The Politics of Art & Authenticity

When I think of a ‘bad’ mother, I usually think ghetto fabulous, nails, five kids, and five-baby daddy. English culture never comes to mind. Yet in WASP directed by Andrea Arnold, the stereotype of a bad mother is encompassed by something that we usually don’t relate to a bad mother. Instead of seeing a woman with whom we would usually consider ghetto, we see a blonde woman with an English accent who is a single mother.  The fact that she is completely the opposite of what one would expect, makes her entertaining.

Just from watching this film, the only one I’ve seen by this director, it is safe to say that Arnold relies more on the visuals to tell the story. The dialogue in this film is very short, very limited.

In the opening scene, Arnold shows a woman carrying a baby walking angrily towards a house with three little girls in tow.  She approaches the house quickly and angrily knocks on it. A woman opens the door and she asks her why she was hitting her daughters. Both women start arguing and the argument ends with the first woman along with her children turning around and flipping the other woman off.

The film continues with the woman meeting an ex-boyfriend and setting up a meeting later at the pub. When he asks about the children, she tells him that she is watching them.  The film continues with the woman talking on her mobile and giving her oldest daughter a pack of sugar to ration with the other kids.

Towards the end the film becomes more in your face, in the sense that some of the details are easier to understand but piecing them together is harder. The woman ends up at the pub. She takes her kids, leaves them outside, and brings them crisps and some cola.

I guess the amount of irresponsibility that the woman lacks is made up when the ex-boyfriends takes the girls out for a decent meal. But it doesn’t become very clear what happens afterwards.

Wasp, a short film by award winning director Andrea Arnold, portrays a day of a single mother with four kids.

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

Going into this film, I imagined it to be a distressing documentary on mankind’s hurt to exterminate the often-feared wasp – that behind their frightening stinger and ability to inflict pain was a soft, gentle creature yearning to live in a peaceful world where they wouldn’t have to fear flyswatters and newspapers.

Oh no. No no no. Whatever that film might have been, “Wasp” was ten times as emotionally tense and just as dire. Throughout the film, I felt as if some sudden, shocking event would arrive to scare me, ironically saving me from this stirring fear of the unknown the film was presenting me with. In a way, had a car somehow run over someone, or if those men who dropped the food turned out to be violent thugs, “Wasp” would have scared me less. “Wasp” was one big unknown because it was only a snapshot in the lives of Zoe and her kids, leaving us to fill in the blanks while watching this poor family struggle. I didn’t know anything about Zoe’s life, or how she found herself alone with four kids, and I didn’t know anything about David, and his past with Zoe. I sat there trying to piece it all together, all while this little wasp starts guest starring in the film, and I just knew it’d cause some havoc eventually. Thinking about it now, I think that’s exactly what director Andrea Arnold wanted. Your mind is buzzing around, wondering what’s possibly going on in the lives of the characters; distracting you from the actual story, just like a wasp distracts pretty much everybody from their tasks.

“Wasp” left me afraid. It left me dumbfounded. Mostly though, it made me want to find out more. Why this story? Why this one specific day in the lives of these specific characters? Why are there four children? Why the Beckham allusions? Why the wasp? Why did she get Coke and not Pepsi? (All these short films have really driven that idea of “Everything’s there for a reason,” into my head, don’t you think?) So, I did, and I think I managed to come up with a few good reasons on what makes “Wasp” belong to Arnold.

Director Andrea Arnold

Nathalie Press, who played Zoe, was practically unknown in the film community before “Wasp,” a fact that’s made me wonder if that’s the reason why I believed the film to be a documentary for the first few minutes. I didn’t feel as if I was watching an actor assume a role, but rather the character was real and true, and that Press had become Zoe. Using lesser-known actors would become a motif for Arnold, even going so far as to literally grab a woman from a train station to give her the lead role in “Fish Tank.” In the case of “Wasp,” and surely in Arnold’s other films, this decision is what drives home the realism of the story. Which brings me to my next idea…

The idea for “Wasp” had to come from somewhere, and while Arnold may think it cliche to base a film around her own life, it’s hard to believe she didn’t draw a significant influence from real life. “I grew up in a working-class family, so I guess you could say I write from what I know,” she explains. The comparisons don’t end there, with her Wikipedia page noting that she was raised as one of four children by a single mother. Is “Wasp” then, a nod to her past? Though it could be far from the actual events, there’s a chance that “Wasp” is a dramatic retelling of Arnold’s childhood; a chance for her story to be told in a medium that will reach the lives of others who may have been, or still are, in her position.

