Adventureland

Teen Angst Film: 'Adventureland'

Characters:

Firstly James Brennan is main character in the film that undertakes a summer job at the theme park ‘Adventureland’ to try and fund his university fees. Secondly Em Lewin also plays an important role that provides a romance factor to the film, this is because James falls in love with her. However Mike Connel is a character that is having an affair with Em which confuses the whole situation. Paulette and Bobby are the ones that run the theme park and employ all of the main characters to work there. Joel is someone that befriends James when he first joins the park and they grow closer as the film goes on. Lisa P is known from the start as a character of great attraction to all of the males at the park, she also grows fond of James throughout the film. Lastly Tommy Frigo is James’ old friend from childhood and helps him get the job, however it is made clear that James is not very fond of him.

Settings:

The main setting of the whole film is the theme park ‘Adventureland’ as shown above. This is where the majority of the interaction between the main characters takes place and relationships form between them here. However as the film progresses there are other settings that are used such as when James goes on a date with Lisa P as shown below.

Narrative:

The narrative of the film is very simple because it simply follows the path that the main character James takes over his summer. The main aim for this being to fund his university for next year which is why he ends up taking a job at 'Adventureland'. However there are sub-plots that also come into play that link in with the main narrative of James. For example James falls in love with a girl called Em however she is also seeing another called Mike. This relationship between Em and Mike is also shown from their point of view and this other narrative adds depth to the film. This is because it shows the audience another aspect of something that is going to greatly affect James as the main character which creates dramatic irony.

Mise en scene: