Green street by Gemma O'Dell

In my Independent Study I will be analysing the film ‘Green Street’. There are different issues involved in the film such as the representation of Hooliganism, different classes, the representation of different countries, youth culture evolving throughout time, stereotyping of men, different football clubs and the representation of football fans.
The genre of the film is action as it involves a lot of violence, for example, the fight between ‘Millwall’ and ‘West Ham’ at the end of the film leads to a horrific death of one of the main characters. Whilst looking at the representation of football hooligans I will be able to cover various different concepts of what being a hooligan involves. For example, what different clothes they wear, how they cover up from the opposite team during the matches, what weapons are used after the matches during fighting and so on.
With Green Street Hooligans Lexi Alexander tackles a subject unlikely for a female: but proves to do it well as Green Street presents the ultra violent world of Britain’s brutal football fans. She and her co workers catch a sense of realism through out the film by portraying the look of the film, the fight scenes and some of the many performances to high standard.
The film kicks off with Harvard student Matt being expelled from his journalism course after agreeing to take the rap for his cokehead roommate. Matt flees to London to stay with his older sister Shannon who lives with her husband Steve and there young child. He’s barely in London for five minutes before he is whisked away by Steve’s brother Pete to his first ‘Soccer’ match. Pete and his mates have more then football on the agenda. Members of the Green Street Elite, team of West Ham supporting Hooligans who enjoy a few pints and a fight with the opposition fans on match day. It isn’t soon after Matt becomes one of them attending every game. They strive on their reputation and it is everything to become the most feared firm in England. The firms hatred of Journalists means Matt will have to keep his background secret. As events build towards the finallie between West ham and Millwall, family loyalties and personal vendettas spiral out of control and end in tragedy.
Green Street consists of many well known characters such as Elijah Wood, Charlie Hunnam, Claire Forlani. Elijah Wood plays a higher class student who transforms from an ambitious journalist to a Hooligan in the duration of a couple days. The role played is different from many others Wood has been given. For example, the Hobbit in Lord of the rings.