Ending

• Reference to French New Wave film '400 blows'.
• At the end of 400 blows, the child runs away to the beach and faces the audience - challenging them.
• Soft dissolve in from the insert CU shot of Shaun and his mother holding hands - establishing this new equilibrium as it dissolved into the worm eye view of the blue, clouded sky.
• Applying Campbells hero's journey this is the 'journey back' in Shaun's journey of self-discovery: the connotations of the blue sky being clouded represent the disruption (combo) in Shaun's journey passing as Shaun enters this new equilibrium ( the blue sky )
• Camera tilts down alongside the non-diegetic cover of 'please please please let me go' to a structural parallel of a one shot of Shawn returning to the deserted boat.
• This similar shot to the isolated sequence from the beginning of the film (the original equilibrium of loneliness) but instead we have experienced Shaun's character arc, reflected through the change in costuming into a denim jacket (removal of the trench replacing with his own identity)
• The removal of the trench coat (a symbolic code) is a symbolic rejection of Combo's values (ideology = anti-right wing / Thatcherism that indoctrinates skinheads)
• Shane Meadows anchors the meaning through the lyrics 'good time for a change' and 'good time for a change'
• Soft trucking camera
• ECU as Shawn pulls the St Georges flag out his bag, it fill the frame embedding this semantic / symbolic code of the national front ideology into the narrative and the importance of it in defining the shift in the skinhead subculture.
• Isolated ELS's used as Shaun approaches the coastline (new horizons) stressing his isolation and detachment from the right wing indoctrination of combo's gang
• The circular pan, handheld camera lingering increasing the tension before a MS shows him throwing the flag into the sea.
• The act of throwing the flag into the sea shows how the flag has become a symbolic code of all the hate + racism Shaun has become privy to: throwing it away is important to him because it has become something he associates with hatred.
• The isolating shots show that this is one of the first decisions he has made for himself: throwing away his old self because for the first time he understands there is another way to life (his search for a male figure to identify himself with becomes a journey of self - understanding)
• The final shot, a CU where Shaun breaks the fourth wall acts as Meadows directly addressing the audience and allowing them to personally think about where the line between the 80s and 00s can be drawn: to bring the message of the film into their contemporary world.
• The expressive direct gaze asks the question: 'what do we do now?'
• The ambiguity of the ending reflects the British realist drama where not all answers are clear.
• Coming of age genre