How authority figures are represented in the films Get Carter (M.Hodges 1971) & Ill Manors (B.Drew 2012)

 Authority is the power or right to give orders, make decisions and enforce obedience. The theme of authority is on-going in most crime/gang movie as it shows the limits in which the gangsters and criminals can operate, for example if there weren’t the obvious authority of the police, the gangsters wouldn’t have to downfall and would automatically win. But authority in gang/criminal movies also comes as the criminals themselves, as most gang movies include a hierarchy in which the gang leader has the power and gives the order.

In Get Carter, Jack is straight away represented as an authority in film as we open up on a wide shot of him dressed in a dapper suit with a glass of whisky, glaring out the window. By opening up on Jack straight away it shows the audience that Jack is the main source of attention as all our eyes are on him which shows he is already above us and does have authority. Also by having him dressed in a well-tailored suit, shows us he is of a high class which again reinforces his authority as he is wealthy enough to have a suit like that, and wants people to notice his wealth to stand his authority out. Also the shot has quite low key lighting as it makes Jack’s figure stand out more and tells us he is the one we should be focusing on and he is the one the story is about which gives him the authority of attention. As the scene moves on we enter the interior of the building in which Jack is in and we see other men dressed similar to Jack with trophy women sitting by their sides and glasses of whiskey and champagne. The rest of the men also have authority as they are dressed just like Jack so are obviously wealthy but Jack stands out more in the scene as he isn’t sitting down and is walking around, which shows he holds the most authority as it seems he doesn’t need to sit down and his tall standing figure gives him that dominance that the others lack. Having the women in the scene lounging around wrapped next to the men show that the men and Jack have succeed somewhat in life and their trophy is that of beautiful women that everyday middle class working men don’t get, which shows his and the other men’s authority as they are superior to other people. The props such as big Cuban cigars, whiskey and champagne are typical clichés of gangster movies or also film noir style movies were the men who have the most power and money have the ability to treat themselves with such things, as they were expensive. The opening scene explains the origins of Jack’s environment as he associates with men of authority and his own dominance and superior power as well, which is shown by the opening shot, the props and the nature of the trophy girls.

 In Ill Manors, authority is also shown in the crime life as in Get Carter. In one scene in Ill Manors, Kirby leaves prison and shows us he has authority which is somewhat ironic as he holds the most power and authority whilst he is leaving a place of well-known authority which is the prison. In a way this scene defeats the stereotypical moral that police always win as Kirby has survived through prison and still holds authority or has even boosted his authority because of his time in prison so has automatically won. Ben Drew edits the mid shot of Kirby walking out of the prison in slow motion to let the audience see him very carefully as he exits a place of authority with more authority. The performance of the acting makes him look even more superior as he smiles and smirks as if he is “too cool for school” as he is walking out which shows that he is mocking the authority of prison and shows he doesn’t care and gives us the impression that he has more important things on his mind which lets us believe he has quite high authority. As Kirby walks slow motion, Drew puts on of his own rap song in the background which keeps repeating the words “Mr drug dealer”, which fits the scene as we basically understand the song is addressed to Kirby as he is a drug dealer. This shows us his authority as people know he is a drug dealer and people know of him, he also wears a long trench coat as he looks like a 60s pimp which again reinforces his authority as he is dressed superior to others.

In Get Carter, authority is also seen in an obvious way in final scene were Jack is face to face with his brother’s killer and chases him through the beach. Jack is seen as the man with the most authority in the scene as the killer is running away from him using all of his strength just to get away from him. This shows us Jack’s ultimate power as the killer is actually trying to get away from him which shows us Jack has the ability to do anything and the fact that people like the killer fear him, it shows the authority he has over him. The audience start to wonder and ask questions about what will Jack do when he catches him, and as the audience realise that Jack has this huge power and authority, it just shows the audience that anything can happen at this point. We then also get a low angle shot of Jack ordering the killer to drink the bottle whiskey, as he shouts "drink it, drink it!". By using the low angle shot with Jack looking down at us seems as if he is talking to the audience which shows them he has the authority and as the audience are looking up to him they understand he has the most dominance. As Jack shouts and orders the killer to drink it, it shows the audience that he really does have authority as he is ordering someone to do something and not getting no for an answer which is the basic definition of authority.

Authority in Ill Manors is similar to the authority in Get Carter as ordering and pushing around confirms to the audience that authority consists of that. In a certain sequence of scenes, Aaron and Chris order and push around a young woman in to different kebab shops and takeaways to pay back for a lost phone by having sex with the owners. The fact that the two men are ordering this young woman to go in and sell herself to these strangers gives them the authority over her as she follows them and does whatever they say because she fears them. Fear shows the audience who has the most authority as who ever fears more has less authority. As the young woman tries to defend herself and refuse to go in the random shops, Chris violently pushes her around and really shows his ugly side which makes her fear him more which ultimately downgrades her status more and helps his authority stand out as the audience understand who has the power in the scene and in the storyline in the film.

In conclusion,  the two films show us that authority is held in the hands of the characters that show the most power and dominance, and ultimately in the gangster genre authority is mostly shown through violence as the characters have to show their status through their actions.