Scrapper

image for Scrapper

Short takes

Not suitable under 10; parental guidance to 12 (themes, violence, language)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Scrapper
  • a review of Scrapper completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 19 September 2023.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 10 Not suitable due to themes, violence and language.
Children aged 10–12 Parental guidance recommended due to themes, violence and language.
Children aged 13 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Scrapper
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Violence and coarse language
Length: 84 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Twelve-year-old Georgie (Lola Campbell) has lived on her own since the untimely passing of her mother. She looks after herself and takes care of the flat by stealing bikes to make money, while also conning the authorities into believing that she is living with her uncle. When her estranged father Jason (Harris Dickinson) suddenly shows up with the intention of caring for her, it sends Georgie’s life into a tailspin and causes her to address some issues that she had long since buried away. Her friend Ali (Alin Uzun) has always been there to support her but when he begins to see the good in Jason, a little rift arises. Will Georgie continue holding on to her mother in every way that she can, or will she slowly learn to let go of the grief and to trust her friends, along with those who have previously let her down?

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Death of a parent from cancer; Parental abandonment; Dysfunctional relationships; A child trying to make it on her own; Bridging the gap between life and death; The grieving process; Petty theft; Questionable role models.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • Jason screams at Georgie in an aggressive way when she does something he does not appreciate.
  • Jason tries to help Georgie steal bikes but they are noticed by police officers and then chased.
  • Georgie attacks a girl, pushing her down and repeatedly punching her in the face. The girl is later shown to be badly bruised.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

  • Nothing further noted for this age group.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • Georgie’s mother’s death is not shown but it is referred to on multiple occasions. Georgie is often shown going out at night and sitting against a wall near her house where she repeatedly watches a video of her mother. She is clearly sad and grieving. After Georgie loses her phone, Jason lets her listen to a message her mother sent him, begging him to go to Georgie as she didn’t have long to live. Parts of the message (and scene) may be distressing to some children.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Dagenham Motors
  • West Ham United Football Club.

Sexual references

  • None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • Georgie and her male friend Ali have a sleepover and they both share Georgie’s bed, though nothing sexual happens.

Use of substances

  • None noted.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Weirdo
  • Stupid
  • Idiot
  • Shut Up
  • Rude finger is displayed
  • Bloody
  • Flipping
  • “Jesus”, “Mother Mary” and “Christ” are all used as exclamations.

In a nutshell

Scrapper is a charming British drama that really shines a light on some of the underserved and under resourced portions of English society. The film is set in a low socio-economic area and features excellent performances from its lead characters, especially young Georgie. Due largely to its themes, the film is best suited to teens and older.

The main messages from this movie are that grief can come in many different guises and can be processed in many different ways; that everyone is capable of change; and that it really does take a village to raise a child.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Self sufficiency
  • Ingenuity
  • Courage
  • Independence
  • Responsibility.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • Stealing from others
  • Holding grudges
  • Expressing emotion with violence and causing physical harm
  • Lying to the authorities as well as to parents.