Sep 27 2012
Zoe//Kid No.3
When I first saw this film, I could not help myself from frowning all the time. From the beginning, I was appalled by how the mothers (in the film) could use such language, show such violent actions in front of the kids. Where are all the manners, where’s the courtesy. The fantasy I used to have of “Great Britain” lifestyle,as a child: the tea parties, living in a big mansion with maids and servants, having the ability to get what you want whenever you want, broke into pieces as I was more exposed to the reality-perhaps more various aspects of the society-depicted through these short films and documentaries.
Recently, I have been childishly pouting about the things I felt I missed out throughout my childhood and have been shamefully blaming those on my parents and the society I was in. Only looking at the things I didn’t have, I forgot to be grateful for what I really had, a secure family, home, education and all that I was lucky enough to enjoy compared to the kids in the film.
Initially, I blamed the mother.What did the children ever do wrong to deserve such lifestyle? The mother was not acting wise enough to save food and money for the kids, neither was she taking care of the children’s hygiene nor setting a good example of conduct or behavior. All the time, no matter how good the intention may be, or how much she deserved it after a period of time, which the audience probably does not know about, she was acting on her selfish behalf. Trying to satisfy both her lives, as a young women in her twenties and as a mother of four children. I even questioned the reason why she kept those kids. Was it to satisfy her needs for income or was it for loves sake. Later I searched for how much benefit she could receive by having those kids. Skip the details, the general equation was the more (children) you have, the more you receive from the government.
As these questions swept through my mind, I saw how she desperately tried to bring the positiveness within the grim situation she and her kids were in. Although not necessarily educational, she sang, she danced, she tried “her best” to help the kids see the positive side. Well, it can also be seen as a way to “trick” the simple minded children but the point is she did “her best” in the situation. Looking at that scene, the only one who genuinely fell for that “avert the children’s attention” idea was the third child. The second was maintaining her “protesting” stance while the more mature first child was trying to cheer up no matter what her mom’s intention may be. This led me to think the mother might be only thinking up to the level of the third oldest child.
See the parallelism?
After watching the video, I found that this was almost an biographical short film, based on her growing environment. Andrea Arnold, growing up as the eldest. I figured that this could be her way of trying to understand her mother, or to tell people that there’s more to just being a immature single mom, urging empathy and understanding.
Sources
snap shot image : http://vimeo.com/27862959
I agree that it was nice when she danced with her children, but does that image portray a mother’s love? This scene did not make me feel like Zoe was justified in the way she cared for her kids, and i dont understand why you think it does. Care to explain?
I don’t think that her love justified all of her actions but I do believe that she loves her children. So many questions were running through my head too! I mean, I knew that Britain can’t be all tea and crumpets but I never expected that. The only reason I wasn’t as surprised would be because I saw a film set kind of in the same setting. Watch it! I hyperlinked it to my post. 🙂
I agree, Zoe could have kept the kids for the perks from the government. However there are other possibilities aren’t there? There are signs she loves her kids and would do anything, even break the image of her being young and single, for them. It might not seem like much but to Zoe that might have meant her future for her. Do you think maybe she was doing certain things that might benefit her children in the long run while being careless about other things?