars, One Night, parental neglect is the reason the three children are stuck within the confined space of the two cars and therefore is the root towards the children's boredom and also the protagonists insecurities towards his own age, as the protagonist makes clear that at his age he is very trapped and is unable to go into the motel to stimulate himself and he also feels that the girl won't like him unless he is older, resulting in him lying to her.

Within all of these films is an issue of neglect; in The Most Beautiful Man in the World, this is shown as the child is left to play by herself and her only guardian that seems to look after and play with her is the dog, this then leads to boredom due to the neglect from her mother who is too busy on the phone gossiping. The resolution to this film shows the implications of neglect as the girl is forced to escape outside of her home and is put into danger of being potentially kidnapped. Two Cars, One Night explores an issue of neglect as the three children sit in the two cars outside of a lively, fun motel and are very bored waiting for their parents/guardians that are inside, this could explain why the children are so eager to grow up because they are deprived of spending time with their parents and therefore need to be older so they can go into the motel. In About A Girl, neglect is a key issue towards the resolution of the film as it is exposed that she has had an abortion and teenage pregnancy, however her parents are unaware and therefore this shows that she is being neglected by her parents.

The issue of holding emotion is shown in all of these films; in About A Girl, the teenage girl has gone through a very traumatic experience of teenage pregnancy and abortion - however this is unclear to the audience until the very end of the film when she throws the baby in the river. Throughout the film she is holding in her emotions of the traumatic experience but this is juxtaposed by how open and amused she is with everything else. In Two Cars, One Night, the protagonist notices the girl in the other car and instead of talking to her, he starts to do things that will catch her attention, then finally she looks but shy's away when she realizes they can see her looking, so he starts shouting at her "oi, you!" "oi, girl!"and then he swears at her. In the development of the film he continuously lies to her to impress her and then in the resolution he begins to show that he likes her. Therefore the protagonist was holding his emotions right until the end. In Youth part two, the young girl keeps her emotions hidden from her friends throughout as she is extremely embarrassed about her appearance and so she hides in the dull boring changing rooms eating food, whilst her friends go and have fun in the pool. She is left alone in the changing rooms and expresses emotions of sadness but doesn't in front of the other girl.

There is a theme of stimulation vs. boredom throughout these films; this is a dominant theme in The Most Beautiful Man in the World as the young girl is bored and at her age she needs constant stimulation and this can be through interaction, playing, exploring etc. however she is stuck inside with no one giving her attention but the dog, this leads to her taking the boredom into her own hands and decides to play, explore and interact outside without the supervision of a guardian. This boredom vs. stimulation builds up to the resolution of the film when she meets an older guy that could be a potential father figure or potential abuser. Stimulation vs. boredom is a theme that is also explored in Two Cars, One Night, as the protagonist is very bored and ends up trying to entertain himself by talking to a stranger and also getting into a strangers car, this however is seen as very innocent due to the two characters ages and their intentions and naivety. But in different variables, this kind of situation could be very dangerous and therefore the theme of stimulation vs. boredom in this film creates great controversy. In Soft, the whole gang of chav's become violent due to hanging outside of a local grocery shop because they are bored so they result in picking on by-passers, this escalates when one of the by-passers doesn't conform and says something. Therefore boredom is a huge part of Soft as it creates the problem in the film and also stimulation is a major theme as it creates a controversial resolution to the film when the boy relentlessly attacks the bully.

They all share a theme of imprisonment; In The Most Beautiful Man in the World, micro elements from the technical category mise-en-scene creates clear symbolism of imprisonment with use of prison-like fence outside of the house trapping the girl and also when she is imprisoned after she meets the man, we see the door also has prison-like bars too. Imprisonment is also shown when the girl looks out of the window as this shows that she so badly wants to go outside but can't because it is not safe for her to go out by herself and is neglected by her mum, therefore showing that she is stuck and is a prisoner in her own house. In Youth, imprisonment is shown in all three parts; in the first part, he is in a small bedroom and when he begins to enjoy himself with loud music and dancing, his dad walks in and disapproves resulting in the restrictions of freedom and adhering to the house rules. In the second part, the insecure girl is imprisoned within the changing rooms and does not come out because she is scared of what other people are going to think of her appearance, especially in comparison to the other girl. Finally, the third part shows the imprisonment of gang culture as one of the boys feel so heavily pressured by his 'friends' that he must defend himself with a knife, this shows the imprisonment of how they aren't friends but they're trapped within the gang and therefore resulting in violence. Two Cars, One Night explores the theme of imprisonment as the three children are stuck within the premises of the two cars and they're not allowed to go into the motel, therefore they're forced to stimulate themselves by making friends with strangers as they have been imprisoned in the cars by their parents.

A theme of loneliness and isolation is shown in The Most Beautiful Man in the World as the child is left by herself because the mum is on the phone gossiping, therefore this shows the child as lonely and is the root of her boredom and her need for stimulation through exploring. Loneliness and isolation is also a theme in Youth, especially part two as the girl is sat in the changing rooms lonely and isolated and comfort eating due to her insecurities in her weight, away from the fun swimming pool and friends. Furthermore, loneliness and isolation is a theme that is explored in About a Girl as the girl is walking by herself and is talking about everything in her life as though she needs to off-load every single last piece of information that she has been holding in and it seems that she has been deprived of a social connection.