Jawbreaker Themes

The film “Jawbreaker” is about three very popular girls who accidentally kill their friend with a jawbreaker, when a kidnapping prank goes horribly wrong. This film is written and directed by Darren Stein. The characters, shots, and conflict help to tell the story of this film. The film “Jawbreaker” is a character-driven movie. Character-driven films focus on the characters and their attitudes, personal evolutions and decisions, and how those change the shape of the plot and the story as a whole. An example of a character that went through a major change is Fern (played by Judy Greer). In the beginning of the film, Fern is an unpopular and shy girl who is obsessed with Liz Purr (played by Charlotte Ayanna), the most popular girl in school. When Liz Purr’s friends accidentally kill her in a birthday prank, they don't know what to do so they decide to stage it as rape and murder. When fern goes to Liz’s house, she witnesses the girls doing this. Courtney, one of Liz’s friends (played by Rose McGowan), tells Fern that she will make her “one of them” if she promises not to tell what she had witnessed. Fern always wanted to popular so she promised Courtney that she …show more content…
Long shots show characters from head to toe and their faces, expressions, and the setting. You can tell if they are happy, sad, angry, afraid, etc. Medium shots frame people from the waist up. Medium shots are generally used to display characters actions or objects acting on a character. This film uses these different shots to help tell the story. An example of a Long shot in this film is when the girls are walking down the hallway. This shot shows the girls from head to toe and also shows where the story takes place. An example of a medium shot in this movie is when Courtney wins prom queen and everyone finds out that she killed Liz. Her face in this medium shot shows her emotions and how she is interaction with the people around