Framing in movies (especially historical movies like Veronica Guerin) can change our perceptions of reality. Think of any movie you’ve ever seen. It had frames in it. Take a common historical movie like the Titanic. It frames the historical events of the sinking of the Titanic and leaves us with a certain view of the events. If we weren’t to research the event to know what really happened, we might not know the difference between fact or fiction and than we would like like an idiot like these people: Titanic fans
The theme in Veronica Guerin is easily recognizable as being a battle between good and evil. Veronica is trying to show the evil of the drug lords and what they are doing to Ireland.
The frames in Veronica Guerin are subtle, yet poignant. No matter the frame, it shows what the director wanted to show and what message he wanted to get across. (see gatekeeping)
The first frame as the movie begins is that the drug problem was out of control in Ireland. Veronica walks through the streets of Dublin past kids who just received drugs from gangsters (see clip below). As she is walking, she is stepping on used needles and sees two children sitting on the sidewalk playing with them. This is maddening and sickening, and it’s meant to be. Without showing that the drug problem was out of control, the work Veronica did to try and bring light to the problem wouldn’t be as heroic. The movie wouldn’t sell (commercial value is a big part of making a movie), the hero wouldn’t be honored, and her death would seem as if it were in vain. The problem with this frame is that if the drug problem wasn’t as bad as the movie portrays it, than the frame is misleading and false. Luckily, this frame is actually true.
According to Michal Mikulec, “after Irish Republican Army (IRA) joined the drug trafficking, crime was out of control and the situation in Ireland became desperate. He even says that “the neighborhood was literally covered in hypodermic needles and little children were commonly seen playing with them on the streets”
This is one thing that the film shows very well. The problem is framed very accurately.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJDNENdSEIE&feature=youtu.be
Another frame that almost slaps you in the face, is the way in which the drug dealers are framed as being brutal, cold and violent. Again, this serves to show Veronica as a hero. She goes up against these men who are shown torturing and murdering (see clip below). The gangsters are shown as being evil in order to create a sense of impending doom (along with the opening scene showing her murder). Watching it, we can feel the danger she is in and the importance and necessity of the chase in which she becomes absorbed. This frame is also shown accurately, as the gangsters are truly evil.
http://youtu.be/41B41lMEOig
The next frame that is also easily apparent is that Veronica carries a strong feminist strength. Veronica goes up against frightening characters and she doesn’t back down. She sees it as her duty to write on the evils that she has seen.
She says in one scene, “Nobody’s writing about it. Nobody cares.” [...] “That’s what I should be writing about.” She is shown as not only a reporter seeking truth, but also a strong, independent woman.
Probably the most important frame of the movie is that it shows that Veronica’s work and death inspired changes in law and law enforcement that sharply reduced the crime rate.
In the final scenes of Veronica's funeral, according to Mikulec “the narrator apprises us of the events which happened after Veronica’s murder. We can see anti-drug marches, but this time formed by thousands of people, who are dragging the dealers out of their houses.”
We also learn of the formation of the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) which is allowed to seize the assets of suspected criminals.
This frame is so important because it’s the moral of the story, it’s what you come away with after you watch the movie. You feel like her murderers received justice and that her death helped to change the crime world in Ireland. What the movie shows about the creation of the CAB is true, but not all in Ireland is happy-go-lucky now.
According to Time Magazine, “The film does highlight the government’s response to Guerin’s murder: a zero-tolerance policy that made it easier to investigate suspected criminals and reduced the overall crime rate in Ireland by 12%. What it leaves out is that despite the crackdown, violent crime in Ireland has risen sharply.”
“You get the impression from the film that organized crime in Ireland has been closed down,” said Paul Williams, a reporter with the Sunday World who was Guerin’s main rival. “But you can see from the amount of dead bodies around that just isn’t true.” (Time)
All in all, Veronia is framed very positively. She is shown as a strong independent woman, a fairly good mother and wife, and a good journalist. All these things help the movie be a success. It may not, however, make the movie be completely historically accurate.
