Mean Creak Essay

The film ‘Mean Creek’, directed by Jacob Aaron Estes, tells the story of a group of teenagers seeking playful revenge on the schoolyard bully. What starts out as a childish prank, on a boating trip down the river results in George (the schoolyard bully) drowning. Marty the self-designated leader bullies the group into the decision of burying the body rather than facing the consequences of being blamed. This event helps us to understand the dangers and consequences of bullying and how bullying affects our judgment. Estes uses a range of different visual and oral techniques, such as the oral feature of dialogue and music and the visual techniques of lighting and camera angles, to help us understand his ideas and to also demonstrate the importance of this.

To me the event that was key in getting Estes ideas across was the scene where the five teenagers make the decision to bury George’s body. In this scene, Marty, forces his authority upon the group and uses peer pressure tactics to bully his companions into following what he believes to be the best plan of action, (which is to bury George’s body). The group is torn between Marty, who is very ‘for’ the plan; Clyde, who is very against the plan, Rocky who is conflicted and the two younger teens who are in shock and although they know its wrong, they are persuaded by Marty to go alone with the plan. Marty uses a combination of physical violence (when he tackles Clyde to the ground) and mental violence, which we see through the dialogue Marty uses by calling Clyde names like, ‘Fag’ (which is a reference to Clyde’s parents, and his vulnerability) to bully Clyde into following the plan. Sam looks to Rocky, his older brother, to guide him therefore he too is unable to oppose Marty because Rocky is going along with him. In this scene, Millie does not play a big role in the decision-making. This scene is a key turning point in the film, and it teaches us to consider the external factors that affect the decisions we make. The pressure placed on he group of teens by Marty, clearly influenced their decisions to bury George’s body, however Estes forces us to realize that no matter what external factors influence our decisions, our actions are ultimately our own responsibility.

Estes helps to strongly convey his ideas about bullying to us, the audience, using a variety of film techniques. The visual technique of lighting is effectively used to show the conflict of right and wrong. Before George’s death, the trip down the river is on a nice sunny day with lots of natural light and sunshine. In comparison, after George’s death, in the scene where the decision on what they should do with the body is made, the lighting was very dark, it is still daytime but they are under trees so the lighting is darker. Behind the characters there is some daylight, but their faces are in shadows. This symbolizes them leaving the light,