An Education.

How is Jenny a typical British teenager?


Jenny can be seen as a typical teenager as she rebels against teachers and believed she knew best and what she was doing. She was smoking and drinking which shows she is following the trends of her friends. The way it was portrayed was Jenny was the leader of her friends which she influenced them to follow her example of smoking and drinking too.\

During the film, we get the sense she is naive as she believed that marrying David would complete and perfect her life. also the way she acted when she received her gift of a Latin Dictionary, she reacted like a typical teenager of being unenthusiastic.

What are the similarities and comparisons to Alfie of the representation of Britishness?

A similarity of the two films that represent Britishness is the roles of men and women. The women are portrayed as secondary and the women do the cleaning as in Alfie, the women look after Alfie and he's controlling towards them. Similarly, in An education the mother is Jenny is playing a womanly/motherly role which back in the 60s was what expected in Britain.
Another similarity is how both the film Alfie and the film An education shows britishness as it shows poor weather. In the film Alfie it rains in a number of scenes as well as in An education.

A comparison in the two films is the roles of Jenny's dad and the role of Alfie. Both characters are male role models to their children however they behave very differently. Alfie has a child with Gilda however he doesn't behave like a family man by providing and raising his son. However, in An education, Jenny's dad is usually at home showing he provides for his family and makes suggestions that he feels will be good for her future.