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Sarah Goins
Social Conditioning and Fairy Tales: A look at
Fish Tank
Andrea Arnold’s 2009 film Fish Tank is a social realist, emotional film based on the
life of Mia, a fifteen-year-old living in government-run housing in urban England. Mia takes
on a masculine demeanor in order to transcend the patriarchal order in which she has been
suppressed and victimized. Despite her efforts, she cannot outdo the patriarchal order that
constructs the world around her. From a feminine and psychoanalytic discourse, using the
theories from psychologist Carl Jung, I will show that Arnold inundates this film with a fairy-
tale leitmotif that illuminates how the artificial constructs in which Mia lives have
conditioned her to believe that a man will save her from the socioeconomic and societal
disadvantages. These beliefs are subtle in her subconscious and they are the driving force
that leads her to believe a male figure will rescue her.
To first understand Mia’s motives, one must first examine her consciousness. Many
of the symbols that make up ideals and social constructs are so elusive that the conscious
mind may not even realize that these symbols are transcending the mind. Psychologist Carl
Jung explains that,
Consciousness… is an intermittent phenomenon. One-fifth, or one-third, or
perhaps even one-half of our human condition is spent in an unconscious
condition. Our early childhood is unconscious. Every night we sink into
unconscious, and only in phases between waking and sleeping have we a more
or less clear consciousness. To a certain extent it is even more questionable
how clear that consciousness is. (qtd in Robertson 83)
Arnold does an excellent job of using subtle symbols of artificial social constructs to
demonstrate their prevalence in society. For example, when Connor carries Tyler to bed he
calls her “Sleeping Beauty,” Tyler watches celebrity show-and-tell programs, which give her
the notion that having more makes one glamorous and happy, and when Mia needs money,