Mean Creek

In the film, ‘Mean Creek’, directed by Jacob Aaron Estes, a character I disliked was Marty. I disliked Marty due to his oppressive nature towards his friends and peers. This characteristic is clearly shown through visual techniques whilst travelling down the river and also through verbal techniques such as what he says to his peers (dialogue). Marty’s oppressive nature and the harsh form of leadership towards others are key elements surrounding the death of George and how the group react after the tragedy.
Right from the beginning of the film, Marty is depicted as an oppressive character that exerts his leadership over the group whilst travelling down the river. Pictured as a rebelistic type of character, Marty is clearly the leader of his group of friends made up by Rocky and Clyde but it is also prominent that he is somewhat of a bully towards his peers. Marty also shows a recklessness and angry nature, shown when practising shooting his brothers gun. He fires numerous times in a seemingly enraged manner. Overall these reasons are key when the group make the decision to bury the body of George as they are bullied into the decision by Marty. These reasons made me dislike Marty as he appears to bully others around him through his oppressive nature and villainous attitude.
Marty is shown throughout the film as villainous due to many factors, but one element Estes uses to communicate to his viewers that Marty is a negative influence is his dark costuming. This is shown throughout the movie where he is shown wearing dark clothes. An example would be on the boat where Marty is shown wearing an all black tank top. This contrasts with Millie who wears bright pink clothes, symbolizing her innocence. Millie is portrayed as innocent in stark contrast to Marty who is seen to be a rebellious adolescent, enhancing the viewer’s negative opinion of Marty. His oppressive nature is also shown when he is seated at the highest end of the boat, appearing to be larger and more