Both 'Fish Tank' and 'Eden Lake' offer negative representations of youth in today's society, in Britain.
Both deal with youths aged from about 8 to 18, and these youths are often influenced by abusive or negligent parents/guardians, as well as various other characters, e.g Steve in 'Eden Lake'.
Both films portray the youths as 'chavs' or 'hoodies', which comes with it's own set of shared conventions. For example: Aggression, use of abusive language, and alcohol and solvent abuse, as well as the clothes they wear. Both main 'youth' characters are often seen in tracksuits, again lending itself to the stereotype.
The characters in 'Eden Lake' are introduced as violent and rude in their first scene on the beach, where they both bully Adam, and interrupt 'Steve' and 'Jenny' whilst they are relaxing. This is shown through confrontation between the 'gang' and 'Steve' when they refuse to turn their music down, which is stereotypical music for this type of character. This is only exacerbated throughout the rest of the film as we see that the 'gang' who frequent the town on bikes, become goaded by 'Steve' and his refusal to be scared by the 'gang'.
When we first meet 'Mia', who is the main character in 'Fish Tank', we get a totally different feel than we did for the youths in 'Eden Lake', at least at first. We're introduced to 'Mia' via her dancing, and her concern for her friend who isn't answering her calls. Shortly after this relatively calm introduction, she yells at her friends dad calling him a 'cunt'. This is where we see she's more like the youths in 'Eden Lake', sans the murders.
There are various other similarities between the two films. For example, both main characters ('Mia' and 'Brett') are quite vulnerable. 'Mia' is naive and easily mislead by 'Connor' to the point where she has sex with him after he encourages her dancing. Whereas 'Brett' dislikes having his authority undermimed as he is constantly undermimed and beaten by his dad. Both characters have short fuses, becoming easily enraged usually leading to violence, for example when 'Mia' headbutts one of the 'chav' girls in the face after a fight, and 'Brett' punches his friend to death.
In general, both sets of characters abuse some kind of drug. 'Mia' and the youths in 'Fish Tank' tend to drink a lot, not to get drunk but simply because that's what they do. Brett and the 'gang' tend to abuse solvents, as we see them sniffing a substance to give them courage. Also, both families have a violent, or at least frightening dog. 'Brett's family owns a rottweiler, who doesn't like strangers, but likes barking at them, whereas 'Mia's family own some sort of terrier who is far less violent.
One thing that sets the films apart is the portrayal of the main character. 'Brett' is a violent, rude and sadistic character who doesn't care for others and easily kills without a second thought. He is also a bully to those who would be his friends, goading them into doing things they normally wouldn't, like stabbing 'Steve' and abusing animals (tortures rabbits). Whereas 'Mia' is a more empathetic character and appears to have more of a conscience. She tries to rescue a horse several times during 'Fish Tank' when she believes it's being malnourished. She is also more naive than 'Brett', and this is shown by her innocence, and her blatent bragging about things she's never done, like sex.
In conclusion, both films are quite similar in the way they negatively portray modern youths in British culture, although 'Fish Tank' at least ends on a moral high note when all the issues are resolved.
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