A unique ‘Glance’

Aitken (2011) mentioned that Ratcatcher is atypical British poetic realism film. The director uses this film to reflect then damage of teenagers’ growing environment which caused by poverty and hopelessness. Aitken (2011) also mentioned that the director of this film is very good at using detail to show the emotion of character in this film in order to fit the qualities of poetic realism which are achieving the balance between documentary realism and romantic realism. Therefore, as the audience,we also can find details to improve this point.

There is a shot last for 8 seconds, from 00:37:18 to 00:37:25 in this film. This shot happened in the scene which James is on his journey on the bus. He is looking out of the window on the street. In this shot, the camera is on a very special position, the location is the same as where James is sitting. The camera takes an overhead view of the street from the bus, this give the audience a sense that we were brought into the role of James, for we share the same perspective at that moment. On the street, we can see many garbage bags which go backward fast as the bus goes forward. However,there is an interesting moment which is Margaret popped up on camera and the shot is here, and the seconds focusing on Margaret are slowed down. It is along shot and shot from high angle. At the same time, this shot is unusual, as we mentioned above, in this shot the camera is put on the position of James.This also give us a sense that we are in the role of James and we are sharing his perspective. However, this shot is strange, usually, when we are sitting on the bus and looking out of the window. The speed of the moving scene on the street is determined by the speed of the bus. Slow shots actually make no sense here, because it is against the natural rules. Therefore, we should think that,there must be some special meaning of this shot and why this shot is slowed down when Margert appearing. As we mentioned above, Aitken (2011) argued that Ratcatcher is a poetic realism film. Poetic realism which means this film should match the quality of both documentary and romantic. Additionally, Aitken also mentioned that the director of this film is very good at using detail to show character’s emotion, so this shot can be a good example for both of the arguments.

For the poetic realism aspect, this shot perfectly match the documentary realism and romantic realism. The camera is on a bus, and the landscape is constantly changing during the eight-second shot. It's a great way to meet the demands of the documentary, to give the audience a sense of reality, very real, as if we were one of the documentarians, sitting on the bus, looking out the window, sharing the perspective with James. However, at the same time, the camera has a very rich romantic, because in the presence of Margaret was slowed down, the lens with common sense, it illustrates the director contains some special meaning in it, or when we are into the role of James itself, whether we can realize his emotions. This is different from the traditional sense of documentary realism, with some romantic color. Those brief, slow seconds create a romantic atmosphere. Therefore, we should use some deep analysis to this shot.

This shot is one of the most interesting shot in this film for me. As the viewer's perspective moves with James's on the bus, we lookout the window with him and see the black garbage bags that have piled up on the side of the road in rapid succession. But when Margaret showed up, we could see that it was a long shot. We looked down at Margaret from above, and we saw her, head down, wearing her green plaid coat, fingering her hair, walking down the street, still surrounded by those garbage bags. Margaret takes up most of the space in the whole frame, and her sudden intrusion into the field of vision is the part that is slowed down, and this is exactly the picture seen by James.While we are paying attention to Margaret, we cannot forget that this is James's perspective. According to Aitken’s description, the director will use some detail to describe the emotion of character, so we can know that James should have some special emotion to Margert. In this shot, not only because Margert’s appearance in slow motion, but it is a stark contrast to the trash bags that have been skimmed before. Or it could be said that James's eyes were drawn to her in that instant. In the slow motion, we can feel James's care and special affection for Margaret.

Back to the poetic realism, I think this shows the romantic aspect in the poetic realism film. According to the front part of the film, we can know that, James had developed some affection and affection for Margaret. We can see this point from that them were sitting by the river when James first met Margaret; Even when Margaret was later sexually abused by other boys, James lying silently on top of her and holding her. For James, if the black garbage bags are the symbol of dull, dirty, hopeless life, but which he gets used to; then, Margert is one of those rare colors and people to rely on in life, and although she was one of the victims, James and she still wanted to find comfort in each other's company.