Also, the protagonist in “Fever Pitch”, Paul, is obsessed with football. He sees his life in “seasons.” This links in with “Lad Culture” as football runs in seasons. By the end of the film Paul changes, however, he doesn’t change as much as Will does in “About a Boy.” He changes because he doesn’t link his life with football anymore. He changes because he realises and accepts his love for Sarah. In addition, he has to support his baby. Sarah also changes. She changes from a woman who was opposed to “Lad Culture” to one who tolerates it. She thought that men who embraced “Lad Culture” were boisterous because they acted like hooligans when they went to football matches. She transforms into a woman who celebrates at the end of the film when Paul’s football team wins the cup. She ends up dancing in the street and jumping up and down with joy. This is another positive message. Although, men can sometimes act boisterous when they go to football, they do have another side to them that is caring and lovable.
The costumes in “About a Boy” don’t vary a lot. Will is seen as cool because he wears trendy cool-looking clothes. This is because men who embrace “Lad Culture” are fashion conscious. Will changes at the end of the film. We know this because at the beginning he takes Marcus shopping for “cool” trainers. At the end of the film, Marcus sarcastically comments on Will’s trainers, saying “I like your trainers”, because they were uncool. Marcus’ costume also changes. At the beginning of the film Marcus is seen as geeky as he always wears a woolly hat with tassels but by the end of the film he stops wearing it. This is because he has realised, through his friends, how uncool it is. This could be both a positive and negative message on “Lad Culture.” It could be positive as it has stopped Marcus from being bullied because what he wears is old-fashioned. Also, it could be negative because it is stopping Marcus from wearing what he wanted to wear and making him change his style.
In “Fever Pitch” Paul is seen as a football fanatic. We know this as he is seen in a lot of Arsenal shirts. He only changes slightly in the film as he occasionally swaps his football shirt for a suit towards the end of the film. This is because he realises that if he wants to be with Sarah, he has to act more professionally. However, Sarah’s costume changes a lot. She is seen as boring. We know this because at the beginning she wears a beige raincoat accessorized with a satchel and folders containing school work and an umbrella. This costume connotes no social life, sensibility and preparation for all events. At the end of the film, however, she is wearing a red and white dress. The dress connotes the colours of the Arsenal strip, showing that she is now more open towards “Lad Culture”. This is another positive message about “Lad Culture because Sarah embraces Paul’s football team. This is because she has realised that football fans can be affectionate towards others
In both films the directors utilise many different camera angles. For instance, in “About a Boy” a low angle shot is used when the bread is flying through the air. The connotations for this are loneliness and island like. It is also foreshadowing Marcus’ mum’s suicide attempt. This is linked to “Lad Culture” because it shows us that Marcus’ mum is depressed because she is continually being dumped by men. This shows a negative representation of “Lad Culture” because it shows how depressed women get over men dumping them. “About a Boy” also uses an oblique/canted angle shot when Marcus signs up for the rock band contest. This connotes that Marcus is in turmoil because his mum is depressed again and he has had a row with Will and doesn’t know what to do with his life. This is linked to “Lad Culture” because men are seen as indecisive when it comes to making important choices about their life.
In “Fever Pitch”, however, the shots show happier situations. For example, a close up shot is used at the parent teacher evening when Paul is talking to the mother of a child he teaches about football. This links in with the theme of “Lad Culture” as it shows the job of a teacher is less important than an upcoming football match. There is also a medium shot used when Paul and his friend are walking away from the kebab stand talking about Sarah. This shows that they are already living the “Lad Culture” lifestyle as they are buying fast food and talking about women whilst watching a game of football. This could be a negative representation towards “Lad Culture” because it shows men as lazy, immature men that have only two things on their mind; football and women.
The sounds used in both films are very similar. This essay is going to focus on the non-diegetic sound used when the protagonists are with a female. In “About a Boy” when Rachel dumps Will there is a non-diegetic sound in the background that connotes sadness and sympathy towards him. Then in “Fever Pitch” when Paul is in Sarah’s house a guitar plays in the background. This is a non-diegetic sound that connotes awkwardness. The two sounds are linked to “Lad Culture” as men don’t usually know how to act around women when they meet and so in the end they either get dumped or dump the women themselves.
In both films Will and Paul use analogies. In “Fever Pitch” Paul compares his life with a football team and organises it in seasons, not years, “You’ll be seeing your sister next season.” On the other hand, Will compared his life to an island by saying: “Yes, I am, I’m Ibiza.” This form of language shows that both men are utterly obsessed with a certain aspect of “Lad Culture”. Paul is totally obsessed with football and has been most of his life. Will, on the other hand, doesn’t want to get with anyone and wants to be single all his life. This is a negative representation of “Lad Culture” because it shows men wanting to be lonely all their life. It also shows that men don’t care about the fact that they are going to grow old and lonely.
In conclusion, there are mixed impressions on “Lad Culture” presented in the films. In “About a Boy” “Lad Culture” is negative whereas in “Fever Pitch” “Lad Culture” is a positive thing. “Lad Culture” can be both good and bad depending on how you look at it. It could be a good thing because there is nothing wrong with supporting a football team but it could be a bad thing as being single all your life can make people think you’re ignorant and this could make you become lonely and friendless. The preferable film of the two was “About a Boy.” This is because at the beginning no-one was really happy but at the end everyone had a reason to be happy, even Marcus’ mum, Fiona. Will was with Rachel, Marcus had friends and Fiona had met an old friend of Will’s that could possibly end up as her next boyfriend. In addition, “Lad Culture” isn’t really that important by the end but being with friends and family is. Also, Will no longer thinks of himself as one island all alone, he thinks of himself a part of a chain of islands because he now loves Rachel and he also loves Marcus like he was his son.
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