Top Boy

I have decided to analyse episode 4 of series 2 of the street/crime series which is ‘Top Boy’. To summarise what happened in the final episode of series 2 of Top Boy is that Dushane who is the protagonist throughout the whole of the series gets caught up into many situations. One of those situations is where he is trying to plead not guilty to killing someone as well has helping a friend whose son is getting bullied by a man from China. Dushane has an uneasy friendship and partnership with a former close friend Sully but in this episode they join forces to get money off of these Albanians who are said to be everyone’s rivals. Within all of this Dushane whose girlfriend is a solicitor gets caught up in Dushanes world has to try and protect Dushane from the police. By this she could be risking her job eventually Dushane and Sully get the money they want but at the end one of Dushanes so called apprentices gets killed by the Albanians by getting thrown off the top of the flats.

Theories and codes

Throughout the episode you could see many action codes developing but the main action code was towards the end of the episode in which Michael (the young kid who eventually gets killed) was in the room with the Albanians but they didn't know he was there, you could sense that something was going to happen has they were searching around the house until Michael ran out to try and protect Dushane from he got thrown off the flats balcony. This then progressed has the Albanians found out where Dushane was and tried shooting him.

I’d say that the storyline goes in a non linear narrative where things seem to not go in order. Has it was the last episode of the series you would expect a happy ending after where Dushane and Sully get their money back from the Albanians but as we know it doesn’t end there and Michael eventually dies and Dushanes life hangs in the balance. This is the opposite to a linear narrative where the conflict and problem has already occurred and everything is over with. This then in turn creates an enigma has it has created mystery of what is going to happen next. You could also say that a multi strand narrative is being done in the Top Boy episode has Dushane just doesn’t have the Albanians to consider has he also has that ‘China man’ to deal with and also his case against Kumali who he killed but yet is pleading not guilty. This could be a multi strand narrative however it is all to do with one person so at the same time it might not be.

Todorovs theory includes equilibrium, disequilibrium and a new equilibrium. But this doesn’t go to plan in Top Boy has there is really no equilibrium taking place due to the many problems Dushane was encountering. But there were many disequilibriums which were taking which I have explained: Albanians, China man, court case. Throughout these events Dushane took part in many conflicts affecting the lives of his closest friends as well has his girlfriend and family. A new equilibrium does take place for a short while where Dushane gets his money back from the Albanians however this is short lived due to his former best mate Sully saying he doesn’t want to come back to Dushanes ‘gang’ and then when the Albanians kill Michael which sends out a message to him that they are coming for him.

Propps theory includes the role of characters within story lines. There are many villains within Top Boy you could say that the Albanians are for what they did to Dushanes money, the police for causing chaos for Dushane and his ‘gang’ you could even say Dushane was a villain in many ways has he broke the law many times. There are many helpers within Top Boy also, Sully for one who helps Dushane get his money back and his girlfriend also who helps his case and fights for him many times. The donor could be Michael has he helps Dushane before he dies by shouting Dushanes name and therefore risking his own life. The princess in this storyline could be Ra’nell and Gem who get saved by Gems dad has the China man was doing bad stuff towards the kids. So you could say they got saved by a so called hero even though he stabbed him. The dispatcher would be Ra’nells mum who gives Dushane the task of sorting out the China man even though Gems dad got there first. The hero you could say was Gems dad for saving the kids but at a price and also Dushane for getting his money back for him and his ‘gang’. The false hero could be Dushane has you could say he is doing all of this stuff just for himself for e.g. having the solicitor has his girlfriend just so it helps him stay out of prison also calling back Sully to help get his money back and not really care for him. But you could also say Michael was the false hero has in the other episodes he told the police about what Dushane had done to kill Kumali (their so called rivals), but he also helped Dushane at the end by shouting out his name to warn him the Albanians were there and by doing so got killed.