Eden Lake – Textual Analysis
Eden Lake is a James Watkins horror film; it is publish in 2008 and make in United Kingdom. This film it’s about a couple who go to Eden Lake to expend a romantic weekend break in which Steve, the boyfriend, wants to propose her marriage but unexpected violent situation with children happen and make this impossible.
In the first five minutes of the film the plot gives us lots of important factors that help us to learn and understand what the movie it’s about. One of this is, in the beginning of the film, there are some little kids in the school and Jenny is the carrying teacher of them. This scene creates a feeling of family, happiness and innocence because kids are completely helpless and depend on adults or other responsible people. Another factor is the love story between Jenny and Steve shown in their dialogue, kisses and the ring that has Steve that means that he is completely committed with her. When Steve goes to look for Jenny we can see that they are going on a trip because of the shot in the GPS and the different jump shots that in each one the sky gets darker, what represents that is a long journey. When they arrive, some boys cross with their bikes and then a man don’t let Steve park and creates a different atmosphere, and we can deduce that it’s a bad start on the vacation.
Regarding to the characters, Jenny seems to be a patient and sweetie girl who likes kids and is in love; she smiles frequently, dresses with a purple and white feminine summer dress and walks and talks pacifically. We can see the balance of harmony through the low position of the camera at the start with the children and teacher and the close ups of happy children and the happy facial expressions of woman in her job. Steve, her boyfriend, is also in love and kisses her regularly; he is romantic because he prepared a weekend journey for proposing her marriage, what means that he is faithful and committed, he is funny, makes jokes all the time and makes her laugh but he is very inpatient as when the guys cross the semaphore and their parents stole his park space he gets very mad. He wears a blue shirt and makes the sense that he is a working man, tidy, organized and professional. We can realize the balance that they both have (Steve and Jenny) in their relationship because there is a two-shot from the back of the car showing them meeting in the middle and kissing in symmetry. Their happiness is represented with the clear and bright colors used and the natural sunlight. The objects that they have represent their social status, for example the car (Jeep), sunglasses (Ray Bans), the luxurious ring, the gadget in the car seen in the middle of back seat with middle shot. In contrast, the guys are very disrespectful, ride bikes, and are reckless, ignorant, blurred, indistinct, they cross the road laughing without carrying about the others. And their parents are irresponsible and freckles as they let their children be outside the house at night and without any control and are disrespectful because when Steve was going to park, they take his place.
We can say that Eden Lake is a horror film because of the style that the movie has. The cinematographer makes close-up shots in faces, interior shots of the car to start, exterior shots into the car when they arrived and creates shadows in each thing and person, has a suspense music background most of the time (when they are driving, the high pitched violin increase the tension), it has happy and innocents characters, the director makes emphasis in the radio that talks about the behavior of teenagers and the irresponsibility of their parents, as the setting gets darker more minor chords and melancholy sound are used, the camera first shows the point of view of Steve and Jenny but when the situation transforms in uncomfortable the camera turns facing them, the attitudes of the characters makes the audience feel the same as them (sadness, happiness, madness, etc.), from the busy highway we see an isolated junction which the characters go down.
In the film we can see the differences between middle class people and working class people. The ones from middle classes live in the city, receive education, go to school, have technology stuff, the characters in the film are happy and respectful and the director highlights these differences with the use of the contrast between the daylight or summer and the other way round for the “have-nots”, also by their actions, their physical aspects, their clothe, how they treat others, etc. The working class people live in country, village or small town, children are on the streets at night, what implies that their parents are not looking after them, the first appearance of the adults is in pubs drinking, and their zone is darker and gives us a cold atmosphere. The cinematographer shows the separation between the characters that are from one world to the other, line in the car scene. We can see the youth and violence when the radio plays news showing the dealing with bad behavior of children and parents put the blame of this on the education system, schools blame the parents. There is an implicit criticism of education through the journey taken by the girl, who represents the world of education although she ends up killing the kids.
In conclusion, the first five minutes of the film gives a very extended look of the whole movie and lots of clues that let us guess what the film is about, what themes are involved and what is going to happen. It has lots of effects and good actors that transmit to us what they feel and think and also, as all horror films, we get scared in the most suspense parts.
