Representations of women in This is England

Women in This is England are represented differently to the way women are in movies of a more mainstream category. This means they don't fit into stereotypes, archetypes, Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory and actually drag the plot forward.

A character in particular who represents my statement is the character of Lol. Due to Lol's appearance and the way she is shot within the movie she is not fetishised in anyway which would make her character steer away from the male gaze theory. The way in which she dresses is almost identical to what the male characters wear in the group, which suggests no one is discriminated, but treated  as equals, which can be reinforced from when Woody says 'She's my other half.' This suggests that Woody considers Lol to be his equal, which reinforces that there is no discrimination towards femininity. 

Due to Lol's intimidating, almost masculine appearance, it is a surprise to see that Lol is still respected by other female characters. 

Lol represents the choices other women don't have in film, this is because of her being a character who drives the narrative forward. This is evident in the scene where in which Combo and Lol are talking about past events in Combo's car. We discover that Combo took advantage of Lol when she was 16, which we are informed by from Lol, not Combo. This implies that Lol was once a passive character and was dominated by a male character, but due to her age I disregard her as a passive character. Combo then goes on to confess that he still loves Lol, in which Lol rejects him, this aids Combo's motives to draw conclusion to the movie, as she reduces Combo a male character, one in which the audience are meant to be threatened by to tears. This implies that Lol is fearless and isn't going to be dominated by Combo like she was in the past.