My initial idea

Throughout my media product I will be showing the following teenage life struggles:

• Drug problems
• Teenage pregnancies
• The struggles at home
• The struggles at school/ education

 The narrative

Jimmy was born into a Romany Gypsy family and inherited a vibrant and loyal culture. But when his beloved father as tragically murdered in a bare knuckle fight, Jimmy is taken to the heart of Manchester to start a new and exciting life with his mother.

Soon after the young boy’s life is, yet again, turned upside down when his mother meets a common gypsy man with a history of secrets and abuse.

In no time Jimmy is being taught the true but cruel way of traditional Romany Gypsy life leaving his feeling frail and worthless.

Eventually Jimmy is left to make an agonising decision – to stay and protect his mother but keep secrets never to be told or escape the world and journey through the rest of his years in search of somewhere he could truly belong.

However, on his epic journey he sees himself stumble across a variety of communities, cultures and race but meeting new people, as we know, cannot always be a positive thing. 

Will Jimmy regret sacrificing his nomadic life?

Costume ideas:
I got my ideas for Jimmy’s costume from one of my favourite books, Gypsy Boy, which was written by a Romany Gypsy boy Mikey Walsh. Due to Mikey Walsh being a young Romany Gypsy boy I believe the representations are true according to his life.

To help me with this task I have read the book and chosen specific quotes that will justify my idea.

THE FAMILY

The young Gypsy boy

Jimmy:

To begin with I decided on the name Jimmy from the quote “My mother didn’t fancy the popular Gypsy names like Levoy, John, Jimmy or Tyrone.” This is because I needed a popular Gypsy boy’s name for my character. 

• Scruffy look – dirty, ragged clothes
• Long sleeved t-shirt
• Quarter length shorts
• Jewellery (rich) – “was to place around my neck a gold chain with a tiny pair of gold boxing gloves on it.” And “charging ridiculously large sums of money for small jobs.”
• Little bruises and scratches à this is from both being a young boy therefore from playing and also through his mother’s boyfriend when he has been teaching him the Romany Gypsy lifestyle

The step-father (mother’s boyfriend)

Blake:

• Rough looking – “dried out and rough as sandpaper.”
• Dirty – he had dark brown eyes, with yellow whites and they had dark rings sunk deep around them” and “his hair was black and shiny with grease”
• Petrifying/ feared by many – “making them protrude and giving him a frightening glare” and “his family, once well respected, has become feared.”
• Aggressive – “smashing the poor man’s teeth out”
• Envious – “he would beat up every travelling man who so much as stood near her”
• Generally wears work clothes
• Scarred – “no matter how little chance he has of winning, he must defend his honour, even if he simply end up a bloody and battered notch”

The mother

Maggie

• Generally wears an olden looking dress with a small and dirty pin apron over the top
• Hardworking – “kept a proud, clean home and looked after the children”
• Saddened and heartbroken from her first love’s tragic death

 THE PEOPLE JIMMY MEETS ON HIS JOURNEY

The thug

Jerome:

• Smoker/ abuses his body with bad substances – “they had affected him deeply, both physically and mentally”
• Wears a uniform (as Jimmy will meet Jerome in a school environment) à untucked shirt,  big knotted tie, undone top button, big gold chain and black trainers
• Walks with a self-confidence and arrogance

The following representations of teenagers were created after analysing my stereotyping questionnaire.

The pregnant teenager

Sadie:

• Simply wears day-to-day, casual clothing/ a uniform
• Stressed
• Holds and runs her belly frequently
• Secretive: she believes she will not be able to cope with the population knowing about her pregnancy due to her age
• Continuously on edge/ nervous à walks quickly, doesn’t talk to many people, keeps her head down

The geek

Arthur:

• Excellent role model for the younger years in his school
• Perfect uniform à tucked in shirt, tie has a small knot and is the perfect length (finishes at his waistband), blazer buttoned up
• Carries books/ folders
• Shy, bully victim and intellectual

The snob

Burdine: 

• I got my clothing idea from the Wild Child character, Poppy Moore.
• “Poppy Moore (Emma Roberts) is a seemingly spoiled teenager living in Malibu, California with her father Gerry (Aidan Quinn)
• Designer clothing/ bag
• Loves the colour pink
• Likes to get her own way
• She attempts to modernise her uniform

The setting

Before Jimmy and his mother move to Manchester

• Caravan sight – “Home was a caravan park just a few miles outside Reading.”
• A big piece of land (field)

“They earned enough to buy a piece of land. And they turned that land into a home; a camp for Gypsies, to take them off the roadsides, farmers’ fields and lay-bys.”