'Bullet Boy' - Aspects of crime

Representation of race or minority groups
The film stars an all African-English group of characters. Ricky's farther is a priest and his mother heavily religious, maybe using prayer as a way of trying to protect her children as she feels she has no power over them herself.


Representation of crime
It is clear that crime is well represented theme from basically the start of the film. We can see this as Ricky, who is only 18, is first seen being released from prison and is issued a probation order.

Representation of family relationships
Family is a big concern of Ricky's throughout the film. It is clear that he has a good relationship with his 12-year-old brother, Curtis, hides in a car boot in order to see his older sibling. The gun given to Ricky by Wisdom also play an important role in the overall family dynamic. Ricky gets angry when he finds out that Curtis had hidden the gun and I think this is because he does not want his brother going through the same processes as he has already done (assault, prison).

Representation of violence
Due to his time in prison because of an assault charge, Ricky is released with a probation order. We can see that Ricky is desperate to avoid anything like this again when having to back Wisdom away from the rival gang member after smashing a wing-mirror. Maybe this was something that Ricky would have caused a stir about before his time in prison, but because of his probation order, he has to think carefully about what is worth causing a fuss over.

Representation of education
Curtis is seen attending school, where he chatters with a friend instead of listening to the teacher. Ricky's education background, however, is unknown. College/university are not on his mind and when Curtis looks at his CV he states that is would be hard for him to find a job with a criminal record. My thought here is that maybe the reason Ricky got caught in crimes was a lack of an education background, and that Curtis, idolizing his brother's every move, would unfortunately follow through on this.

Representation of class
To me, Ricky's family is suggest as being of a low-middle class family. This is because they live in a relatively small London flat where Ricky and Curtis share a bedroom. All of their belongings are in that room, with not many places to hide things. However, the spacious living room suggest comfort. As Ricky's farther is a priest, we are unaware of his earnings, and his mother I cannot remember seeing at a workplace.