According to Emily O’Reilly, author of Veronica Guerin: The life and Death of a Crime Reporter, Veronica may have been a bad mother. O’Reilly says that Veronica used to take her son on her meetings with her with dangerous criminals. The movie never shows this image of Veronica. It hints at the fact that she may have not been completely on the up and up with her son in one scene where she asks who gave him a certain birthday gift and he answers that the gift was from her. Veronica is slightly embarrassed, but this is the only reference in the film to the fact that she may not have been perfect with everything in her life, even though she is an Irish National Hero.
Ideologies found in Veronica Guerin
It is important to understand that there are ideologies and perspectives that are owned or maintained by every culture. For example in America, capitalism is something that has been supported and maintained throughout our history by the general public. Free enterprise and giving people the opportunity to work or go to school wherever they choose is part of living the American dream. This would be considered an ideology that is supported by the majority of Americans.
To understand why Veronica Guerin breaks so many molds and norms, and also how she reinforces some of these ideologies, you have to first understand the Irish culture that she lives in. I will first explain about the Irish culture and ideologies she lived in. Then, I will analyze where she reinforced or challenged these norms.
Ireland has a very deep and prideful sense of history. They embrace a very “traditional” viewpoint concerning the family, believing that the husband should work, the wife should care for the children, and the children should obey and respect their parents. In 1932 the Irish government put in place a law that forced women to quit their jobs as soon as they were married. The goal of this law was to keep job opportunities open for men. It was in place for almost thirty years before it was repealed in 1958. These family beliefs are largely intertwined with religion. According to Ireland’s 2011 census 84% identified themselves as Roman Catholic, and another 5% identified themselves as belonging to other Protestant religions. Christianity has a very strong foothold in Ireland and has largely influenced Irish society. Irish women in general have been kept away from the outside world. While most of the western world was going through a sexual revolution in the 1960′s, Ireland stuck to their “traditional” views. Women have largely been suppressed when it comes to expressing their sexuality.
According to Mary Ryan, “Irish society, its social standards and its legislations, has never embodied principles and behaviours that respect the sexual rights of women.” Ireland didn't experience a feminist movement similar to that in America. Instead, it has slowly evolved towards one. Especially in the last twenty years, Ireland has become a more tolerant society.
According to Mary Ryan, “Irish society, its social standards and its legislations, has never embodied principles and behaviours that respect the sexual rights of women.” Ireland didn't experience a feminist movement similar to that in America. Instead, it has slowly evolved towards one. Especially in the last twenty years, Ireland has become a more tolerant society.
There is another ideology that has a strong foothold in Ireland, which is celebrating heroes/martyrs. Much of their culture and history is laced with tales of martyrs and heroes who save the day or go down gloriously fighting for their cause.
Dr. Pat Brereton author of Irish Communications Review of Veronica Guerin said, "At the outset one could suggest that this heroic and universal story of human sacrifice is somewhat reminiscent of a recurring trope of an Irish self-sacrificing mythos and played into stereotypical clichés for an American director to draw upon. In Ireland where martyrdom and death have been celebrated as part of a religious, political and historical ritual, such a Hollywood film helps to reinvigorate an Irish mythos using global characteristics of criminality and the striving of contemporary public watchdogs to ‘do the right thing.’ Veronica guerin (the film) most especially provides a potent journalistic mythos of heroic sacrifice, which emanates through a noble line of Irish Martyrs.”
It has become very evident in researching Veronica Guerin that she has become a hero, not only in Irish culture, but in the realm of journalism as well. Just google her name, nothing but obituaries and praises come up. Trying to find her original articles is almost impossible. The internet is flooded with articles about her, not by her. This shows that many people are more interested in the legacy of Veronica than her actual work.
Dr. Pat Brereton author of Irish Communications Review of Veronica Guerin said, "At the outset one could suggest that this heroic and universal story of human sacrifice is somewhat reminiscent of a recurring trope of an Irish self-sacrificing mythos and played into stereotypical clichés for an American director to draw upon. In Ireland where martyrdom and death have been celebrated as part of a religious, political and historical ritual, such a Hollywood film helps to reinvigorate an Irish mythos using global characteristics of criminality and the striving of contemporary public watchdogs to ‘do the right thing.’ Veronica guerin (the film) most especially provides a potent journalistic mythos of heroic sacrifice, which emanates through a noble line of Irish Martyrs.”
