Angus, thongs and perfect snogging - an example of a British teen angst film

Angus, thongs and perfect snogging is shown to the audience as a diary written by main character Georgia Nicholson, played by Georgia Groome. She is a fourteen year old girl who lives with her parents, younger sister and their cat, Angus, She is a counter type and does not fit the stereotypical conventions of a lead role in a teen angst film. She has brown hair, a 'large' nose and comes from an average family not an excessively rich one. 

Georgia narrates the film and it opens with her attending a fancy dress party. We can see immediately that Georgia is the outcast in the film as she turns up dressed as an olive, while the rest of the school turns up in revealing outfits that make them look nice. When she confronts her friends to question why they did not all dress up as hors d'oeuvres to be original they all come up with excuses. Embarrassed and humiliated we see Georgia running through the streets of Eastbourne, a seaside town in Britain, very upset. This really sets the scene for the movie as we see all the stereotypical things we expect to see at the beach, such as older people sitting on the benches and hen parties walking round very giddy. When Georgia reaches her house she gets really angry as her costume will not fit back through the gate and ends up tearing it off

and stamping on it in rage. During this scene the hit song 'She's so lovely' by popular band Scouting for girls is playing.

The next day we see Georgia preparing for her day at school of the new year, this is when her narration first begins, Georgia is attempting to shaver part of her eyebrow when her sister barges in and knocks her causing her to shave half of her eyebrow off. This is when the audience can tell that Georgia is an average girl trying to fit in with everyday life and follow all the latest trends however things never go right for her. When Georgia goes downstairs she gets very freaked out by her parents being affectionate towards each other in front of her. 

When Georgia goes outside she is met by her best friend Jas. The audience see a new side to Georgia as she is with one of her closest friends laughing and joking. When they first walk through the school gates we first experience the social groups within the school, however this is portrayed in a completely different way to the way they are in American films such as mean girls. We notice the groups are not as stereotypical and defined. This is also supported by the costume as their is a uniform, just like the majority of British schools, which makes it harder to differentiate the different social groups. When the two girls walk into their form room they are met by Rosie and Ellen. They all walk over to each other and perform a dance type handshake they have planned, Georgia narrates over this and we learn that they call themselves 'The Ace gang'. The girls are seen outside sitting on the glass learning a new theory Rosie is teaching them to feel their own breasts. While they are discussing this and if they should be doing it they see two 'sex gods' as they call them walk through the gates. Rosie explains how they are Robbie and Tom, they are brothers and two years older than them. Immediately the three single girls, Georgia, Jas and Ellen argue over who saw them first, but Jas and Georgia win as they are more 'mature' and invented a snogging scale. 

The group of girls subtly follow the boys round town that afternoon to learn more about them. Next

Georgia and Jas prepare themselves to go to the organic shop the boys Mum owns, where they will be working, to introduce themselves. Georgia tells Jas to use a deeper voice to try to make herself seem more attractive, so when Jas enters first and starts talking to Tom she uses this advice. However it backfires when he asks her if she has a sore throat. When Georgia goes in she talks to Jas and Tom until Robbie appears and she goes speechless. Jas tries to help her by suggesting she likes apples, until Georgia's mum comes in questioning why Georgia's at the shop as she hates vegetables, Georgia suggests shes buying her favourite fruit 'apples' until her mum announces that apples give Georgia wind. This is a sense of comic relief for the audience as they will laugh at the embarrassment Georgia's Mum is causing her.

When the girls are walking home discussing everything they see Robbie walking along hand in hand with "Slaggy Lindsay" the antagonist in the film who the girls hate. The Ace gang spy on Lindsay the next day and see she wears infills in her bra. Georgia gets very upset and the girls end up sending her to a 'kissing school' at one of the local boys houses to try and move her up on the maturity scale. At the end of the thirty minute session he claims Georgia is a natural and he wants to see her again. 

Throughout the film we see Georgia pestering her parents to hire a club for her birthday so she can have a big party, however her parents seem to try and change the idea into a smaller party in a local hall with her uncle as a DJ. Therefore when her Dad explains he's been offered part of a promotion in New Zealand Georgia says he should take it, thinking it will be one less parent to have to deal with. 

