Harry Brown - Theories

How can you apply the key theories of Adorno and Stanley Cohen to Harry Brown?

Adorno

Adorno, a German Marxist believed that in a capitalist society all forms of entertainment were owned by the people in control within a capitalist consumer culture, purely to make money, they were also used to entertain the masses but at the same time reinforce the dominant ideology and patterns of production and work. There are many ways in which Adorno's ideas can be applied to Harry Brown. Firstly, Adorno argues that the producer needs to make sure that the audience believe that the characters and situations represented are the same as those in our everyday life, the way Harry Brown illustrates this illusion is by making the characters in the film who are teenagers conform to the everyday stereotypes and labels they are faced with, for example, the way they dress throughout the film; track-suits, hoodies and hats, teenagers who dress in this way are usually labelled as violent and troublemakers. The film takes elements from real life and then uses these elements to construct a plot, for example, the use of real locations such as Aylesbury Estate in Walworth and Regents Cannel in Islington, the use of these real locations tries to make us as an audience think this is real and this is how these teenagers would behave in real life around these kind of areas which are real in the world. Adorno also argues that "real life is becoming indistinguishable from the movies" the audience can't tell film apart from real life therefore we believe that they are real. Another example is the way the characters speak and the kind of language they use, teenagers are represented as disrespectful in the way they speak by swearing and shouting and having their own language e.g. slang in which they can only understand each other and exclude the rest of society from this language. Some people may believe this is how most teenagers speak and therefore be lead to believe the film is real because it is the kind of language used in the film.

Stanley Cohen

In Cohen's view a moral panic occurs when a condition, episode, person or group of people emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests. Throughout Harry Brown there are many scenes which could have created a moral panic, for example, the ending of the film which is the riot scene, this scene illustrates immense violence and danger from the teenagers, the police are portrayed as powerless  and the teenagers seem to be in complete control, this will create a sense of fright and panic amongst many members in society, but the old people in particular because the media is their biggest influence. Another example in the film which could create a moral panic is the scene of the teenagers constantly staying at the underpass, throughout the film they were the only ones seen in this part of the area, which suggests it is sort of their territory. This will suggest that these kind of areas are dangerous and the kind of people who stay here are violent, it will create a moral panic because people will be too afraid to pass through these particular areas because they may feel threatened or intimidated.