REPRESENTATION

• The few active female roles in the film, Angelica and Bernice, who encourage the men to leave the gangs are both unsuccessful, lose the man and become indirect victims of the violence.

  They are then removed from the narrative once they have failed.
• Positive role models for men is restricted: role models stem from criminal activity, drug cartel and gang warfare that is presented as almost an inevitable consequence of the enviroment.
• What does the gun become a symbol of?

  Masculinity, agency and destruction.
• The camera (in the ending) becomes a weapon bearing witness to an ignored social problem, a brutal murder and corrupt police force.
• Rocket represents a powerful alternative to the violent hoodlum, a progressive member of society. He furthers himself and therefore community through the peaceful mastering of new technologies.
• The death of Lil Ze secures the future of Rocket,
• Meirelles visual style communicates the chaotic world