The Boat that Rocked Homework.

To what extent is the film based on real events?
There where real Pirate Radios on ships.
There was not a real ship called "Radio Rock" - I feel they made up this name because it goes with the title - "The Boat that Rocked" which has the double meaning of rocking in the musical, 'cool' terms and rocking, as a boat does in the sea.
The Government at the time was labour, not conservative - They most likely made this up so as to make it much easier for them to get the audience to react negatively towards the "evil" character. They made him very stereotyped so him being conservative came naturally.
The boat that rocked station is most likely based on the legendary Radio Caroline. A real, and most successful pirate radio station which is still on air today.
The fact that it is still on air suggests that the boat did not sink. I feel that the sinking boat was added so that the characters could each go their own ways, onto the different boats without making that decision themselves. It means that the audience gets an insight into the futures of the characters simultaneously and without a feeling of them leaving the "rocking" lifestyle.
The 45 minutes a day on BBC I am not sure is true or false. But there was a foreign radio station that was very popular, Radio Luxembourg. The founder of Radio Caroline, who helpped the Rolling Stones, wanted to get them aired. But Radio Luxembourg was filled with major record label music. So the founder of Radio Caroline (Ronan O'Rahilly) wanted to found a radio station whereby indipendant and smaller groups could gain air time.
The class of the people onboard the ship is accurate however. Ronan O'Rahilly was a well off man and lived in relative luxury. This was kept accurate due to the easyness on the eye and brain for the ship to be relatively well looked after and luxurious. This keeps the audience's attention on the goings on of the characters rather than their living conditions. This goes along with the positive, upbeat and 'feel-good' nature of the plot. It also helps create nice, cosy mis-en-scenes.
It is also true that there was American influenced radio stations. This was kept the same since it helps the verisimilitude as well as satisfying American audiences.
Again it is true that there was a massive audience listening to these pirate radios, over a third of the British population.
The Broadcasting Offences act was true and it did become law at a midnight. This allowed for the rather symbolic ending of broadcasting


Things that where kept out:
Major Oliver Smedley hijacked Calvert's fort. In a fit of fury Calvert, who was known to be a violent and irrational person, burst into Smedley's home and hurled a heavy stone ornament at him. He also claimed to be armed with a tear gas pistol. Smedley took up his shot gun and killed Calvert. The image of the offshore stations as jolly buccaneers using spare radio channels to provide popular free entertainment was irrevocably shattered. Now the government could portray them as battling, murdering gangsters.
This was kept out because it was far too brutal and down to earth for this film. Also as it says in this extract the fun loving, jolly buccaneer attitude of the DJ's would have been ruined.

Source:
http://www.radiocaroline.co.uk/#history_part_1.html

The Boat That Rocked

1. Who are the target audience for the film? and 2. How do you know?
I think that the target audience for this film is probably middle class Americans and Britons. This is because the stereotype of British people is rather overplayed, towards an Americanised point of view. Also the people involved are all middle to upper class. They have rather a lot of money and time to spare, very english accents and live in relative Luxury. This is a feel good film for the masses.

3. How does this film rely on stereotypes?

I feel that this film, and indeed all Richard Curtis films have a large reliance on stereotypes, or breaking of. For example, the "uncle" figure. He's old, and mostly upper class. There would be many domninant discourses about him being grumpy, wise, frail, unfasionable etc... but infact he breaks these and is "cool", he even offers a spliff to the younger character. Also it makes the audience feel more comfortable with conventional characters, people that they can predict what they are going to do. This film is for a more conservative audience, who just wants their mind to be comforted rather than challenged.

4. Cite two principal stereotypes and make a list of at least 10 dominant discourse assumptions about them.
- The lesbian.
She's a woman, therefore she cooks.
She can't realy cook well though, you see burnt toast and odd food.
She's timid about her sexuality. [British - Not overconfident and very self deprocating]
She's maternal of the other members of the ship because she's a woman.
She beleives in Love. [I feel this is rather British]
She's loyal as timid ladies are (The I LOVE YOU sign as her new girlfriend leaves)
She is also not very feminin - she wares unflattering clothes and looks rather stuffy
Dosen't care largely about her appearance - Ties her hair up in an odd way

- The Sex God guy with the leather Jacket
Realy cool without even trying
Leather jacket and trousers
Dosen't realy have to do much
Dosen't realy have a peronality or any interests
Gets lots of women with ease - Doesn't even speak

It is hard to say why these things are quintisentially British. I feel that the characters themselves aren't overly British due to the Americanisation of the film. They do however have some British tendancies such as drinking tea and being friendly. Also another thing I find very British is picking out the faults of others and laughing about it, which is a way of us accepting and appreciating what makes that person individual.

6)In what ways can Curtis and the team be said to be appealing to the mythological tendencies of the audience?
This movie is directed more at nostalgia. It is overdramatising the history of the Pirate radios into something mythylogical and fairy-tale like. It is also picking out the good sides of the overall story just as someone would when reminising about something, this would appeal to the audiences mythological tendancies. Curtis also managed to appeal to the audiences mythological tendancies by using the mass images of people listening to Radio Rock. This probably gives people of that generation a feeling of collective identity due to their connection to that period.
Also he over stereotypes the government into an almost archetypal conservative political system with the greased back hair and black suits which will muster a stereotypical feeling of dislike from the British and American audiences in relation to so much past history against people such as Hitler.

7)Explain the film making process from concept to culmination in 150 words or less

Sorry what? -REMINDER FOR ME ASK WHAT ON EARTH THIS MEANS-