Assessment

Child neglect:

Child neglect is a form of child abuse, and is a deficit in meeting a child’s basic needs, including the failure to provide adequate supervision, health care, clothing, or housing, as well as other physical, emotional, social, educational, and safety needs.

There are 4 main types of child neglect: 

Physical neglect – A child’s basic needs, such as food, clothing or shelter, are not met or they aren’t properly supervised or kept safe.

Educational neglect – A parent doesn’t ensure their child is given an education.

Emotional neglect – A parent does give their child the emotional attention the need

Medical neglect – A child who does not receive medical attention

There are 14,000 substantiated findings of child abuse every year in New Zealand.

Child Abuse 

“the harming (whether physically, emotionally, or sexually), ill-treatment, abuse, neglect or deprivation of any child or young person.”

the Four types of abuse:

• Physical abuse.
• sexual child abuse (Rape, molestation, child pornography)
• neglect (Physical neglect, educational neglect, and.
• Emotional abuse (Aka: Verbal, Mental, or Psychological)

In the film ‘Boy’ directed by Taika Waititi, the bridge was a challenging setting for the protagonist, Boy. It is here that he realises that his father isn’t a role model. I will be analysing the music, flashbacks and camera work in the scene to reinforce this idea to the viewer.

Taika waititi successfully utilised music during the bridge scene to highlight boys realisation that his father wasn’t a role model 

From the very beginning of the film, we realise that the boy’s father, shogun, is absent. When he does return to waihau Bay, he is not interested in his sons, he is only invested in uncovering money he had previously buried. Sadly, Boy is unable to see this and looks up to his father. It isn’t until the bridge scene where boy is confronted by the truth that his father isn’t a role model – he is selfishly only invested himself. This makes this setting challenging for both Boy and the viewer – we see the sadness as he understands what sort of father shogun truly is. Waititi has used music at this point to reinforce boys’ realisation. What Boy experiences when shogun ignores him is child neglect. In other words not getting the emotional attention he needs. This idea of child neglect is a key part of the film as it is quite common in NZ.

Amazing Grace, a hymn, is played during boys realisation. Sung in maori, it starts quietly behind the diegetic sound, before drowning out all other sound in the scene.

The lyrics in the song relate to what Boy is experiencing and feeling. ”that scared a wretch like me” the wretch is referring to Boy, who is the poor unfortunate and unhappy soul. During his replication, sadness overwhelms him, as it challenges his perception of what his father is (not a role model). “I was once lost but now I am found”  here the lyrics describe boys’ moment of understanding. ”was blind but now i see” boy can finally see who shogun truly is, which highlights how significant the bridge scene is.

Waititi deliberately used the bridge scene as the texts challenging setting, as it was of significance to Boy and his mother. This meant that viewers were able to empathize with Boy and see with true clarity his despair and just how uninvolved shogun had been in his life. Whilst watching this scene I felt grateful for my own life. I understand that many children don’t have parents who support or love them unconditionally, and I found that the music further reinforced this for me. There is no denying that the bridge scene highlighted Boys realisation and enabled viewers to see just how important role models are. A role model is something a child who is experiencing child neglect doesn’t have.

In the film there are so many things that relate to NZ and its high numbers of children experiencing neglect. For example how Boy lives, he is left alone, doesn’t have many clothes, doesn’t get much attention from his father, most likely inadequate healthcare. These are all things children needs when they are growing up.