Film Fam

So there I am at the Royal Festival Hall looking over the script of a short film. I'm auditioning for Gary, the drug baron. Run-of-the-mill, but I'm not really into it. It's another Londoner and I'm not going to shout out "you dozy cunt" in a Peckham accent while surrounded by the cultured crowd of the South Bank. I'll do what I can and meanwhile read the whole script so I can put my character in perspective. Simple story, young-men-on-council-estate-up-to-no-good. There's just one thing I don't understand; what's this word "fam" that crops up from time to time? It seems to serve the same function as "mate", "my man", "mucker", "pal", "bruv", but it ain't no word used down my manor.

I head home, have lunch, out to the Rosemary Branch Theatre to meet Cecilia Darker to discuss putting on the one-(wo)man plays I've written. The conversation goes well, once we get rid of the title Loss, which I've never been happy about, although I can't think of a better one. Back home again, working on the bookselling. Evening comes and the Other Half and I settle down to Attack the Block, which I recorded a couple of nights ago. It's run for barely a couple of minutes when there's that word again. Fam. What is this?

A minute's research on the internet tells me the word has been around for at least four years. And yes it means "friend", and yes it's derived from "family". I don't like it. It sounds stupid, reminding me too much of the French word "femme" and its connotations (at least from the 1960s) of effeminacy and lesbianism. But what annoys me most is the fact that the word has existed for some time and I am not aware of it. I call myself a writer, I graduated in Linguistics, I pride myself on the use of slang in my writing, but this very basic and apparently common in some social strata word has escaped. More confirmation that I'm getting old and out of touch. Depression time.

At least I appreciated Attack the Block. A nice little film with well-placed touches of humour, believable characterisation and realistic dialogue that will seriously challenge anyone that lives outside the M25. In-jokes, such as the reference to Wyndham Towers and its neighbours. Excellent acting by young non-actors, particularly the youngest, Sammy Williams and Michael Ajao. I'm a fam, sorry, fan. The flipside is that it is depressing to think that the violence and drugs in the film are reality for too many young people. Then I remember that life is depressing anyway and there's no point in losing sleep over it. Time for bed and a good book.