A social worker comes to see Tar in Bristol. The man reasons with Tar and says that he can stay in a squatter’s house just down the road. Tar is living with two adults that are classed as people that I would ‘Hippies’. One day, the girl turns up on the doorstep of the house. Tar is glad for her to stay there, as are the Hippies. The following day, the girl phones her parents to notify them that she is not coming home. This is the second time that we see the girls rebel attitude towards her parents.
A week or so on, both Tar and the girl are in bed together and the girl offers Tar sex. Tar is very unsure about this remark and begins to question their age, “ But we’re only 14 for Christ sake!”
Later that day we see that Tar is painting. We find that He is very into it. He begins to relive his childhood memory of how he used to paint in the garden on bits of old scrap paper. Thinking this makes him cry, and feel homesick. After, Gemma (we first discover the girl’s name) comforts him to the farthest extent of re-living their sexual urges.
At the end of the first episode we find that Gemma has decided to rebel once again by becoming a Punk.
Episode 2:
The two hippies are unhappy with Gemma, “As long as your living under our roof, you can’t eat meat!” Gemma was found in the bathroom eating McDonalds. One of the hippies was forcing Gemma to leave the squat house. I believe that the two hippies are almost acting as her and Tars parents. The adults decide to have party. During this, Gemma sees a girl making her feel a sense of apprehension. She realise that this girl is exactly who she wants to be, looking to have no cares in the world, no responsibility, just being who you are.
Gemma begins to talk to the girl, eventually ending up at Lily’s place (lily is the girl’s name). You hear the two girls talking about life in general. “ I hate the norm life, going to school, going to work, dying in a residential home where nobody knows you. That just not for me, I’d prefer to live until I was 20 and say when I’m dead that I had good life.” Lilly speaks about the stereotypical view of life. I think that is why Lilly became a squatter, a free spirit perhaps. I think this makes her free person, not weaved into the conventional way of life.
We find out that Gemma has moved in with Lilly, subsequently, Tar and Gemma have split up. We also discover that because of peer group pressure, Gemma has fallen into the hands of drugs, moving on from Cannabis to Heroin. This, I predicted would happen, as their way of life shows that drugs are acceptable and I believe that Gemma would give in to the peer strain.
Gemma and Tar have fallen considerably apart. Seeing that Gemma is unhappy, Lilly decides to get Tar to force him to come and live with the two girls. Gemma apologises to by buying him a Book on Painting. I was naïve to think that the book had been bought. Later that day Tar sees Gemma taking Heroin. He is worried by eventually gives in himself “ Just try it once. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to do it again, but how will you know if you don’t try it?” Lilly says in a husky voice, probably to do with the smoke! The pier pressure must be very regular in this kind of lifestyle, as you are just taking a risk squatting in a house!
The next part of the episode involves pointing up the stair, trying to say to Gemma they should be doing something else! Tar & Gemma are extremely happy with their life and their relationship between each other. Gemma feels that it is time to phone home. This may be because that she is feeling homesick, and she is only putting on the act between her and Tar just to make him happy. Gemma, Tar and Lily go to the phone box. When first hearing the father, he seemed obviously distressed, worried and clearly concerned. The parents try to get Gemma to come home. Lily remarks on this saying that “ Your not worried about Gems’, you just worried about yourselves, not having her on your conscience when the police do the forensic tests on a missing girl!” Lily laughs out the parent’s voice, but you can see by the expression on both Tar and Gemma’s faces that they are not amused. In fact, they seemed quite worried by Lily shrugs it off. I have observed this kind of behaviour pattern through the Episodes. One person, for example this time its’ Lily, overpowers the group to do something or say something. The people that he or she is asking feel that it is hard to refuse and just carry on as if nothing had happened. In psychological terms if often called the possessive object. There are prime examples in young teenage groups and there is often a possessive object in the majority.
The next scene involves Gemma and Lily in a state of cold turkey. This is when an addiction cannot be fed for whatever reason e.g. lack of money. This is the cause of this particular case. Tar and a boy that is not widely involved, but pops up now and then, is seen trying to rob a shop for the money needed. It is shown in almost as a cartoon film, with the boys running in by, are shown seconds later running out with shopkeeper close behind him.
From this, the girls have resorted to prostitution. This shows me how low people will go for stuff like drugs. This also showed how rough things like this can get on the street the old saying was never wrong “When the going gets tough, the tough gets going”, clearly this was taking it to the extreme. On many occasions the girls did get abused, and at this point in the film I’m thinking why some people would want to leave the comfort of their home for the street lifestyle (if you can call it a lifestyle)!
On one occasion Gemma sees the women that she firstly lived with. The Hippie is worried, she says, “Why are you doing this to yourself, why don’t you just go home, I’m absolutely sure that your parents will not be in the slightest bit angry with you, They will just be glad to see you”. Gemma bluntly says no. Gemma is not listening in the slightest and walks away. The hippy persists on trying to get Gemma home, but she’s just not taking any notice.
The next scene shows Gemma and Lily laying on the floor, after just ‘hitting’ on the heroin. Lily tells Gemma that she is pregnant, and she wants to keep the baby. Gemma try’s to change her mind, to have an abortion, as she hasn’t got the right lifestyle for a happy baby. Gemma reasons with Lils’ and says that if she does want to keep this baby, then she is going to have to give up the ‘Rock Chick’ life. Compromise is a good way with reasoning with someone.
William Johnson 5 More Mr Glackin
