Erin
Erin's character will show two sides to her in the trailer as she will act as both the protagonist and the antagonist. At the start of the trailer, she is quiet, lonely and isolated but later the transition from a shy girl to a bold, independent and aggressive character is shown. Her actions also highlight her as an antagonist, but the split sides of Erin's character will still make her likable and endearing as you realise she is only acting the way she is to take control of her life and rebel against the way she is treated by her mother and peers.
At the start of the trailer Erin is portrayed as a timid and lonely protagonist, a victim of her mother's rage and jeers of her peers at school. Her vulnerable and isolated character will be further shown in the way she is treated by her alcoholic mother. She has no friends and lives a reclusive life as she is an outcast at school who is picked on by both her mother and classmates. Erin's character is fragile and even though she is offered help by a teacher at school who is vaguely aware of her problematic home life, Erin refuses and chooses to remain silent in fear of seeming like she is overreacting or getting her mother, who she fears and resents so much, into trouble and angering her more. Erin's reclusive life makes it hard for her to express herself or communicate with people which makes it hard for her to ask for help as she is used to being treated badly by the people who are supposed to take care of and love her (her mother), so she finds it hard to trust anyone and confide in people.
One day, Erin cracks after seeing a group of youths attack another boy. She sees their power and is strongly influenced by their control and use of violence to get what they want, so she decides to do the same thing. She idolises their aggressive behaviour and control over their male victim. After the gang of youths leaves their innocent victim, Erin walks over to him and instead of helping him and calling an ambulance, she towers over him and revels in his vulnerability and pain as, for once, she is seeing someone weaker than her and this makes her feel powerful. At this point in the trailer, Erin's character is represented as an antagonist, making her character two-sided and complex as she battles with the good and bad sides of her own personality. Further events in the film support her antagonistic character, such as threatening her teacher, smashing bottles and cutting her hair off to make herself appear more tough. This indicates an emotional and physical change.
The battle with herself and against the life of gang violence and crime is presented through scenes in the trailer as her life is shown to spin out of control as she acts in an aggressive and hostile way towards the people who used to torment her. Also she acts aggressively towards the kind teacher who wants to help her and save her from her self-destructing ways as she knows, deep down, that Erin is just a scared and vulnerable girl from a troubled and lonely background. Her deprived and neglectful upbringing in an inner-city area is shown throughout the trailer, as she spends nights alone on the streets to escape from her home life and the trouble she is in with the police. When she returns home after facing her inability to speak to people and seek help, she comes to the realisation that her life will never improve and she can never escape from her mother.
Teacher
The female teacher at Erin's school is caring and kind and this is shown in the scene at the start of the trailer where she is asking Erin about her home life in order to help her as she is aware of her troubled life. The use of her character is to have a caring and mother-like character who acts as the reliant heroine of the film. When she first asks her pupil, Erin, about her home life Erin is reluctant to tell her anything. She does not question her any further as she isn't aware of the severity of the abuse and neglect from her mother. The caring and helpful nature of her teacher who is concerned of Erin's welfare leads to her again asking Erin about her problems when she notices a dramatic change in Erin's behaviour as she acts in a rebellious and aggressive way. Erin then threatens her teacher with a knife after getting angry with her 'nosey' questions as she is very defensive and secretive. Her teacher then realises how much Erin has changed and is aware of how troubled and confused she is so she sympathises with her and chooses not to press charges against her until she is made by the head teacher of the school which causes Erin to run away from home where she gets into more trouble. The teacher's character is the only 'hope' Erin has of escaping her dysfunctional life, but when she finally turns on the one person who cares about her, it is a sign that there is now no hope for Erin.
Mother
Erin's mother is the clear antagonist of the film. She is an alcoholic, single mother who suffers from depression and anger problems which she cannot control around her daughter. She takes out most her aggression on her daughter and spends her time in the house getting drunk. She is unemployed and divorced so her and her daughter's life is quite poor, deprived and dependant on benefits. Her depression spurred from when her husband left her and her daughter and she blames her daughter for this misfortune, using her as a verbal and sometimes physical punch bag to vent her anger and frustration. She is especially violent and aggressive when she has drunk a lot and her verbal abuse is the cause of her daughter's isolated and quiet personality and her inability to express her emotions. Erin's mother does not provide well for her daughter and has never been a good role model or mother figure when she was growing up and instead was neglectful and unkind to her daughter due to her selfish ways and self-indulgent and destructive alcoholism. Her mother does not express her worries or feelings to her daughter as she does not want to lose the control she has and show any weakness, but she secretly is concerned about her daughter and her isolated and, later, violent and crime-related life. She struggles with expressing herself in a healthy way so instead uses force and hostile behaviour towards her daughter which is an inspiration in itself which leads to Erin's drastic change.
Gang
The gang of male youths are the primary influence of Erin's drastic change. When she sees them attacking another male, she sees their use of violence to be controlling and she idolises them in a warped way. This group of boys are the ones who go to her school and are thugs and bullies who use intimidation and aggression to have power over others. Erin craves control over her life and to stand up for herself. She wants people to view her differently so by watching their actions and behaviour she decides to copy them. This group of boys are notorious for being violent and forceful and the gang is all-male, apart from some girls who hang around with them. Erin's idolisation of the gang is in a very strange and warped way as she sees their hostile behaviour and idolises it which is disturbing in itself. These girls that are also in the gang are prominent characters in the film trailer as they are a strong influence to Erin and Erin also has a fight with one of the girls in the scene after a previous scene of them throwing an apple at her head at the start of the trailer. She is jealous of them as they are a gang which have each other's support which she craves as she is a lonely and isolated outcast. Also, the way the girls are treated by the male gang members makes Erin jealous and leads to her feeling more frustrated and angry as she is rejected by a group who she wants acceptance from.
Male Victim
The victim of the male gang's aggression is also a key influence in Erin's transition. When she sees him lying helplessly on the floor, she feels a sense of power and is happy to see someone more vulnerable and weak that her. When she stands over him after he has been attacked and he is lying and bleeding on the floor, she has a strange moment which makes her realise that being forceful and violent will successfully give her the control of her life and over other people that she longs for so much. When Erin faces the victim he acts as her reflection, as he is also an outcast of youth society and is bullied and victimised like Erin is. This is a key moment where Erin chooses who she wants to be. By watching him being vulnerable and weak, Erin realises she doesn't want to be a victim any more and this is a vital moment which sparks her emotional and physical change. This moment shows Erin's new character emerge as a cold, hostile and defensive girl by rejecting a person similar to her who she can relate to and could potentially be friends with and instead chooses to become someone who, as her former self, would fear.
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