'Wasp'

Director: Andrea Arnold
2003

In some respects, Arnold is showing the negative side to single young mothers with a number of young children; however 'Wasp' also explores the desperation these mothers are forced to go through and the struggles and hardship they are expected to undertake. Many of the scenes show Zoe, the mother acting in an aggressive, hostile way towards her children, however this is juxtaposed beside her trying hard to comfort and sympathise with them. The image on the right is a still from the movie; it depicts the mother in a stereotypical way as lower class and perhaps cheap. The fact that she, and her three small children all have their middle fingers up at another character portays the mother as a bad influence on her small children. This shot is one which presents Zoe as the typical young mother who is struggling to bring up her children.

Zoe, has three young girls and one baby boy and it is emphasized from the start of the film that she is unable to properly look after them. The woman she fights with at the start comments on how she should call the 'social services' to take her children away, and through close ups of Zoe taking moldy bread and empty packets of cereal out of the cupboard until ultimately resorting to giving her children sugar, Arnold highlights her inability to feed and support her own children. These shots all create an image of Zoe as incapable. Her lying to David by telling him the children are her friends, and her agreement to go on a date with him without finding suitable child care for her children, suggests she is putting herself first before her children, which all adds to form a picture of her as a stereotypical 'bad' mother.

Yet, Arnold includes shots which show Zoe playing with her kids as they run to the pub, she buys them food and drink instead of getting herself a drink and sings and dances with the girls to cheer them up. She slips out of the pub to check on her children near the end of her film, however shouts and complains that they are bothering her. These constant contrasting shots forces us to question her role as a mother.
Distinct from her children, Zoe is struggling within herself. When she walks into the pub, her facial expression shows her to be nervous and almost scared by all the glaring men around her. Her fear after David asks her to buy the drinks and her slow stumble to the bar all contribute in setting up this vulnerable, almost weak picture of a woman and mother. She is torn throughout the film between living her own life and being the mother she knows she has to be.
The image of the 'wasp' is a metaphorical symbol of her realisation of her role as a mother and the penultimate shot of her darting out of the car as the wasp enters Toby's mouth draws our attention to the choice she chose to make- to be a mother.