It has become very evident in researching Veronica Guerin that she has become a hero, not only in Irish culture, but in the realm of journalism as well. Just google her name, nothing but obituaries and praises come up. Trying to find her original articles is almost impossible. The internet is flooded with articles about her, not by her. This shows that many people are more interested in the legacy of Veronica than her actual work.
Veronica fulfills the wishes of the Irish public to have a hero or a saint to praise and set on a pedestal. This wish amplifies everything that Veronica has done in her life and her fight against drugs, making her into something larger than life. Although she was in life a fairly well known reporter, she was immortalized by the Irish in her death.
This is a clip showing her funeral.
http://youtu.be/SgUN7DU-yGI
This is a clip showing her funeral.
http://youtu.be/SgUN7DU-yGI
Even in their own homes Irish women have been suppressed and mistreated. 1/5thof women in Ireland have reported being victims of domestic abuse. This statistic becomes more astonishing when you take in account the fact that most domestic abuse goes unreported. In the movie, this ideology comes through when John Gilligan is shown yelling at his wife and she subsides to him. Because John’s wife obeys him and is shown later still subjecting herself and loving him, she supports the statistic that it takes an average of thirty-five times of violent abuse for women to report domestic violence.
This is a clip showing women being subordinate to men.
http://youtu.be/BkB4kbXul2c
http://youtu.be/BkB4kbXul2c
This is a clip of Guerin working late at night.
http://youtu.be/gBmjrOwJTAI
http://youtu.be/gBmjrOwJTAI
One of the main ideologies that is challenged in Veronica Guerin is that she is a working mother. This goes against the traditional viewpoint of a patriarchal society. In this society, a woman is supposed to stay at home and a man is supposed to work. While Veronica Guerin’s husband does work, she is portrayed as the bread-winner and her husband as the caretaker of their child. As stated before, it is remarkable and an abnormality for a married woman like her to be so involved in her work, where not long before it would have been against the law.
This clip shows Veronica's interest in sports and her being unafraid to speak to men.
She breaks another ideology of the idea of male dominance as a child and continually throughout her life, by playing and keeping an interest in soccer. She competes against boys in sports and in many cases out-shines them. She is shown meeting at bars, talking about sports, and even playing soccer with her family. Her mother shows Veronica a picture of herself when she was younger, wearing a soccer uniform. Her mother talks about how much of a tom-boy and fighter she was.
This clip shows her as "one of the guys," She is not afraid of men.
http://youtu.be/jMRXbrjpu1w
http://youtu.be/jMRXbrjpu1w
Veronica definitely fits the role of a pant-wearing tough feminist who doesn’t take any crap from the boys (or hardened drug criminals.) She uses this image of toughness to help in her work- finding stories, getting leads, and getting criminals to trust,or at least speak to her. Even the very way she speaks with the drug dealers gives a persona of manliness that is very rare among Irish women. This goes very much against the ideology of patriarchy, or the idea that women are subordinate to men. Oddly enough, breaking this ideology for her is a front or a disguise. After she is shot and beaten, she shows her fear and lets down her “tough guy” facade. She then tells her husband to not let anyone know she is afraid. Showing her in this state actually reinforces the ideology of subordination and abuse against women.
This clip shows Veronica in a vulnerable state after her beating.
http://youtu.be/83yOqpeJfXk
http://youtu.be/83yOqpeJfXk
Although Veronica owns this persona of a “tough guy”, she also reinforces the ideology that women should be soft and caring. She is shown going through the crack houses and ghettos talking with children and sharing their grief and acting “motherly” to them. The fact that she is risking so much to stop and shed light on the drug problem, especially among youth, shows that she is a loving and caring human being. These qualitites exemplify what Irish women “should” be like
This clip shows her caring for and helping the troubled teens.
http://youtu.be/PJDNENdSEIE
This clip shows her caring for and helping the troubled teens.
http://youtu.be/PJDNENdSEIE
