Gone Too Far

Gone Too Far

1)

‘Gone Too Far’ a film written by Bola Agbaje and directed by Destiny Okaragha is a comedic yet particularly insightful look into what life in the melting pot that is south London can hold.  Taking place almost wholly across a single day in the area, we follow two teenage brothers who have long been separated from one another – one from London (Yemi), the other from Nigeria (Ikudayisi). Upon returning from Nigeria, their mum sends them on a simple errand to go and buy some okra and this is what spirals into the actual journey that we see take place throughout the movie. While this journey sees the brothers getting caught up with a gang with Yemi admiring the lover of one of the members of it and also things going on within the UK music, it’s the topic of ethnic identity that is tackled by the film that is especially notable as being where the film shines at its best.

One of the ways that this is looked at is with stereotypes. Throughout the film we are presented with a number of different stereotypes, with them being prominent within the gang that we see. With Razer for example we see a young black man who is shown as being uneducated and quite erratic in behaviour, as well as being involved in a gang which works as being quite a dominant representation. However while things like this are present, it’s the conflict that the film portrays of adversity between Caribbeans and Africans in Britain that is quite interesting. It provides social commentary on an issue that is not frequently discussed in the media today and perhaps the production actually undertaking the issue will spark some extensive discussion regarding the issue.

2)

Personally, I am for the motion that films featuring ethnic minorities should only be produced by those who have the ethnic identity presented. A concern that’s often brought up in the media and one that is even shared by me is that people from ethnic minorities don’t seem to be represented that frequently whether it’s within things like film or TV. What does tend to be shown of ethnic minorities when they are portrayed are often just dominant stereotypes that exist within society, if not pure caricatures of what’s actually real. For black people for example, what tends to be often shown, by typically white producers/directors, is them having a criminal background and usually no inclination to provide themselves with knowledge or ascension from the position that they’re in. This has been particularly controversial in recent times with films such as The Lone Ranger having Johnny Depp playing a Native American and even Disney planning to have Mulan played by a white actor – this in specific sparking things like petitions against it. If things changed to where the films were produced by those from that ethnic minority presented though, it’s likely we’d get more an insightful look into certain cultures and not just that but increased representation of ethnic minorities as actors. We see this now currently being embraced with the Black Panther film for example, where 90% of the cast will be African or African-American. With this it can be expected that the film will actually do a better job of actually representing black people, something that can without a doubt be said to not always be the case within the film industry today when it releases in 2018.