What really terrified me about the film was its paradoxical ending. We don’t know how long David will take on the role of savior for Zoe and her children, nor do we get a definiate answer on if Zoe ever grows up and escapes the cycle of poverty and fear she’s lived in. What we do get though, is a car-full of children singing along to an upbeat dance song as the camera pans out. Sure, you can draw the conclusion of a happy ending from that – which after reading more about Arnold’s films, I’ve begun to believe – but my first instinct was that the song consumed the film with its volume, growing louder until we were left with a black screen, and then credits. After sitting through twenty-six minutes of the emotional roller coaster that is “Wasp,” that song was the last thing I expected. Which is exactly why I loved the film. It was real people, real situations, real conflicts, but Arnold made it the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen.

Photo Credit

Wasp, by Andrea Arnold, is just one of those short films where you have a love/hate relationship with the main character. The mother, Zoe, is a young girl with four kids. Clearly, she did not know how to raise a family for she curses in front of her kids who are all under the age of 10 at least. She does not bother to properly feed them, dress them, nor give them a strong figure to look up to. The one thing that I hate about Zoe was the way she spoke to her kids and the way she treated them. She didn’t talk to her kids with kindness or as a mother should talk to her kids. Zoe spoke to them as if they were nothing but a bother to her, as if the kids are just troublesome in her life. Although Zoe does not really treat her kids the way they should be treated, Zoe does care about them. Maybe not the most proper way, but she does. The way she tries to bring some sort of fun to the kids in the situation they are in, the way she tries to feed them even though she doesn’t have enough money, and the fact that she brings them out shows how she does care for them. Bringing the kids to a bar and having them wait for her outside wasn’t the smartest idea, but there is a possible reasoning behind it. As Konstantin said in class, that Zoe brought the kids to the bar with her because she would be close to them and if anything were to happen that she’d be there sooner than she would be if she left them at home. Zoe, by the way she acts, is not fit for being a mother, however, she does care for her kids and she does try to be the mother her kids deserve. I guess that is what I love about her. The unconditional love that she has for her kids.

WASP, written and directed by Andrea Arnold, is filled with emotion– anger, sadness, pity, endearment, love. It depicts an eventful day in the life of Zoe, a single mother, and her children. The family lives in a dingy apartment, surviving off very little money. The innocent, dirty faces of the kids pull on the audience’s heartstrings, while the actions of their irresponsible yet loving mother pluck them violently. In the first few scenes Zoe takes action against one of her kids being bullied by attempting to beat-up the other girl’s mother. Oh, and she brings her kids with her to watch. I would really like to be doing the job of the other mother at this point (kicking Zoe’s a**), but I also feel a sense of pride for her misguided attempt at defending her children. The same feelings occur when Zoe has her kids wait outside a bar while she goes on a date with this guy David. I couldn’t help but to feel pride for Zoe that she is trying to get her life moving, but I also couldn’t help to want to kill her. How can you leave your kids outside a bar? and then only feed them chips and soda? Zoe continually walks a tightrope for the night, balancing taking care of her children and making a good impression on Dave. And in the end, Arnold reveals that Zoe’s love for her children is an overbearing emotion for her. She runs to her kids when they scream, as opposed to hooking-up with David. I really like Zoe at this point, she runs to her children and holds them. And the best moment of the whole movie is when David (the nice guy) takes the kids to get some real food for once, and tells Zoe that they “have to talk.” I laugh in delight when the little blonde girl pushes her hair behind her ears and stuffs her face with french fries.

Photo Credit: http://dearcinema.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Wasp-2003.jpg

At first, Wasp by Andrea Arnold left me speechless. I was unsure about what to think about this short film.  It was not the thick accent that left me wordless, just the storyline.  In this film, Zoe, a young mother of four, is attempting live out her life how she thinks someone her age should.  This means, at times, she will disregard her children and, despite their young ages, she will leave them to fend for themselves.

