"Gasman"

Lynne Ramsey’s Gasman is her third short film, made in 1997. It went on to win 4 awards, the Cannes Jury Prize, an International Award, BAFTA Scotland Award, an Leopards of Tomorrow award and nominated for 2 other awards. Since the making of Gasman, Lynne Ramsey as gone on to make her first feature film, Rat Catcher. Gasman revolves around a father and his children of a low class, in Scotland during the highly sensitive time of Christmas. At first we see a family getting dressed, the wife getting the children ready and the husband dressing himself whilst smoking and drinking, indicating that the family follows the traditional gender roles of the films time period. Once ready the father and children leave, we see the father and daughter playing in the middle of the road but the son distant, showing tension between them. We then see them following abandoned railway tracks, where we then meet a woman with two children, who are indicated to be also the father’s children. He converses with the mother and there seems to be tension between them, he then takes all four of the children with him to the pub where there is a Christmas party. The father detaches himself from the children and sits with his friends, leaving his four children with all of the other children, their only supervisor being a man dressed up as Santa, who also is drinking alcohol. The young girl who the father brings from the railway begins seeking attention from the father, making his daughter jealous of the attention he gives her. His daughter then begins to bully the young girl about spending time with her father, the father then tells her off. When leaving we see the father and all four kids holding hands, but the daughter squeezes the other girls hand to hard and is told of. The father reunites with the woman from the train tracks and she takes the two kids back, they go their separate ways, but whilst leaving the daughter stares back at the other children and throws a stone at their direction.

Again in this short film, as well as “The most beautiful man in the world” the key representational theme is Youth and in this short film, many different issues are raised, all having different ideological positions, some of the issues raised are jealousy, non-monogamous marriage, negligence, favouritism and signs of a patriarchal society and parental apathy. We can see how these issues are formed within the short film through the four technical areas of camera, sound, mise-en-scene and editing.

The first shot is off a man polishing shoes, the lighting and temperature colour of the background of the black shoe, makes the setting even more dark, suggesting a dark and grim plot. In the following shots we only see the limbs of the characters; this is strategic, as not be able to see the characters identities, makes the audience curious and want to carry on watching the film as we want to see the characters. We do however hear dialogue we hear the kids and the mother, through their accents we can identify them as Scottish. Through the beginning shots we can see the mother struggling with getting the kids ready, especially the daughter. Whereas the son is playing with his toy car, then pours sugar over the car, which fits into the non-diegetic music of the Christmas song “White Christmas”. But the harsh sound of the car moving across the sugar contradicts the cheerful music, reflecting the son’s emotions, indicating he is not happy about leaving with his father. We then see the father drinking and smoking, showing him to be separating himself from the world, maybe nervous about leaving, this is enhanced by the sound of his breathing, indicating his inner turmoil. The fact that he is smoking and drinking, whilst the mother prepares the children, indicates that the family follows the traditional gender roles of the films time period.

The father and children leave the home, leaving the mother alone in the house. When they left the house they went through a dark corridor that looks like a tunnel, suggesting the home has a darker side. There is a shot of the mother looking through the window at her leaving family; she has a expression of concern on her face, indicating she may know of her husband’s adulterous behaviour. The light shines over the window, causing the reflection of light to cover the mothers face; this is a tactic of the directors. To mask her face, suggesting that although she may know what her husband has been up to, she may pretend to play the happy housewife.

The economically challenged setting is reinforced when we see the father and children walking in the road, indicating they have no car, due to financial reasons. We see an element of misplaced hope with the family when we see a wide shot, similar to the one in “The most beautiful man in the world” they are at the top of the hilly road and the light makes them appear as silhouettes. This misplaced hope may be the daughter’s hopes for quality time with her father, or the fathers hopes to see his mistress and her children.

We see a shot behind the father and children and then moves in front of them, whilst they walk along the railway tracks. The tracks represent a path, in which they make repeatedly as if it is their fate in which they have no control, they can only follow it. The shot is a pin hole, dark edges surrounding the shot with the father in the middle and his daughter on his back. The sun and tall buildings behind them represent their hope and a perfect father daughter moment but this is negated by the distance of the son. He is away from them whilst they have this perfect moment together showing the fathers favouritism towards the daughter and increasing the appearance of how dysfunctional the family is.

The father and his children arrive to where a woman and her two children wait for them. The father greets her identifying that he knows her, he also shows signs of affection when he moves the hair out of her face slowly with his hand, further showing signs of adultery. Evidence of the challenging economy is present in the mise-en-scene as the woman and her children are wearing very dull looking cloths. The theme of adultery is enhanced when the son of the father tells his sister “she looks like you” referring to the other girl, indicating that they have genetic similarities, this may also indicate that the boy does know about the affair. We see the father and mother talking and through their body language we can see that she is asking for money, which he doesn’t have, this is why he drinks and smokes as he is under pressure to provide for two families. But also their proxemics are close which further indicate intimacy between them, reinforcing the theme adultery. As the father leaves with the four children the legitimate son falls behind them and throws stones at the father’s direction, showing his resentment for his father.

The father and the four children arrive at a dilapidated pub where a Christmas party is being held, the pub is also a sign of the economical struggle of their class. We see the father hold the door open for his children but let’s go of it as his legitimate son is about to walk through, showing their mutual resentment. We see an element of parental apathy as the father brings them to this dilapidated pub surrounded by alcohol and leaves the children to their own devices. We see the daughter’s boredom through the slow panning POV of the room; all the children are having a good time while she is a spectator. We can tell that she is in a chaotic environment as before her POV there is a blurred fast editorial pace.

Intoxication is represented in the short film when there is the handheld camera effect showing a drunken POV. This may be the POV of the Santa dressed man who happens to be the children’s only supervisor and also is drinking, which again shows negligence and parental apathy as the fathers are in one corner not bothering with their children. Also there are many jump cuts, which act as a sign of loss of consciousness, enhancing the effect of intoxication.

The two daughters become rivals as they fight for their father’s attention, the illegitimate daughter goes and sits on her father’s knee, his other daughter doesn’t like him giving attention and becomes aggressive with the other girl. The argument ends with the father telling off his daughter about her behaviour but their rivalry doesn’t end as when they leave the pub they again fight over who holds his hand, the brunette daughter squashes the other girl’s hands out of spite. The father ends the argument by picking both of them up in an attempt to comfort them both. The reunite with the fathers mistress and he gives her back her children, they don’t speak this time and they go their separate lives. The father and son begin walking home across the railway track but the daughter stares at the mistress and her children, she picks up a stone ad throws it at their direction. She also throws one at the direction of her father, showing that she us gained her brothers resentment and may know the truth about her father. She gives up by throwing her next stone at the floor and starts’ walking home, the screen fades to black.

Overall many themes are brought to the attention of the audience, some being non-monogamous marriage, the father clearly has been having affair with the women at the tracks and her two children are cleanly his as well. Parental apathy is another theme, he leaves his children in a pub their own devices, it would be alright if they had a responsible and sober supervisor, but they didn’t, due to this he put his children in danger. Similar to the theme apathy, the theme negligence is raised some may say he needs his own time with his friends at the pub, this true but is negated when his children are in a hazardous situation. Although the theme of this film revolves around youth, this particular short film highlights many parental problems. The adulterous, neglecting and apathetic father, the mother who denies the situation she’s in and the mistress who applies pressure on her married lover for money.