As her party plans look like they may be moving forward Georgia focuses on another important part of her life. As Robbie likes cats just like her she persuades Jas to walk Angus on a lead in the park so she can tell Robbie hes missing then when Jas sees Georgia and Robbie searching she should let Angus go so they can search for him. Georgia sets the plan into action but halfway through Jas gets distracted by Tom playing football and Angus chases a dog causing Angus to run off, Tom triesto help her and in the end Robbie and Georgia turn up and 'rescue' Angus. Georgia thinks everything is falling into plan until Tom tells Robbie Lindsay called so he rushes off, whereas Tom gets Jas' number. 

With Georgia's dad away her mum decides to have an attractive decorator come round to decorate certain rooms, however Georgia mistakes this for her mum flirting, as her mums always out with Jem the decorator and Jas and Tom developing their relationship a lot of Georgia's time is spent babysitting her sister Libby. 

At school Jas doesn't sit with the girls one day as she's sitting with Tom, Robbie and Lindsay, when she comes into the PE changing rooms the girls question her, especially when they see she's wearing a thong, however she reassures them by saying shes undercover for them. She also gets them invited to a party. Georgia and Ellen attend together and whenever they are dancing they do their best to avoid Peter Dyer, the guy who held the 'kissing lessons' Georgia attended. However he pulls her outside and pushes her to the ground kissing her at a moment when Jas, Tom, Robbie and Lindsay walk past.   Lindsay turns it into a joke about Georgia, but Robbie walks off disappointed and Jas is in shock at Georgia's behaviour. 

Jas suggests that Georgia go to the pool with Libby as she wants to apologise to Robbie and she knows he will be there with Tom and Jas but no Lindsay. Georgia's uses fake tan which is a shock for Robbie when they're doing handstands. However in the end Robbie and Georgia kiss and he leaves saying he needs to sort some things out. 

Georgia tells Peter Dyer she is a lesbian which is why she cant be with him. However Dave the laugh, one of Robbie's friends questions it and when she explains to him he invites her to see Roobbie's band play with him that night. They go and have a good time but Georgia tells Jas how it is her elastic band theory to get Robbie to 'bounce' back to her.

Jas and Georgia end up arguing and she tells Tom about this. Tom tells Robbie and it causes everyone to turn against Georgia. Feeling lost and alone and scared her parents will split up Georgia goes to her Dads company and ask them to transfer her whole family there as she does not want to be apart. 

Georgia prepares to celebrate her birthday alone without her friends but her Mum buys her a dress and says to get ready they're going out. They turn up at a club and when they go in the whole room is filled with people from her school. Jas walks through the crowd and has helped her Mum to plan the whole party for Georgia as a surprise. The best friends make up and Georgia is called over by her Mum and Jem to meet Jem's boyfriend, the owner of the club. Her heart put to rest and her Dad comes dancing through the crowd explaining how his company ordered him home with a pay rise after her heart tugging appearance. 

There is a cut to Lindsay's birthday party in a club which has her and two friends at the empty club. Next we see Robbie and the Stiff Dylan's come on stage during Georgia's party. During their song Lindsay and her friends crash the party and cut the music. Lindsay tells Robbie he can choose her as she's 'perfect' or Georgia and points out many of Georgia's flaws. Robbie pulls Georgia on stage and claims shes perfect too. Jas and the Ace gang tell Lindsay Robbie prefers his girlfriends less fake and pull out her infills, throwing them to Dave the laugh on stage. After Robbie and Georgia share a kiss infront of everyone they perform there song properly. While everyone is dancing we see Georgia setting Peter up with a girl and Dave and Ellen up together. At the end of the film we see Georgia and Robbie walking along the seafront she ran down at the beginning of the film, hand in hand and finally happy, both also getting their happy ending.

I think this film attracted such a large audience as it is one of the few known British made teen angst

films produced. Georgia is a counter type to many other teen angst films and in it is portrayed to be an average clumsy girl which is much more relatable than other teen angst films are. Also the British audience viewing it will relate to it more than they will American teen angst films as the aspects and characteristics of their lives are similar.