I watched this short film twice because I felt I was missing something.  I was.  At first when I saw the film in class I thought that Zoe was a horrible mother.  Her actions annoyed me.  The way she treated her children annoyed me.  In my eyes she was not doing anything right.  Even after the discussion in class I felt this way.  However, I watched it again and began thinking.  The audience doesn’t know what type of life Zoe lived before.  She could be following in her parent’s footsteps and doing the same thing they did, having children at an early age.  Her parents could have abandoned her after having her first child.  There are numerous possibilities as to which could determine what shaped her into this type of woman.  One thing became clear to me though; Zoe loves every one of her children.

I find it interesting how Andrea Arnold showed Zoe’s love for her children.  The short opened to Zoe, in her nightgown with no shoes on, grabbing her children and bringing them to another child’s house and starting a fight with the mom who lives there.  This may look irresponsible to some but I’m sure many would do the same.  In Zoe’s eyes she was protecting her children, protecting her child who was hit by another mom.  It is not like this does not happen.  In fact, it does happen.  In the news a few years ago a mother beat up the bully instead of the parent.  On the way to meet David, Zoe tries to make things fun for the kids by having them race and makes a zig-zag pattern with the stroller.  This shows she cares by knowing what they like and what can make them smile.  Also, she takes them with her to see David and keeps them outside which is better than keeping them home; if something happened and they were at home without her, she might not be able to make it back in time.

I’m not too sure what the wasp represents.   In literature a wasp represents a female warrior.  I think this could also work for the main character Zoe.  She might not have the greatest life, she doesn’t have a man to support her, she has four children but she’s still trying her best.  Zoe is still able to make all four children smile which is what counts in the end.  She will fight for them, she will fight to protect them. She will do anything for these four children.

Arnold is unique in that she made this short which reveals the flaws of humanity.  She went below the surface and looked past the picture perfect families to this, a not so uncommon scene.  Through his film Arnold showed that life is not all smiles that it is not what many believe it to be.  There are those who have it harder than others and we should be thankful for what we have.  I find it different how Arnold used the children as foil characters in order to show how irresponsible the mother was.  The older children were left in charge to take care of the baby and the third oldest.  The children were more mature than the adult who is responsible for their lives.

The piece that remains in my mind is the ending.  In the end the children get to eat and as David drives away they’re singing the song they heard and that uplifting song begins to play.  To some this may seem weird.  Why would such a sad film have such an uplifting ending?  I believe it shows that they have hope.  The children survived another day and their mother, quite possibly, will change how she does things.  She may become more responsible.  I believe by having the children sing and have the music play it shows there is hope.  As Allison Clarke stated in Taken, “Hope is the biggest lie there is, and it is the best. We have to keep going as if it all mattered, or else we wouldn’t keep going at all.”

Sources

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/5aJjj8v3xVs/0.jpg

http://dearcinema.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Wasp-2003.jpg

Andrea Arnold’s film, Wasp, depicts the story of 23 year old Zoe and her struggle to raise her four children, while also holding on to the small social life she attempts to have.  When people view this film they cannot help but be annoyed and furious at Zoe for being unable to feed her kids, and bringing them to a bar so that she can have her one night out.  But at the same time, the audience also feels sympathy for Zoe that she is trying to get by with the little nothing she has, and still loves her children through it all.

When I watch films, I always study the title and how it relates back to the film.  Every title serves a purpose for a film and it wasn’t put there by mistake.  In the case of Wasp I wasn’t sure at first why Arnold would give such a film this title.  There were moments in the film where the camera would focus in on a wasp; once in Zoe’s apartment and later on during the climax, when the wasp is on her baby’s face.  I looked up wasp on Wikipedia.com and it used words such as “parasite” and “pest” describing it as preying on other species.  I realized that the wasp in the movie symbolized the fear and danger that Zoe faces each day of her life; trying to feed her children, just struggling to get by, and attempting to enjoy her life.  She has all these issues that are parasitic to her life and she can’t escape them.  Her life almost completely collapses when the wasp nearly stings her baby.  Zoe lives a parasitic life and is prey to all of the struggles she faces each day.

