Angus, Thongs & Perfect Snogging

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about Angus, Thongs & Perfect Snogging's classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of Angus, Thongs & Perfect Snogging completed by Young Media Australia (YMA) on 15 September 2008.

Overall comments and recommendations

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.

YMA review

This review of the movie Angus, Thongs & Perfect Snogging contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging depicts several months in the life of 14 year-old Georgia Nicolson (Georgia Groome).  Georgia desperately wants to become more attractive and popular so that she can get a boyfriend but most of her attempts at self-improvement go horribly wrong, providing several funny moments. 
When Georgia and her friends Jas (Eleanor Tomlinson), Rosie (Georgia Henshaw) and Ellen (Manjeeven Grewel) spot two handsome new boys at school, Tom (Sean Bourke) and Robbie (Aaron Johnson), the girls begin plotting to gain their attention.  After one comic attempt to impress the boys by asking them to search for Georgia’s ‘missing’ cat (Angus), Tom begins dating Jas.  Shortly after, Georgia is disappointed to learn that Robbie is already seeing another girl, yet continues in her quest to attract him.

Meanwhile, Georgia’s father has temporarily moved to New Zealand for his work and Georgia suspects that her mother is becoming involved with an attractive young interior decorator she has hired. 

Themes

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.

Dating behaviours

Use of violence

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:

• Lindsay verbally abuses Georgia and then pushes her over during a hockey game
• Peter pushes Georgia into the bushes to kiss her against her will after a dance
• Georgia verbally abuses Jas and then kicks her in the shin.

Material that may scare children

Under eight

Children under eight are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations, the death of a parent or child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

Apart from the above-mentioned violent scenes, children are unlikely to be disturbed by anything in this film

Aged eight to thirteen

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.

Apart from the above-mentioned violent scenes, children are unlikely to be disturbed by anything in this film

Over the age of thirteen

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Nothing of concern

Product placement

None of concern

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

• discussions between Georgia, Jas, Rosie and Ellen about the ‘snogging scale’, which begins with holding hands and presumably proceeds to sex (although there are no explicit conversations about sex)
• One scene shows Georgia and her friends all touching their own breasts (over their clothing) while talking about imagined boyfriends touching them.

Nudity and sexual activity

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

• close-up shots of Lindsay’s and Jas’s bottoms while they are wearing only g-strings
• several long tongue-kissing scenes
  

Use of substances

There is some alcohol use (by adults) depicted in this movie

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• slaggy
• slut
• stiff (erection)
• sex gods
• bitch
• several mild names for breasts, such as ‘nunger nungers’

The movie's message

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is a lightweight English romantic comedy directed by Gurinder Chadha.   This film is based on the best-selling novel by Louise Rennison and is pitched at a young female audience. 

The main message from this movie is to accept yourself the way you are.

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

• respect for self and others
• loyalty
• honesty
  

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children the importance of being who you are, rather than who you think others want you to be.