Task 2.6 - Single Sequence Analysis

Watch until 6 minutes, 42 seconds.

The opening to this film is set in November 1979, at a time when hooliganism was at its peak. Carty wears what all the other hooligans tend to wear. A typical hooligan tends to wear Stone Island and Fred Perry clothing and a hooligan usually wears white trainers and jeans, which is very typical of the late 70s, early 80s fashion for hooligans and has carried on in today's hooligan films and characters such as Tommy Johnson and Matt Buckner also wear similar clothing to Carty. At the very beginning of this sequence, it is very ironic that Carty is grieving for his mother but then comes out of his funeral clothing and into his hooligan wear and getting on the train and looking for trouble. Carty is late for the train and has to sprint to get there. This is simlar to Matt Bucknern Green Street running after his hooligan firm, the GSE, as they meet up for a fight with the Millwall hooligan firm. Like Matt Buckner in Green Street, Carty is seen as an outsider at first and copies what the other hooligans are doing. There is already a division just like in Green Street and Football Factory between Carty and another youth which is apparent when the thug asks Carty 'What are you starin' at?'. This is similar to Billy Bright and Harris in the Football factory although these two are fighting for the leadership and Green Street when there is a hatred from Bovver towards Buckner.

There are several typical generic conventions in Away Days. There is the use of drugs and drink on the chain and fighting on the football terraces. Carty sees the thug who doesn't take a liking to him stab a rival firm member. Blood would normally appear from a stab wound and this could represent danger and that the youth, whose name we do not know, can be seen as a threat to Carty and the firm known as The Pack, who Carty becomes fascinated with. Another convention also includes swearing which was very common on the train. Linking this to the train, many hooligan firms tend to take trains on match days to away grounds and this is apparent in Away Days. ICF, West Ham United's hooligan firm, stands for Inter City Firm and is named after the use of InterCity trains for away games. As I have already mentioned, fashion is a huge part of hooligan life and Carty's sister mocks him when she says 'Who do? The local anglers club' after Carty says 'This is what they wear'. Like Matt Buckner, Carty copies what the hooligans wear. Another convention is many of the hooligan firms tend to walk around in large groups. This could represent intimidation as well as togetherness.