During the film, I also observed the camera techniques that Andrea Arnold used.  She had used the free-camera style, which made the picture shaky at times.  I think she did this to give it more a one-on-one feeling, as though the audience is right there next to Zoe and her family, and experiencing everything.  It also illustrates Zoe’s hectic and chaotic life.  Arnold also uses a lot of close-ups that are usually still.  These are usually in moments right before something bad happens in Zoe’s life.  She also utilized close-ups on objects that helped to describe Zoe’s character. The camera techniques played a large role in for the concept of the film, and without it I don’t think it would’ve given off the same feelings.

“Wasp.” Wikipedia. Wikipedia.com, May 2011. Web. 21 Sep 2012.

Loud, in your face and honest are the best words to describe the short film Wasp by Andrea Arnold. Wasp gives us a glimpse into the life of Zoe, a young struggling mother who has the burden of raising four young children. The oldest child being no older than eleven years old. Zoe is a completely dysfunctional and inadequate mother who has absolutely no money and apparently no moral standards. She curses frequently at her children and make them wait for her while she flirts with a previous boyfriend named Dave. However what makes the film so striking and affective is the way Arnold portrays Zoe and her family.

Arnold deploys many techniques in order to clearly depict the horrible living conditions and the tough reality that Zoe and her family face everyday.  Arnold uses close ups so that the audience can get a clear look at the characters. You are able to see the dirt and grime on Zoe and the children and you can practically smell them. In the short, the shoulder mounted cameras gives the viewer the sense that they are following the family. Altogether Arnold puts together this short with scene after scene of cringe worthy material. From the scene where the eleven year old, the most responsible person in the film, feeds the family ribs from the floor to the scene where the baby almost swallows a wasp. This short is a cringe fest.

Arnold does this with a clear purpose. She strings together these shocking scenes to evoke sympathy from the audience so that one can understand the plight of Zoe.  As the film comes to a close I started  to sympathize with Zoe and understood that she was a child herself with too much responsibility and not enough help. I began to see that Zoe is only a twenty three year old girl that still has stickers of David Beckham on her shower. All she needed was to catch a break.Luckily enough she did catch a break when Dave came along and helped her by feeding the family and driving them home. As perplexing as it was that is why Arnold ended the film with an upbeat ending as the short closed with the song “Hey Baby.” It was because at that moment things seemed to turn around for this family. They had food. They had Dave. They had hope.

How can she effectively raise her children when she still exemplifies childish characteristics herself? This is a major question that Andrea Arnold raises in her short film, WASP. Zoe, a struggling single mother of four, seems to be in her early twenties, an age that is characterized by partying and nights on the town which customarily aren’t things that aren’t associated with being a parent. Zoe sees an old friend on the street and agrees to meet him that evening for a drink at the pub and in doing so neglects the role of responsible parent for the evening. In this way we are given the

opportunity to see how unprepared Zoe is to care for these children through her decision-making. Poor decision-making skills are also something that is associated with the late teens and early twenties because we simply lack the experience to understand the repercussions and act on what psychologists call the “pleasure principle.” Although proving to be a poor mother at times, there are brief glimmers of hope for these children because one can see Zoe’s intense love and for them through her fight with the other mother and her fear of losing them to social services which is why I believe Arnold creates a positive ending. Zoe is a poor mother now but a good, loving person at heart; qualities that every good mother possesses.

After doing some research, I discovered that Andrea Arnold wrote and directed a movie in 2009, called Fish Tank, which actually looks like a really great movie. It is about a young British woman who is forced to come of age through her mother’s irresponsibility and un-ideal factors that are out of her control.

Sound familiar?

I wondered why this theme came up so much in Arnold’s work, so I googled her. Here she is:

This is a direct quote from Arnold herself: ” When people use that word, or ‘grim’ or ‘gritty’, I just think, ‘Oh, come on, look a bit deeper.’ My films don’t give you an easy ride. I can see that. The sense I get is that people have quite a physical experience with them. They feel afterwards that they’ve really been through something.”

Arnold is able to see past the surface, deep down into the gray where others tend to see black and white. She understands that a mother can have enough of her kids and just need a “f***ing night out,” without being a bad mother. She sees that a 23 year old girl with 4 kids and more than 4 potential fathers for those kids might just be a little misguided and lonely. And she has a passion for making her audiences get that too.