‘Boy initial response’

Write your response to the film using the following points:

1. Write a brief plot overview
2. Discuss a character that you found interesting and describe why they view.
3. Write about a scene that stood out to you. Why was it of interest?
4. What message do you think the director Taika Waititi was conveying in the text. Use an example to support your explanation.
5. Write about a cinematography technique that was of interest to you. Why was it effective / surprising / distracting….
6. Give your reflections on the setting. Why do you think it was sat in Waihau Bay in 1984. Write about how the director showcases the setting.

Brief overview: The film boy is about a boy who grew up without his parents then one day the father comes back and the boy is very excited that he has returned but he has only returned to find a bag that has a lot money.

Discuss a character that you found interesting and describe why they stood out to you: A character that I found interesting was the father. The father is an unusual guy and it is hard to find what he is like at the start of the story. After coming home to see his son he still knew but as the story goes on it seems like he is only using him to find treasure. He stood out to me because he was very different to all the other characters and he acted in a way that was very dominant. He was the leader of his friend group and a father of 2 sons. The director was trying to show that the father was a father but wasn’t really one.

Write about a scene that stood out to you. Why was it of interest: A scene that stood out to me was the time when boys father was drunk with his friends and starts to lose respect for them because he thinks he’s the man. Whilst boy watches this you can see that he takes all the things he sees and he will remember that about his father. He watched the scene very carefully. This could influence his behaviour because this is the kind of behaviour that could teach a young child bad things. It was interesting to me because this stuff does happen in the real world were parents get drunk and their kids watch what they do and they could possibly end up doing the same thing if they are not taught well. After this scene this would have made us think differently about the father and it showed how much of an alcoholic he was. The director wanted to show that he was a guy that had no self control and arrogant. He also wanted to show that the father was a guy who would commit domestic violence to his family.

What message do you think the director, Taika Waititi was conveying in the text? Use an example to support your explanation: Taika Watiti was trying to show how you treat people can influence the way the behave. As we can see in the movie Boy the father did not treat him very nicely after he had taken his jacket and was mad at him. Towards the end of the movie we can see that Boy copied his fathers actions, drinking and smoking to get through the problems he is having in life. Since he was treated poorly he took these actions because of depression I assume.

Write a cinematography technique that was of interest to you: A shot that was of interest to me was the over-the shoulder shot when boy was watching his dad and his friends look for the money that was buried in the field. I found this interesting because the shot is well taken and the view of the shot was very good. In the background you could see mountains and the blue sky above their heads. I personally like shots that have a lot of liveliness to it like this one.

Give your reflection on the setting: I think this setting is good. If the setting was different and they were growing up in a city instead, the story would be much more different to what it is now. The director set the movie in Waihau bay because he would act a certain way than if he lived in like a city for example. Because he grew up in Waihau bay he acts more like a street kid. And when his father came over he changed differently because it was obvious that his father came from the city and he picked up his fathers city behaviours. The director used this setting because it this setting gives us more of a sense to what the main characters life and family is gonna be like. If you think about it if the movie was set in the city lets say the movie would be completely different because our point of view is that his family would be somewhat better. Another reason why the director might have used this location because its in a far away location were the living would be very cheap we would assume that boys family is poor and has a lot of struggles in life.