Eden Lake Analysis

Robin Wood, a film theorist, states that “normality is threatened by the monster”, back 20 odd years ago the monster would be seen as a crazy axe man, but now contemporary media has created fear of teenagers among the public, with horror films making the killer teenagers, and even more so now, teenagers and social media.

In the film Eden Lake, a 2008 film directed by James Watkins, audiences can witness the menacing things teenagers get up to; they are seen as violent and disrespectful to older people. Their disrespect is shown when the teenagers are blaring their music and letting their Rottweiler roam freely without a leash around the couple, Steve and Jenny. This is disrespectful as the couple have come to a quiet place to enjoy time alone and the teenagers are being insolent.

However, the teenagers have gone to the quiet spot to play their music instead of disrupting people in their town, essentially they are doing nothing wrong, that area is more theirs than the couples. But with both opposing sides being stubborn things get out of hand and the teenagers start messing around and stalking the couple to get their own back. Also, the use of grime music in this scene adds to the intensity of the intimidation.

Furthermore, in Eden Lake, the audience can see a direct distinction between the two classes. Steve and Jenny are portrayed as middle class and have superiority over the residents of Eden Lake, who are lower/working class. This is shown when they are on the beach and Steve is mocking the way in which the teenagers speak, imitating their use of slang and accents. Also, the representation of teenagers being unruly hooligans with nothing better to do then go around torturing people is extremely troubling as a society believes this is what a youth representation is about.