Submarine Analysis

On the theory side of things, we are continuing to look at contempary youth culture films. The most recent one we watched was Richard Ayoade's 'Submarine.' Unlike most youth culture films, Submarine doesn’t focus on the typical youth groups but instead a boy who doesn’t really fall under any. The story follows an eccentric teenage boy called Oliver who is struggling to juggle his new girlfriend, the chance of his parents splitting up as well as other, smaller things. Although the film is generally light hearted, it does cover some genuine teenage issues. On the most part, it goes against most theorists ideas as many of them talk about reinforcing hegemony and the anti-social behaviour. Although Oliver does act slightly anti-social in the industrial estate he is a mild teenager for the most part. The themes and issues that are covered however do fit the conventions of a youth film. The two most prominent themes that arise are relationships and family issues. As mentioned, Oliver gets a girlfriend, who he’s liked for a while, called Jordana. She’s just as eccentric as him but she has other issues affecting her life as her mum is suffering from cancer. The family issues are the fact that Oliver’s mum and dad are having relationship troubles, and may even face divorce. This relates to a huge amount of teenagers as divorce isn’t rare. Just like Oliver, a teenager would try and do anything to keep their parents from splitting up.